AUSTRALIAN OPEN

January 19, 2004

Chris Guccione

CHRIS GUCCIONE: Felt a bit different. It was in Australia as well, so it was a big advantage. But, obviously, Alun was Australian as well. I'm a Melbourne boy so I feel I had a bit more crowd support than he was.

CHRIS GUCCIONE: Wasn't really easy. I still had to play my best tennis to get the win on the board. There was two players out there playing. I felt I played really well today.

CHRIS GUCCIONE: Great feeling. You can't really describe it. You do anything wrong, they still cheer you on, come on, do this, do that. It's good.

CHRIS GUCCIONE: Yeah, definitely. Even bigger advantage playing a non-Australian.

CHRIS GUCCIONE: Yeah, there's a lot of family and friends who wanted tickets. I ended up not getting enough. I got like 10 or 15. I'm not sure where they were in the crowd, but I'm sure they were there, buy their own tickets.

CHRIS GUCCIONE: Obviously, it was going to be disappointing for us, the guy that lost. But it was also a good opportunity as well for one of the Australians. We're both wildcards, so it was a big match for us to try to get through.

CHRIS GUCCIONE: They're both huge. Winning against Juan Carlos Ferrero, number three player in the world. But this week, Grand Slam, best-of-five-set match, you got to win three sets. There's a lot more points involved so it will make my ranking a lot higher. So probably this week.

CHRIS GUCCIONE: Yeah, I live in Melbourne so I've been here my whole life.

CHRIS GUCCIONE: No, I was never a ball boy, though.

CHRIS GUCCIONE: I started playing when I was about 9, so little bit too old.

CHRIS GUCCIONE: Myself. I just went out there and hit serves. I didn't really have a good serve when I was early teens. Started to develop into a big serve when I was probably 15 or 16.

CHRIS GUCCIONE: No, no, just working with all the coaches. They'd videotape it and see if I was doing anything wrong. Then I'd go out practice it and see if I can change it.

CHRIS GUCCIONE: Probably just consistency. I can hit the ball big but they don't always go in. Today I was really happy that most of them were going in. That's why I got the win, I'd say. Just getting more in and probably movement around the court. I struggled a little bit sometimes.

CHRIS GUCCIONE: Yeah, yeah, all the time. I have everyone telling me move my feet 24 hours a day.

CHRIS GUCCIONE: No, not really. I was just playing cricket and Aussie Rules just in school, having a bit of fun with it. Tennis is probably the only sport I've played outside of school competition.

CHRIS GUCCIONE: Yeah, yeah. Heart's pumping. It's good.

CHRIS GUCCIONE: Gaalong. Ablett was there when I was younger, he was God. So Gaalong all my life.