DAVIS CUP - USA vs ZIMBABWE

February 5, 2000

Wayne Black

Q. Well, the bad stuff first. Wayne, set point for two-set lead. You got a forehand right there, and did you just blow it or --

WAYNE BLACK: What did I do with it?

WAYNE BLACK: It's easy to say that now, but I mean, you know, second serve, they're serving their second serve, just mixing up serves so much I don't know where it's going.

KEVIN ULLYETT: He hit a pretty average volley I should have gotten.

WAYNE BLACK: It's if you have --

WAYNE BLACK: That happened in so many matches I played. You don't hit any grounders out there. You're hitting serve, volley and return. Suddenly, you have a forehand; it's not so easy. You have to hit it an inch above the net for it to be anywhere. So you just got to go for it and hope -- I mean, that was one of the few points actually -- (inaudible.)

WAYNE BLACK: Definitely. I thought we could win from the start.

WAYNE BLACK: Was six inches to a foot.

WAYNE BLACK: Yeah, I saw it coming.

WAYNE BLACK: Yeah. Well, he should be shaky after those two returns Kevin did.

WAYNE BLACK: Me?

WAYNE BLACK: We were just trying to keep ourselves positive out there. We know - we played doubles for years now - anything can happen out there. Especially the altitude, the ball's going so fast, everybody's serving well. We have to pick a spot on the returns and almost hope for the best. It was going to happen to somebody there in the first set, I just didn't want it to be another marathon like last week. But actually this was a different situation than last week. Last week we were always serving where 5-6, 6-7, 7-8. This time I think we had a little bit of an edge there. Rick knew; he knew that if he lost the serve, the match was over. So I think that's a bit more nerve-racking when you're a serve down like that. But it's so quick out there. I mean, you know, it's just a matter of a point here, a point there.

WAYNE BLACK: A couple times, yeah.

WAYNE BLACK: No.

CAPTAIN GAVIN SINEY: First time Davis Cup.

KEVIN ULLYETT: Couple Tour events, Adelaide a couple weeks ago and then Japan about three, four years ago.

KEVIN ULLYETT: A couple matches.

KEVIN ULLYETT: Probably something like that. We won a couple challenges.

KEVIN ULLYETT: O'Brien was trying to help Leach out most of the match, but especially in the first set. Leach's serve definitely let up a little bit. He wasn't serving as big as the first couple sets. O'Brien was looking to go. Just a question of maybe a little bit of luck to decide he was going to go -- (inaudible) that's when he made my decision to go up the line.

WAYNE BLACK: Did he even go?

KEVIN ULLYETT: I don't know, I just picked my spot and ripped away. They just came off.

WAYNE BLACK: It's definitely one of the best. You know, definitely the best matches you play are the matches that win a tie for you. (Inaudible.) I mean that's -- I mean if we lost that match, I think we almost -- we're almost out of it. So, you know, that's just one of my best, for sure. The way I played, the way we competed, we were down and out there for a long time. So I was just happy really.

CAPTAIN GAVIN SINEY: No, I don't think he was yelling at our players, I think he was yelling at the referee a little bit more -- the umpire, I mean.

WAYNE BLACK: He said something once or twice to you.

KEVIN ULLYETT: Just little chirps.

WAYNE BLACK: Just little things.

CAPTAIN GAVIN SINEY: The player or me?

CAPTAIN GAVIN SINEY: Myself?

CAPTAIN GAVIN SINEY: Well, I spoke to the umpire. I think it was quite important in the third set when Wayne was serving --

WAYNE BLACK: Second set. Second set, I was serving 5-6 and he was --

CAPTAIN GAVIN SINEY: -- he was arguing and arguing. I said something to the umpire, "Is anything going to happen? He can't do that." Because then Wayne lost his serve. The next serve was a lucky line ball. Then another one that O'Brien hit, (inaudible) and that changed that set.

WAYNE BLACK: The umpire shouldn't let him argue like that for -- it was close to a minute. I'm sitting there ready to serve, and Mac was talking with the guy. The umpire should've just put his foot down.

WAYNE BLACK: I'm going to enjoy it. I'm looking forward to it. You know, I have to enjoy it. I mean it's just such a good atmosphere out there. It's so fun to be out there on that court. This is why I play tennis, for a moment like that. So I'm going to have a lot of fun. Hopefully, Chris will be a little nervous, but, yeah, Byron either, Byron's playing fantastic tennis. He's at home, he's beaten Mark Philippoussis here. He can definitely take on Andre.

WAYNE BLACK: Underdogs, I'm going to say for the record we're still underdogs but we're going to win.

WAYNE BLACK: It was just our team effort, myself and Kevin and Gavin. We just didn't let our heads drop once. Just hung in there.

KEVIN ULLYETT: Fighting every point. It was big, we were ahead in most -- (inaudible) every time we got down, we just -- the points went our way. We managed to get ahead in the count in the games, just playing every point at a time.

CAPTAIN GAVIN SINEY: I just think our team has got such big hearts. They never give up. They fight. And we've been together for a long time, and we're a team. I think that's very important. If you look at some of the other nations, they're individuals and they don't really get together. We are a unit. We had breakfast together, we go out together, we do things. I think that's important. We all stick together and we're fighting for each other, and I think that's important.

KEVIN ULLYETT: Not really. We got very unlucky at the serves both times. (Inaudible.) When you don't fault off, you're still trying. Anything can happen. Definitely was a momentum shift there when they got their breaks, and, yeah, they were on top of us.

KEVIN ULLYETT: Yeah, it helped us getting started in the fourth and getting a good hold under our belts and getting ahead again.

KEVIN ULLYETT: O'Brien's serve kicks up a lot higher. Leach's serve skids through. For me, it's easier to return Leach's serve because it's here, (indicating.) O'Brien's gets up here and gives me trouble. But by far, Leach's, for me, was easier to return than O'Brien's. I don't know about Wayne.

CAPTAIN GAVIN SINEY: Well, I think the team's happy but there's still a lot of tennis to go. Going into Sunday 2-1, I think there's going to be a lot of pressure on Agassi. Byron will get up there, he played a brilliant match on Friday. I don't think he made hardly any unforced errors. If he can do that on Sunday, you never know. He has a good chance of beating Agassi, especially now that he's loose now. There's a lot of pressure on Woodruff. Wayne's played probably about 40, 50 Davis Cup matches so he's got a lot of experience. If it gets to a 2-All situation, I think Wayne's got a good chance in that case. I think now we have a good chance.

WAYNE BLACK: I'm feeling comfortable. I'm at home. I've got the crowd behind me, and, you know, like we said, I've been in this situation before; he definitely hasn't. Plus, I think he will still have all the pressure on him. He's holding the flag up for the big United States. So, as I said, I'm just going to run every ball down tomorrow.

WAYNE BLACK: No. Then I wouldn't sleep. But I go to sleep looking forward to the next day, the drum beat again.

WAYNE BLACK: Yeah? Get her out there, let's have a competition.

WAYNE BLACK: Yeah. Every single tie is fantastic. It's so nice to be out on that court and just to suck it all in and enjoy it. I don't think you could ask for any more. So, I mean, it is fantastic out there. It's good the Americans have a little bit of support, too, so there's competition in the crowd. What else can I say, it's just fantastic.

WAYNE BLACK: Well, in America they do.

CAPTAIN GAVIN SINEY: And Australia.

WAYNE BLACK: And Australia.

End of FastScripts….