US OPEN

September 10, 2006

Peter Polansky

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. How many lefties did you play this week?
PETER POLANSKY: Three.

Q. Is Klizan left handed?
PETER POLANSKY: Yeah, it was Klizan, Young and Lojda.

Q. Is that a challenge?
PETER POLANSKY: Uh, I don't really a little bit but, I mean, that doesn't really bother me that much. Lojda's lefty spin today was a bit tough, but I was able to still return okay. Against Young I was returning pretty well, too.

Q. How tired are you bearing in mind this is your 12th match in two weeks?
PETER POLANSKY: Yeah, well, I mean, I'm not really tired physically or mentally. Just, I don't know, kind of like I'm just kind of a little happy it's done. You know, just a little bit tired of just kind of playing so many matches and, you know, just having to do so much every day.
But I'm feeling pretty good still. Take some time off after this.

Q. Did you feel you had enough forehands to stay in the match today, or were you denied your favorite shot?
PETER POLANSKY: It was pretty tough. I mean, every time I'd get it to his forehand, he'd always hit, like, it to my backhand angle. It was tough to run around a lot.
And his backhand, I mean, his backhand crosscourt today was going really well. So it was tough to do anything when I was in the forehand to backhand rallies.
He played really well.

Q. Did you feel that you were not dominating on serve like you were in your past matches?
PETER POLANSKY: Yeah, I was struggling a bit with my first serve percentage. It wasn't going how I wanted it.
But, you know, my second serve was still able to kind of keep me in there, only getting broken once in each set. I was able to break back in the first, but I just couldn't do it in the second.

Q. Have any regrets about the tiebreaker there? You were up 4 3, slipped away pretty quick.
PETER POLANSKY: Yeah, I wish I just made him play a little more on those points.
But, I mean, yeah, just the way it goes. It could have gone either way, so...

Q. When you were going to go down a second break, 3 1 and 15 40, I believe it was in the second set, I saw you were still bouncing around and still trying.
PETER POLANSKY: Uh hmm.

Q. Was there any point in the match where you had decided that you weren't going to win, or did you still believe even then?
PETER POLANSKY: Well, not really. I mean, 'cause I was down a break in the first set, too, and I was able to get the break back. So I knew even though it was 3 Love or 5 3 it was still just one break. I thought if I just kept holding and I knew I mean, if I went down two breaks, I knew it would be really tough.
So I just tried to stay focused that game and, you know, I just said, You just got to hold here and just keep trying to break. I couldn't get that break in the second.

Q. Did you have a chance to talk with Billie Jean King yesterday?
PETER POLANSKY: Yeah, a little bit. She just kind of stopped by when I was eating lunch and just said just, Great match. She liked the way I played. So it was really nice.

Q. Will that help you with your incentive to get better?
PETER POLANSKY: Yeah, I'm sure it will. I mean, coming from her, it's really, really nice. I mean, just good.

Q. How disappointed are you that you lost today?
PETER POLANSKY: Well, I mean, I'm a little disappointed. I made it all the way to the final and I lost. The fact that he played really well, so, I mean, I'm disappointed but, I mean, I tried my best. I played okay. You know, he just came out there the better player today. He just wasn't missing, hitting lots of winners with his backhand. It was tough.
But I'm still pretty happy throughout these two weeks. I made two finals in a row. Too bad I didn't win one of them, but I'm still pretty happy (smiling).

Q. Can you talk a little bit about your recovery and where you're at now compared to before.
PETER POLANSKY: Well, before, before my accident, I mean, I was playing really well. I had made like two quarterfinals of like two futures. You know, I was in Davis Cup. I was playing well. Hitting with the guys.
After my accident, when I kind of stepped on court like three months later, it's kind of like I didn't really skip a beat. It's just been going really well.

Q. Did some of the time you had off during rehab help you because you were able to train or work on your fitness?
PETER POLANSKY: Yeah, for sure. When I was off, I think it was about like two and a half months where I was able to kind of start doing some fitness like movement wise, you know. I was just doing like really low (indiscernible). Before that, I was able to do a little bit of core stuff without using my legs too much. For sure it was a good time. It helped me with my physical part of my game.

