US OPEN

September 2, 2004

Mardy Fish

THE MODERATOR: First question, please.

MARDY FISH: I don't know. I mean, I can't speak for anybody else but myself really. But, I mean, I don't think it really has anything to do with it. I think, if anything, for me it helped. I mean, it just gave me more confidence than I had before. I definitely didn't have as much confidence before the Olympics as I did before this tournament. So it helped me.

MARDY FISH: Yeah, I mean, I had plenty of loose games today that I couldn't really count on my fingers. You know, whether there on my serve game or his serve games, you know, I mean, I gave him a lot of games today. I can't really remember honestly what happened. I know that I double-faulted on the last point. I know I double-faulted on the last point of the match. You know, my serve hasn't been there the past couple weeks for me like I had hoped. You know, that definitely had something to do with it.

MARDY FISH: Yeah, I mean, I think the one that they called in on the baseline, I tried to hit it. I mean, I didn't hit it in. And, yeah, it's just reaction shot. I can't really explain that.

MARDY FISH: I don't know. I mean, there's definitely something. I mean, I had been trying to, you know, not really think about it too much, you know, that I haven't -- you know, that I haven't really done too well in any of the Slams. You know, now I'm starting to really think about it, to be honest with you. This is the only thing that I'm missing, you know, on my ranking is a big tournament, a couple big tournaments, in some of the big tournaments. A couple big results, anyways. You know, I felt like this was my year to, you know, do well here. I felt like that last year, as well. You know, coming into the tournament, I had a lot of confidence, just haven't taken advantage of it. I can't really explain why.

MARDY FISH: I don't know. I mean, I don't really feel like conditioning came into play today. I felt great. I mean, you know, the conditions were perfect. If you were a little tired today, then it would have been conditioning. And I felt fine. I don't -- yeah, I mean, it could be, you know, lapses in attention and not staying as focused as I should be throughout the entire match. I don't know. I mean, I felt like, again, the injury time-out that he took, the 10, 15 minutes, really kind of changed things around for him. You know, same thing that happened in the finals of the Olympics.

MARDY FISH: (Nodding head.)

MARDY FISH: What caused me to bat left-handed?

MARDY FISH: I don't know. I just started. I golf lefty. I bat lefty.

MARDY FISH: Yeah, I guess.

MARDY FISH: I don't think so. I mean, I'm not the kind of person that dwells on losses. The Olympics, that's a little bit different. That's a tough loss. But, you know, I mean, I'll forget about it for sure in about a week or whatever, start getting focused again on hopefully playing Davis Cup. I mean, we still have two big tournaments in the end of the year. If I can do well in one of those or both of those tournaments, I can get my ranking back. I'm only a hundred points away from the Top 20 again. You know, if I -- and I lost first round in both those tournaments last year, so I have really not too much to defend. You know, that's an up for me. That's kind of exciting. I mean, I know going into next year, I mean, I got a lot of holes where I don't have to defend very many points. You know, that's the exciting part about, you know, being where I am right now, is that I've had some disappointing losses this year. You know, this is kind of my sophomore year. I mean, I'm kind of taking my lumps. You know, I don't want to be taking my lumps, obviously. But, you know, I can't -- you know, I don't know, so...