DAVIS CUP - USA vs SWITZERLAND

February 10, 2001

Patrick McEnroe

JUSTIN GIMELSTOB: Go ahead, guys. Fire away.

JAN-MICHAEL GAMBILL: Well, I mean, I think you guys can see how it went. I think that was pretty obvious. You're right, we didn't return very well, especially me. That's usually the strongest part of my game in doubles. Today it wasn't. They played well, though.

JUSTIN GIMELSTOB: You know, I think that, you know, a point or two differently in the beginning of the match, I would bet my life that things -- it just changes everything. I mean, they played a couple good points to get on top of us. You know, we were nipping at their heels, nipping at their heels. We didn't make them play enough balls on return. Things seemed to go their way. When they had to, they played well, they played solid, made a lot of balls, didn't play any bad service games. They just played a solid match. And, you know, Federer obviously has a lot of confidence, and we just could never quite get over the hump. I think if we got over the hump, it would have been a different situation.

JUSTIN GIMELSTOB: I think it's actually quite difficult. Just little things that you have to either -- things that you have to think about because you don't -- you just don't move instinctually or think instinctually as a team. I think that is the main difference. I think if you play a lot with someone in doubles, you just gradually, as Patrick would know or Jan-Michael or myself or anyone that's played a lot of doubles would know, it's eerie how you start instinctively moving to the right spots. You just know the other person's patterns, where they're comfortable, where their tendencies are. It's really eerie how you start gelling more and more as a team. Whereas a lot of times, like Jan-Michael and I, we were doing good things separately, or we could never combine, just never get together. And, you know, those guys don't play together a lot either so it's not like that was the big difference. I just think that it wasn't meant to be today. We both tried hard and, you know, I think the boys are going to come out ready to play tomorrow.

CAPTAIN PATRICK McENROE: Well, I mean obviously what's going through your mind is trying to figure out a way to turn the match around. That's what I tried to do. AS these guys said, these guys got off to a good start. You can get a momentum in doubles. A lot of times in doubles it does take one game to turn the match around. I felt we were close to that happening, but it didn't happen. They played a little bit better, and obviously Federer is playing great and came out with a lot of confidence. I think, you know, he picked up the level of his partner as the match went on. But, you know, these guys fought. They fought hard. They gave it everything they had and we came up with a loss today. But we still got a couple more matches to go.

CAPTAIN PATRICK McENROE: Well, we'll get to that when we get to it. Obviously the first match is Jan-Michael and Roger. That's going to be a great match. They're both playing great tennis. They both played well in their singles. I'm looking forward to that one first and foremost. If we win that match, obviously we'll make a decision. We won't make that decision until that time. We'll see how Todd responds to the treatment he's getting today, we'll see how he feels tomorrow when he hits a few balls. If he's not ready to go, then we'll put Andy in there and he'll be ready to go. He's been preparing for this possibility, and hopefully we'll get to that. But obviously the first case is we have to take care of getting ready for Jan-Michael to play his first match.

CAPTAIN PATRICK McENROE: Well, Jan-Michael has to play his game. He knows him well, he's played him a few times. If he plays the type of tennis that he played yesterday, he's going to have a great chance. He's just got to play his game. I mean, obviously he's got to serve well, attack him when he gets the opportunity. They're two great young players. To me, that's what the excitement is about in Davis Cup. They're both going to play well, and if Jan-Michael can play his game and impose his game, I think he's got a great chance.

CAPTAIN PATRICK McENROE: Well, I don't have my medical team here, but I mean, rest assured they're doing everything they can. If you want to get details, I would talk to them - the doctor - about it. I wouldn't know what to say precisely. I just know he's getting all the best treatment that we have, you know, to loosen his back up and see if he can go tomorrow.