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ROGERS MASTERS

August 11, 2006

Xavier Malisse

TORONTO, ONTARIO

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. How do you feel?
XAVIER MALISSE: I'm pretty tired (smiling). But, you know, in one way you feel disappointed because, you know, you played a good match and you get so close of winning, you know. You don't get that chance very often.
But, you know, on the other way, it's not like I gave it away or played bad. I did everything I could. He came up with some good shots, you know, breakpoint, good passing shot. You know, that's probably why he's been there for so many weeks, so many years.
You know, I feel good about my game. I mean, I can't feel bad about that. Just a little disappointed to not win. Yeah, just a little disappointed.

Q. All that energy that went into that second set tiebreak, the momentum with you, the crowd was with you, what happened between there and the start of the third set mentally?
XAVIER MALISSE: Well, I felt pretty good, you know. Like you say, I had the momentum on my side. But, you know, he played a good first game. It was 30-All in the first game. You know, if I can get a breakpoint, I can make him shake a little bit. But, you know, he came up with two good serves. There's not much you can do. It's always better to start and serve, you know, always have the lead. So I'm always chasing.
You know, at 2-1, I hit a couple good forehands. One went in the net, just hit the tape. I came to the net and he hit an awesome passing shot.
You know, I felt like, yeah, it's 3-1, but I had to hang in there because the side he was serving against the wind. At 4-2, that was my chance to break back because, you know, that's the side I've been breaking on. But he played a good game. Just too good.

Q. It's well-documented how his numbers are pretty awesome. Do you see when you play a match today for not only you, but the guys remaining, as difficult as it is, he's not Superman, he can be beaten?
XAVIER MALISSE: I think so. Everybody can be beaten. I mean, you got to show a lot of respect of what he's done. If you look at the numbers, I think he's lost maybe one or two hard court matches. Today was the first time I played him in four years since he's been playing on a different planet, I guess.
It's possible you can beat him. But, you know, to beat him, you have to be at a hundred percent the whole match. You can't slack one game or he's on top of you. I think that's what makes him so great.

Q. You've known him for a long time, played him for a long time. When you play a guy like that, is there a fun aspect to it, being on the court playing tennis at such a high level?
XAVIER MALISSE: Yeah, it was fun. Even though you lose at the end, it was fun. I played well. There was great rallies. The crowd got into it. That's why we play tennis, to play these matches like that.
But, you know, we grew up as juniors. You know, also when you come on the court against somebody like Roger, it's fun because it's probably the only match the whole year you have zero pressure. If I lose 2-2, who's going to talk about it? Everybody will say, Oh, it's normal. I feel like you can only do an upset.
You know, today was close. But, you know, it's still Roger out there. You got to show respect. But I think once you're on the court, you got to believe you can beat him. That's what you have to do.

Q. Was there anything you could have done differently?
XAVIER MALISSE: Not much. I mean, not really. I made a couple mistakes sometimes. But, you know, you got to attack. You got to accept those mistakes. If you're going to play with him, you're going to rally all day.
I felt like sometimes I could do that. But sometimes you have to take it to the net or be more aggressive. You know, so, I just think you got to go for your shots, otherwise there's no -- he's going to run you left and right with the forehand.

Q. You talk about you have to believe when you're on the court with Roger that you can beat him. Deep down, how difficult is it to do when you know who is on the other side of the net?
XAVIER MALISSE: It's really difficult. When you come on the court, yeah, you want to believe. But still it's tough, like you say. But once you get in the match, I think that's when you start believing. First set you kind of just play your game and see what happens. I mean, there's that belief, but then the also not belief because you're playing Roger. It kind of goes back and forth.
I think once you get to a third set, everything's possible. That's when you really start believing of winning. Maybe I shouldn't have done that.
You know, it's a tough scenario out there 'cause almost you can't believe, but you have to. I think it's just more of a mental aspect in preparing.

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