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TMS - MONTE-CARLOApril 18, 2006Marat SafinMONTE-CARLO, MONACO THE MODERATOR: Questions, please. Q. Marat, bad luck. Did you think you'd got back into the match in the second set and could go on and win? MARAT SAFIN: No, was a little bit too late to come back, and he got confident. I started pretty -- not really -- I was missing a little bit of energy. I got sick two, three days ago, and I'm still little bit weak, so it's difficult to run around and try to make winners all over the court, especially on clay. So I had to work a little bit harder, and unfortunately, I'm not really ready for this. Q. When did you know you could play the match today? MARAT SAFIN: Yesterday I was a little bit sick in the morning. I had a little bit of fever, and just basically last night I was still little bit cold in the dinner. Well, I had to take all the medicines, and the medicines, of course they leave you a little bit weak. So in the morning I didn't really felt really awake. And 6-0 wasn't nothing, in a few minutes. I just couldn't really run on the baseline, and that's why I was trying to play fast. I was missing a lot. Sort of was not there. So it's difficult to play against these kind of guys, against Mathieu. He was just running around, playing solid from the baseline, didn't do really anything special. He was waiting for me to make a mistake, so was right play from him. And me, I got back a little bit into the match a little bit too late. I think if I would stay with him a little bit longer in the first set, maybe I would have a chance. But, unfortunately, second, I was already getting too tight. Q. So what are your ambitions on clay? You're still struggling to obviously get full fitness after all the injuries. How do you feel apart from this last little setback? MARAT SAFIN: Well, compared to -- I mean, well, last week I made a semifinal in clay coming out from the indoors fast surface and playing five-set matches in France. So it was quite a good change to the clay. Been playing really well. I'm hitting the ball really well. So next week I will take the rest, and then I'm heading to Estoril so it will be perfect setup before Rome and Hamburg. And then heading to the French Open. I think I still have -- I will do something good on clay, I am sure. Q. If you get enough matches between then and now, do you want to be in a position to go into Roland Garros believing you can win it? MARAT SAFIN: I'm still far from that. Also, my ranking is pretty far away from being seeded in Roland Garros and that's why it's a little bit difficult to say something that you can get into the quarterfinals or even to the second week, because you might play the first round against Nadal, Federer, any good Spanish players, Argentinians, and they can destroy you completely. So basically I have to bet in hoping for the good draw, so it all depends on the draws. And look at here, I am playing Mathieu. At the second round I would have to play against Coria. The draws are not really helping me out lately. So expecting that in the future I will have a little bit of luck and then I will take my chances. Q. Mathieu is a player who suffered quite a lot from injuries as well. He said last season was his first full season without injury. If he's injury-free, how far do you think he can go as a player? MARAT SAFIN: It depends. I mean, like he had quite bad -- I think he had quite bad losses, for example, in the Davis Cup against us, and then all of a sudden he disappeared. Before that, he won two tournaments and he beat Kuerten in the final and then he won actually Lyon and Moscow. He was supposed to be in the top 10. And now the guy is struggling. He makes his matches, but he doesn't really do anything special. I think it's a little bit a pity because he's quite talented guy. But he can be there, but he needs to be more brave, that's for sure.
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