Q. What was it like, the publicity?
PETER POLANSKY: It was a lot. I mean, a lot of people were interested in the story. I mean, it seemed like, I mean, every day someone wanted to hear the story. A lot of people asked questions. It gets a bit tiring, but, I mean, it was okay in the beginning.
Now I'm just trying to kind of people are still kind of asking about the accident. I'm just trying to get over that and, you know, just not have to tell the story all the time.

Q. With you getting to the finals here and Bester getting to the finals of the French, what does this do for Canada's Davis Cup hopes?
PETER POLANSKY: Well, I think for sure, you know, me and Phil we're doing really good. I think for sure we're gonna be the next guys playing Davis Cup. I know we still got Frank and Dan and Fred, who's injured a bit now, so I don't know what he's gonna do.
I think, you know, it's really good for Canada. I mean, we got a good couple guys coming up, and, I mean, just really good. I don't think there's too much below us right now, so hopefully we can do it.

Q. Have you practiced with any of the top players in Toronto or this tournament?
PETER POLANSKY: Yeah, in the Rogers Cup after I lost, I was able to hit with like almost everyone. I hit with Federer almost every time before his matches, like four or five times. I was able to hit with Blake and Tursunov and Santoro and Sanguinetti, González like three times. So I was hitting a lot with the top guys.

Q. Did any of the sessions stand out, like maybe the one with Federer?
PETER POLANSKY: With Federer, it was mainly for warm up. It was kind of tough. You know, they're really short. He just likes to go out there and just hit a few balls, just get kind of like a warm up. That's it.
He's played his matches; he's got his feel. He doesn't need to do much.
But with González, I mean, even just warming him up before his matches, warm ups were like an hour and a half almost. That was really different. I was able to play a couple sets against a couple guys, like, top 50, like Gilles Simon. And even Santoro I got to play a couple sets against. Just got to play points with a lot of guys.

Q. What was it like playing Santoro, because he's so different?
PETER POLANSKY: Yeah, it was really different. It was tough. But, I mean, it was just really fun. I was excited to be there. You know, it's really different game style than what, like, you kind of see out there. It's a little bit of a challenge. He's really crafty. I like his game.

Q. Did you win?
PETER POLANSKY: We split sets.

Q. What did Jack Graham say to you after the match?
PETER POLANSKY: Which one's that?

Q. The chairman of Tennis Canada.
PETER POLANSKY: Oh, oh. Well, we didn't get to talk too long, but he just, you know, he's been there for all of my matches. He just said, you know, I mean, Good try. He said just good match, good try. He said he'll be looking out for me.

Q. What do you think you have to do to bring your game up to the level of the people that you were hitting with at the Rogers Cup?
PETER POLANSKY: Well, for sure, I mean, they all hit really big so, I mean, it's tough. You got to be really fast. Just kind of just got to be there for every ball. I mean, like you see them play and they make it look so easy. But when you kind of go up there, I mean, their balls are a lot heavier and it's a lot it's tougher.
But, I mean, I was able to be in there with those guys, so, I mean, it that's what mainly gave me a lot of confidence, you know. For that whole week, I was hitting with a lot of the top guys. It was just a great week.

Q. In both sets you dropped your first service game. Was it nerves?
PETER POLANSKY: I don't think so. The first game, I think I was down a couple breakpoints and I was able to save those. Then I had a couple game points. I think I double faulted on one or two of them. You know, I almost had the first game and he ended up breaking me the first game.
I don't think it was nerves. I mean, I just didn't play those points the right way.
And then in the second set, I think I went down Love 30 off the first two points. I mean, he just I was able to kind of come back a bit and stay with him, but he got the break and, you know, I just tried to keep going at him. See if maybe he'll play a couple loose service games or something like that so I could get a break back. But never did.