TMS - INDIAN WELLS

March 15, 2001

Jan Michael Gambill

MODERATOR: Jan-Michael moves into the quarterfinals here for the second time, first time since 1998, when he got to the semifinals. He's now extended his match win streak to seven by getting into the quarters.

JAN-MICHAEL GAMBILL: Well, I pretty much felt like I controlled that match from the very start of the match. I felt like he should never have broken me in the first set when I was serving for it at 5-4. I don't care who I'm playing out there right now, I feel like I'm in the match and I have a shot to win. I felt like I controlled that match from the start and really finished it up pretty well. Didn't really serve that well that last game. But I put a lot of pressure on him, made him hit the shots under pressure. He missed it, and that's the time to get excited and celebrate a little bit. I was trying not to show him too much emotion because those kinds of guys, especially Kuerten, they feed off of the other guy. I wasn't going to give him that. I was out there to play my game, do all I could, and I won. Felt great.

JAN-MICHAEL GAMBILL: Actually, I broke my string. It was kind of weird. You couldn't hear it because the string was really frayed. I actually said to myself, "I hope this breaks." It kind of felt weird. It feels kind of slimy almost, 6-all, 6-5, 6-4, to get a new racquet for no reason. Luckily it broke. I took that new racquet and served a big serve down the T for it. It felt great. Everybody's dream to win a tiebreaker that easily instead of having to battle for those nervous points.

JAN-MICHAEL GAMBILL: Well, I thought I might get one or two more balls out of it. If I didn't -- I really thought -- I don't know. I guess logic doesn't really apply sometimes out there. I got through it.

JAN-MICHAEL GAMBILL: I knew that Martina had lost earlier today. Kim Clijsters is an outstanding player. Getting better and better all the time. I feel like my game is progressing. I'm certainly playing better each tournament I'm playing. Had great results last week, actually good results the whole year. I'm just looking to improve my game and go out there and play solid every match.

JAN-MICHAEL GAMBILL: I think that it's tough. I think the top guys do a good job. Look at Andre, he just opened a center for kids that's going to help kids in Vegas. Great, he does amazing stuff for people. Pete is starting to do stuff to help give back to tennis. Patrick Rafter, look at his shaved head. He obviously does many, many things for charity. I know quite a bit about what the men do, what the Top 10 do. I myself, head of ATP Tour Charities, chairman of the charities this year. I know I'm donating money to the Boys and Girls Club of Spokane. For every ace I hit, I donate 20 bucks, $5,000 for every tournament I win. We're going to try to make it even more, think of ways to raise more money. I do all I can. I also have a charity, Cattails, that I give money to religiously year in and year out. For me to give back is important to things that I believe in, endangered species, helping out kids to have better lives, have a shot to play some sports, to do some fun things. That makes me feel good. I hope that people do. I can never understand why guys after a match, or the ladies, for instance, don't stand out there and sign more autographs. The people who come in here and watch matches are the people that fuel the tournaments. They say, "So-and-so's event is not getting as much attendance." That's probably the players' fault. They want to see the players relate to people, enjoy first of all the tennis, but they also want to get to know people. That's part of it. I think there's a lot of guys who do, but maybe we could do more. You can always do more.

JAN-MICHAEL GAMBILL: I think it would be an amazing feat to win here, just since I won singles and doubles last week, had one of the -- some of the best couple weeks I've had in my career. First of all, for me to come here and play three good matches in a row. Last night I was really dragging on the court, all the matches piling up on me. I actually played an extraordinary match. I feel better today. Hopefully I'll feel even better tomorrow. For me to come here and play great tennis is fantastic. Hopefully I'll be able to bring it to next week, as well. A win would be great. I'm just going to look at tomorrow's match against I think I play Kafelnikov. That's an important match. It's the first time we've played against each other.

JAN-MICHAEL GAMBILL: I think that question is redundant. This is the first tournament I played well at. I've been fond of this event ever since I started playing tennis. It jump-started my career like nothing ever could. I've loved playing here ever since. This is one of America's premiere events. Actually, that brings me to another thing I'd like to talk about. This being one of America's premiere events, this event, the Ericsson Open, Cincinnati and the US Open of course, I'm a little perplexed as to the choices that the tournament director and whoever gives out the wildcards has made in relation to US tennis. We see guys like rising star Andy Roddick not here. Completely baffles me. I'll never figure that out. And guys like Paul Goldstein who are one out of the tournament, also not getting a wildcard granted to them. It's just hard for me. I want American tennis to get better. I'm one of the guys that's behind all the Americans. I hope that we have what we had years ago, 30 guys in the Top 100 again. When people look at the numbers and they say, "Why do we have guys, five or six guys in the Top 100," then things like this happen, you don't give the best young guy coming up, Andy Roddick, a wildcard, and guys who are up there like Paul Goldstein, just give them the opportunities. That's kind of questionable. I just want to come out and say that I wish that all things would be equal. If this tournament would be in Paris, you wouldn't see any Americans getting the wildcards.