DAVIS CUP - RUSSIA vs FRANCE

December 1, 2002

Paul-Henri Mathieu

PAUL-HENRI MATHIEU: In the beginning of the match, it was all right. I was trying to be into the match immediately. It was not easy, though. With all the crowd, it was quite difficult. But I succeeded in getting into the match early. But after, it changed, and I don't know why.

PAUL-HENRI MATHIEU: We talked a lot, we walked a bit outside. It was long to wait. But it's part of it.

PAUL-HENRI MATHIEU: I believe he started playing a lot better, and I was more defensive. But the difference was very little.

PAUL-HENRI MATHIEU: Yes. It's true, he's a good player. He's not a zero.

PAUL-HENRI MATHIEU: Last night.

PAUL-HENRI MATHIEU: Well, last night I thought it was Kafelnikov. It was just this morning I knew it was Youzhny.

PAUL-HENRI MATHIEU: I played better than Friday during the first two sets. I felt better.

NICOLAS ESCUDE: The only thing we can say is, "That's sport." There are happy days and bad days. Given the potential and the state of mind we are in, all of us, we certainly do not have to stop after this loss. Last year we had luck. But Paul-Henri really doesn't have to regret anything about today. He proved with his past that he's a great player. I'm sure in the following years, he will be top in France.

SEBASTIEN GROSJEAN: It's true he didn't start off well. But the more the match was going along, the better he was playing. He was very surprising in the end. I think he really took his chances. He took more chances than when I played him.

FABRICE SANTORO: Well, in the beginning, Paul-Henri seemed to be up. He didn't have any letdown at all. But Youzhny raised his game considerably. It was his day today, I believe, simply.

FABRICE SANTORO: It's too beautiful to do that. I'll continue.

PAUL-HENRI MATHIEU: I was not thinking about tactics. I was trying to play my game. In Sopot, I was not in very good condition to play the match, so it was more difficult.

PAUL-HENRI MATHIEU: It's a strange question. A loss is very difficult to digest already. It's the end of the season. Now we lost and that's it. It's not bad. We are going to bounce back.

PAUL-HENRI MATHIEU: How can you be disgusted after such an atmosphere? It's an incredible atmosphere. We are all together, all united. I can't believe we can be disgusted. It doesn't exist.

PAUL-HENRI MATHIEU: They told me I did everything I could, I tried everything. But, of course, the truth is that I'm disappointed.

PAUL-HENRI MATHIEU: No, I didn't miss the support of the public. I believe they were behind me until the last point.

PAUL-HENRI MATHIEU: They were two completely different matches. Safin was my first match. This one was a decisive match, so it's completely different.

SEBASTIEN GROSJEAN: I think on fast surfaces, he beat No. 1 in the world in three straight sets. It's not a problem of surface really, it's just his level of game that was impressive during three days. The same during Bercy, on a different surface, fast surface. When Safin is confident, when he wants to play well, he can beat the best players in the world. Also Lleyton suffered from it in the finals in Bercy.

CAPTAIN FORGET: Mathieu was going to play anyway. Whether it was Kafelnikov or Youzhny, Paul-Henri was going to play that match.

CAPTAIN FORGET: Yes, of course, we'll be in contact. I think our strength is this strong relationship we have all together. Today we are deeply touched because we really believed in it. When we want to reach a dream for the second time, you want it to come true, when you try so hard, you are so close to achieving it, it makes things very difficult to live with afterwards. But this doesn't change at all the relationship we all have together. This is going to help us to overcome this loss and to start again next year with the same faith and the same motivation.

CAPTAIN FORGET: There are many little things. I was taking notes during the match. I know why Paul-Henri lost, and it's difficult to talk about it right now because he gave everything mentally and physically. He was very strong in his mind, in my opinion. Today the only thing he was lacking were technical things. He could have done different things on the court. He's not able to do them yet. He needs to work on it still a bit more, to have a more complete game. To win that kind of match at a certain time you need to be a bit stronger. It's not in the mind or physically, but it's just to be able to play a certain number of cards that he wasn't able to use today.

CAPTAIN FORGET: I think each player and myself live things differently because I have no physical effort to make. I go to the warm-up of the first one, I go to the warm-up of the second one, I stay there during the matches. If you lived the doubles, as I did, which was very stressful, you are sitting down in a chair experiencing a match without being able to hold a racquet in your hands. It's very difficult. I really believed in it, because I thought things were going well. Even when Sebastien was down 2-Love, I thought he could have won the third set. Marat was not playing as well in the end. He was starting to be nervous, to be annoyed. I would really have liked a fourth set. It would have been a completely different match. This didn't happen, so that was one disappointment. Then I had to start again with Paul-Henri. He started beautifully, playing well. But the other one was cracking down. At 2-Love you start believing it, you think it's going to be too difficult for the other one to come back. Suddenly, things change over. There's one, two, three games, a set. You have to keep on going. Once Paul-Henri got broken, then he broke back. I was thinking, "It's not possible, it's not going to happen this way." All during the match I believed, "No, no, no, be positive, kill him." I showed him the direction to follow. I tried to put forth his qualities to congratulate him. Certain things he was doing were a bit average, so I was spending my time to repeat the same things. Suddenly in the end when it's over, you feel a big weight on your shoulders. That's the role of the captain. Unfortunately, it's sometimes like that in sport.

CAPTAIN FORGET: I think both Safin and Youzhny were very strong mentally. It's more normal for Marat because he already won the US Open. But it's more surprising with Youzhny because he's young, like Paul-Henri, and he showed enormous mental qualities. Both of them were very strong in different aspects. But I believe the loss against Australia can be explained because many errors were committed before the match. But this time we made no mistakes. What I regret, of course, is that Arnaud Clement was hurt. Maybe with his experience, his game, he could have been able to pose problems to Youzhny a bit more with his experience. We knew that on paper the Russians were stronger than we were, and it was a difference of two points only.

CAPTAIN FORGET: For two sets, Marat was playing well. Sometimes I was watching Fabrice behind me. I was sort of thinking, "What can I say to Sebastien?" I couldn't see what he could do better. This is frustrating when you are on a court with a player who is playing well and it's not enough. What can you say more? It's a bit like a Formula 1 driver who has the best car, and he does his best round after round, he just has to expect an accident for the other ones.

CAPTAIN FORGET: We talked tactics before the match. During the match, he had difficulties respecting the tactics. It was not his fault because what happened was not scheduled beforehand. What I was telling him is just recalling to him what we had said before. It was a sort of internal fight within himself. He was able to face it. In the end, he got excited, he was going beyond his normal level. I told him to take his time, to calm down because I knew he had trouble. He was watching me more and more. When someone watches you like that, you have to be able to say simple things, things that do you good, that are comforting.

CAPTAIN FORGET: Yes, absolutely.