GREAT AMERICAN INSURANCE ATP CHAMPIONSHIP

August 5, 1996

Todd Martin

TODD MARTIN: I felt very, very fresh. I have had a month off since my last match, but -- so I was kind of eager to get going, but also a little apprehensive because it has been awhile and when you are out of matchplay, it is not always easy to jump into it. I got here Friday and I tweaked my arm a little bit because I hadn't been playing as much and -- but today it felt great and the first I think I felt good hitting the ball, things went really well, but come the second set, I ran into a few obstacles that I wasn't really prepared to deal with in my mind and I struggled, but then got back on again and I finished off the match fairly well, but not as I would have liked.

TODD MARTIN: Golf.

TODD MARTIN: No, well, I was hoping that my parents would be able to come and visit me. They weren't after their trip to Wimbledon, so I started two weeks down in Florida getting settled in my house, and golfing, and putting everything in the right place and I had something to do in Atlanta for a day and then I spent the last week up in Michigan with my family.

TODD MARTIN: Corporate outing for BMW.

TODD MARTIN: Didn't have any opportunity to see any of the sports.

TODD MARTIN: Right.

TODD MARTIN: Two months ago I wanted to be there, but made a decision not to. Right now, I wish I could have been there, but the way things worked out, I couldn't have. I guess that is how I see it. It would have been a great honor, but I am going to have to wait until 2000.

TODD MARTIN: No, Mal was only home for a day and he is a big jet setter now and went and did Letterman the other night, but Mal has been-- compared with me we have had completely opposite times since Wimbledon. He played a tournament right away and went and did Letterman, Good Morning America and Today, whatever, whatever show there is, he was on. And he came -- practiced with him for one day before he went to Atlanta and I don't think that was really forefront on his mind having a party for me the day before he goes to Atlanta and then he did well in Atlanta and by the time he was done in Atlanta, I was out at Ponte Vedra. I don't think the first thing you want to do is throw a party, so we will have to wait.

TODD MARTIN: It didn't change my year at all. The only thing it changed was I got home on Sunday July 7th instead of maybe, you know, June 31st. Just -- didn't change my schedule except for the fact that if I didn't do well at Wimbledon, I probably would have tried to gotten a wildcard in Washington D.C.

TODD MARTIN: In some ways, it made it better; I felt like I played very well at Wimbledon, but in other ways, it could take a little wind out of my sails after having a great opportunity to progress further and sort of -- you have to avoid the grass is greener on the other side syndrome because -- yeah, I played very well all week. I gave myself a great opportunity to be in the final, but I lost and so you think of what could have been even though you are on the top and the only way you don't think about what could have been is if you are Richard Krajicek holding up the Cup.

TODD MARTIN: Each time you do something in this sport, I think you take something uniquely out of that experience and I did not have the same type of tournament I did in 1994, but I took -- and I took very -- quite a few different things away from it. In 1994 I was playing five-setters practically every match. This year, I beat guys badly and got through the tournament much easier and I think I played much better tennis.

TODD MARTIN: Well, I played a doubles matches in Atlanta, but I don't know if you would give that match credit. It was corporate doubles. Richey and I played a Pro Am against each other. I won, well my partner and I won, excuse me.

TODD MARTIN: The downtime will help come U.S. Open. The downtime, I don't know how much of an effect it had on me tonight, but it might not be the greatest thing in the world for the Cincinnati tournament. It could be the greatest thing in the world for the Cincinnati tournament. Like I said, I feel pretty good physically and mentally. It is just a matter of how long -- how concentrated in the tough points and during the match I play.

TODD MARTIN: It is one of the longest breaks that I have had during the year and considering how much fun I had doing it, I might do it again. It is difficult to construct a schedule where you have a full month off. In this situation, it was necessary for many reasons.

TODD MARTIN: Indy, Toronto and U.S. Open. One of the reasons that I just touched upon.

TODD MARTIN: And make it into two different seasons? Well, philosophically, there is tons of great schedules out there, but we are operating a tour here and trying to decide the game of tennis and if you want to touch every place in the world, it is awfully difficult to do that without making it a long year. Each player, as I am an example to, can make their own schedule. They can take more than the month and a half that the calendar allows or the month and a week that the calendar allows at the end of the year. They can insert a month break during the year. It is just -- I think a lot of players at 20 years old, when they are sitting on their couch back home and reading the paper and seeing "Joe Smoe" winning this tournament or that tournament and passing them in the rankings, I think they have trouble dealing with that, but it is oftentimes the best thing for you and hopefully that is how it will work out for me.

TODD MARTIN: Fifth set.

TODD MARTIN: Sure, you go over what happened and the things I come away with is, yeah, I didn't do what I needed to do in that match, especially from 5-1. I had a lot of other opportunities to do good things during the match in the first three, four sets. I did some good things at 5-1, but also Mal raised his level of play. It is very humbling to know that the game can get the best of you like that, but it is also inspiring to keep going and figure out ways to overcome some of those obstacles.

TODD MARTIN: Yeah, not satisfied at all with what happened at Wimbledon, but there are positive things to take away from it. There are many ways that I can learn from it and it is just a matter of how well I apply myself over the next couple of years to take the bad in certain situations, such as my experience in the semis at Wimbledon this year and make good of it.