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WESTERN & SOUTHERN FINANCIAL GROUP MASTERS

August 14, 2006

David Nalbandian

CINCINNATI, OHIO

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. This result was a little better than last week's, huh?
DAVID NALBANDIAN: Yeah, yeah. I'm feeling better every day. I was sick last week in Toronto, so I don't think I'm hundred percent yet. I feel a little bit tired yet. I was with fever, so you need few days to recover power and energy.
But the match for today was good, and I think if I keep going, every single day will be better for me.

Q. Is it important just to make them quick matches and not go three sets?
DAVID NALBANDIAN: Yeah, of course. Of course, of course. Short matches, short points, less games. Everything is important.

Q. But more so this week than normal?
DAVID NALBANDIAN: Yeah, of course, yeah.

Q. You didn't look at all well on court in Toronto. People were surprised that you actually played. Was it because you'd not had very many matches? Was that the reason?
DAVID NALBANDIAN: No, the reason was that I was okay on Sunday. I mean, it started on Sunday night that I start with fever. I wake up, I'm feel really bad, but nobody knows what exactly happened. I don't know if it was an insolation from sun or I don't know. Maybe virus, I don't know. I just feel very bad, very bad, and early as Monday. So when I go to warm it up, was really terrible. The world was moving around.

Q. It looked like that.
DAVID NALBANDIAN: Yeah, yeah. Was really, really terrible. And then in the match I said, Okay, I'm gonna try. I mean, I don't think I'm gonna feel worse than it was, so I just tried, but I couldn't do nothing.

Q. What about the rain delay today, how did that affect your game?
DAVID NALBANDIAN: Well, it was tough. I mean, never is easy win the first round and most when it's raining like this, then stop and come back, stop and come back. But it was okay. I mean, I won in two sets. The first set was important when I was 4-0 in the first and then we stop for the first time.
And then come back and win quickly that set was good because then you just feel like you just have to play one more set or maybe two. So was good.

Q. In the month between Wimbledon and Toronto, do you rest or work hard? What did you do?
DAVID NALBANDIAN: I rest for a week and a half, almost two, and then was working hard for three weeks, so I was really, really fit to go in Toronto. I was really motivated to go to play, to try to win. But these kind of things you never can control. So was not a good signal.

Q. From what we saw in Paris, okay, it's a different surface, but from what we saw there, you're not far behind Roger Federer and maybe Rafael, as well. Do you feel that?
DAVID NALBANDIAN: I never play with Nadal, so I couldn't tell you what I feeling on court. But with Roger, we play a lot of times against, and that time in Paris I feel that I have the control of the match all the time. So if I don't get injury, maybe I win in three straight sets, but who knows?

Q. With as much as people have talked about the rivalry between Federer and Nadal, do you and like Ljubicic feel like you're overlooked because you're No. 3 in the world, No. 4 in the world, do you feel overlooked sometimes?
DAVID NALBANDIAN: I think of course, I mean, the big stars are there. They win almost all the tournaments. If it is not one, it's the other one.
And every time they play it's very interesting to watch. It's normal. It's No. 1 and No. 2 in the world. I mean, that's the rule of sports. But I think we think it's okay.

Q. Are you close to them? How close do you think you are to them? You must feel that you're right on the brink of beating them and maybe being No. 1 yourself?
DAVID NALBANDIAN: Yeah, I mean, I know that all of us are one step down of them. But when we play each other, I mean, you get in the court and then anything can happen. I beat him a lot of time and he beat me many times as well.
But I feel that he has a lot of control every time that he also on court. I mean, he won all the matches that he play, and that's not easy even for me, even for Nadal, even for everybody. I mean, Roger, it's, I mean, incredible. I mean, they almost never lose with nobody.

Q. A lot of the players are saying that this surface compared to Toronto is a lot different with the humidity. They said the ball felt a lot heavier here. Do you agree with that?
DAVID NALBANDIAN: Well, the weather of course is much difference. Here, obviously is more hot, more humid.
I think that the court is faster than Toronto. It's similar to US Open. I think the ball is a little bit heavy, but when the court is so fast, maybe the feeling are not the same.

Q. Are you just as good on this as on clay?
DAVID NALBANDIAN: I think so, yeah. I think so.

Q. Do you play a slightly different way on this?
DAVID NALBANDIAN: Well, a little bit, yeah. A little bit more flat, yeah.

End of FastScripts...

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