NEWSWEEK CHAMPIONS CUP

March 14, 1996

Todd Martin

Q. I assume you'd like to have back a few shots in the first set tiebreaker?

TODD MARTIN: Well, you know, I definitely didn't play the points that I'd like to have played it. A few of them, but then again Andre played awfully well on those points. He served and picked his serve up quite a bit. Geez, I think I might have missed one first serve in the tiebreak, I am not sure. It was much more, I think, his level of play got better then mine went down.

Q. I have got a question,?

TODD MARTIN: Well, then go ahead.

Q. I shall go ahead.

TODD MARTIN: I got doubles.

Q. It is not about today's match. Your former coach Rick Ferman has become Executive Director?

TODD MARTIN: Former and current.

Q. He is still working with you?

TODD MARTIN: Yeah.

Q. Could you tell us a little bit about him, what kind of guy he is and how you think he will do in that position?

TODD MARTIN: He is a great guy. Obviously he wouldn't be my coach if I didn't think that. I have been working with him since I was 10. He has been as much of a teacher of life to me as he has been a coach, and I don't think anybody could do a better job than he can in the position he has got. He's a lover of the game. He studies the game. He knows the business. He knows the people. I think they couldn't have picked a better guy. Obviously, I am biased, but I think there is a lot of other people that have that same opinion.

Q. Even though you lost the match, did you get some appreciation out of the pack? Everybody seemed to really understand and feel how high the level of tennis was out there, the crowd seemed to get into it. Did you sense that?

TODD MARTIN: That is why I play the game of tennis. It is a lot of fun to be a part of high level competition and that is what it was out there today, and grant it, I am not too please that I lost, but I am also pleased with the fact that I played well and I gave myself plenty of opportunity just to win the match.

Q. Do you feel you let him get away?

TODD MARTIN: I never get -- like I had him in the first set; I never had a breakpoint and in the breaker I got up 6-3 and two of those points he served on and I just missed a shot that I would have won the set on and it was a difficult shot, and he played a couple of good points other than that. And then the second set, I won fairly handily, but I don't think that that put him off too it much. I think he was pretty ready to play the third set and I played -- had a great game to break him in the first game and he came back and played a great game to break me in the second. Going through three sets to tennis serving, I don't know how many games, against Andre, and only getting broken once is a very, very good effort on my part, and I wish could I have broken him a few more times, but then again, he doesn't serve all that badly.

Q. What do you think was the difference between the first and second tiebreaker?

TODD MARTIN: Not much. I lost both of them. I think in the third set tiebreaker I think I got to the point where I was forcing a little bit and wanted to hit the ace instead of maybe setting up the point a little bit better and unfortunately I missed my target. I made the serve which is even worse than missing the serve completely, but I missed my target and it ended upright where he likes it and when the ball is where he can hit it clean, I was fighting an uphill battle and that is what happened in the third set tiebreaker. He hit a couple of great returns and the first point on his serve at, I guess, the first point of the tiebreaker, I hit a good return; came to the net and left the ball that went in, but, you know, I think that would have made it a little bit different, but he definitely returned very well in the tiebreaker.

Q. Why do you think he won the second set so easily and the other two sets were wars?

TODD MARTIN: Well, I took my first opportunity on his serve. I guess 2-All in the second or 1-All in the second and hit a terrible lob, but I guessed right on the backhand overhead and I hit a nice shot, really a fluke shot, from off the court. When that happened, it definitely gave me a little bit more confidence and then I just strung a couple of more good games together and got to the point where I had a lead that really was -- unless I made a grave error, I was going to win the set and I think that just -- I think Andre knew that as well as I did, and he was content with just starting off the third set.

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