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AUSTRALIAN OPEN

January 17, 2007

Wayne Arthurs

MELBOURNE, VICTORIA

THE MODERATOR: First question, please.

Q. Five sets in the first round, four sets in the second.
WAYNE ARTHURS: Getting easier, isn't it (smiling)?

Q. Looked easier than the first round. Did it feel easier?
WAYNE ARTHURS: Yeah, I think I was feeling a little bit better than the first day. Four sets and it was only two hours 15 minutes today, whereas the other time was three and a half hours or something.
So, yeah, a little easier today. But tough day at the office in that respect.

Q. How does it feel to be in the third round again? How does it feel to be in what you said is your last Australian Open?
WAYNE ARTHURS: Yeah, I'm very happy with the results so far. To be able to get through at this late stage of my career to a third round of a Grand Slam. My Grand Slam record over the last couple years hasn't been great, previous to what is probably what I prided myself on. But the last few years hasn't been great. To get through to the third round, I'm very happy with myself.

Q. Do you think because the horizon is getting closer, it's giving you added impetus to keep going?
WAYNE ARTHURS: I think it is, as well. Sort of to take expectation off yourself as well. It would be very easy, it would be nice, to be able to play the whole career in this sort of atmosphere.
Yeah, I've just taken all the pressure off myself, just let it happen out there. Whatever happens happens.

Q. Does that mean you're going for different shots? Feel lighter in the shoulders?
WAYNE ARTHURS: Lighter in the shoulders. Maybe not getting too down on myself. In previous matches, if I lost that first set, I would have got on my own back, thought, This is not going well today. I just thought, It's just happening, let it go.

Q. You said on TV you were watching Sesame Street with your daughter. Do you feel the pressure is off?
WAYNE ARTHURS: That's the sort of thing we do. Nice to wake up, you have a smiling, happy face that looks at you every morning, doesn't really give a stuff what you're going to go out that day and do. We watch Sesame Street and all that sort of thing. I'm learning the Wiggle's song day by day.

Q. Who is your favorite Sesame Street characters?
WAYNE ARTHURS: Bert and Ernie. I love Bert and Ernie.

Q. How is your stomach and your general health now?
WAYNE ARTHURS: Good actually. I've eaten the last couple days, full meals. Physically I felt pretty good. I have a little bit of a hip problem. It's nice to have a full stomach, not that churning feeling that I had in the first match.

Q. What about your own creaky bones, best-of-five sets taking its toll?
WAYNE ARTHURS: Surprisingly pretty good actually. I was a little stiff yesterday in certain parts, my shoulder, that sort of thing. That sort of comes through lack of match practice. I haven't had that many matches over the last two and a half months.
Probably the more matches I play, the better my body generally feels. I know that's sort of strange to say at this age. Your body gets into a rhythm of playing matches. It feels better after playing more matches.

Q. How much can you draw from the crowd support?
WAYNE ARTHURS: Massively. Every day it keeps on getting better and better. They're getting me over the line, they really are. Can't thank them enough.

Q. The crowd support, what do you think your fans see in you as a person as opposed to a player?
WAYNE ARTHURS: I think they see me as a pretty down-to-earth, straightforward sort of person, someone they can probably relate to more than someone who's way above them, maybe like an Andy Roddick or a Roger Federer.
I mean, I'm probably having a little fun with them when they're saying things and I'm sort of responding a little bit to them. I think that's what they see in me.

Q. Your celebration, the way you collapse at the end, your trademark.
WAYNE ARTHURS: Hopefully it's not a real thing one day (smiling).
Yeah, just something to carry on from the first round.

Q. Do you still feel like you're playing some of your best tennis?
WAYNE ARTHURS: Some days I do. It's not as easy as it used to be to come out day in, day out and play at a really high level. My results over the last year probably showed that. I had a great result against Tommy Robredo at the end of the year. I sort of have that level, and some days a bit of a lower level.
So when you're feeling good, you tend to play better. Some days you get out the wrong side of the bed, and it's not as easy.

Q. Do you care where you play your next match?
WAYNE ARTHURS: I will request that Margaret Court Arena. But, no, I don't think so. The intimacy of that court, I think I can draw from the crowd a little easier than, say, Vodafone or Rod Laver.

Q. Have you played Rod Laver in your nine singles appearances here?
WAYNE ARTHURS: I have. I got smashed by Sampras on that court, and Henman in the third round.

Q. If they want to put you on Rod Laver, you'll say, No thanks, give me Margaret?
WAYNE ARTHURS: I would say politely that I prefer to play on Margaret Court. If I go on Rod Laver, it's not a problem either.

Q. You came to the net 89 times in that match.
WAYNE ARTHURS: No way (smiling).

Q. How big a part of your game is serve and volley? Is it a shame it's kind of phasing out?
WAYNE ARTHURS: It's what I do. I've serve-volleyed the whole of my career. It is a bit of a shame that serve-and-volley tennis is going out of the game a little bit. That's due to the fact that the players have got faster. The returning of players has got much, much better.
When I was growing up, I don't remember going out and practicing returning, whereas you see guys out on the practice court these days, they're returning all the time. They're getting their coaches to serve to them halfcourt and returning a lot.
The speed of the courts also over the last five, ten years have slowed down. More balls are coming back.

Q. There's a 7% improvement in your first serve from this game to your last. What do you attribute that to?
WAYNE ARTHURS: Probably not overserving. Maybe I overserved a little bit because I knew I was a little bit sick in the first match, trying to probably go for a little bit more. I think my rhythm was a lot better today than it was in the first round. And obviously attributed to the, I don't know, 60, 70%, something like that.

Q. Mardy Fish said that you're good mates.
WAYNE ARTHURS: No, I hate the guy (laughter).

Q. Will that help or hinder you?
WAYNE ARTHURS: No, I've known Mardy for a long, long time. I played him when he first came on the tour, when he got a wildcard in Newport. I think that's the only time we played. I beat him pretty easily there, but that was a long time before he actually got any good.
Yeah, I've played doubles against him. I played a lot of the tours in the U.S. where he is. Once you get on a court, it's all battle.

Q. What do you have to do well against a guy like that?
WAYNE ARTHURS: Serve well again. He's a good returner. Obviously coped with Ivan Ljubicic's serve very well. I'll think about it a bit more the next day or so. He may be watching this. I don't want to give too much away to him (smiling).

Q. Will you throw something different at him --
WAYNE ARTHURS: A grenade (laughter).

Q. -- like maybe blue hair or something like that?
WAYNE ARTHURS: I won't say anything about the hair today. Probably not a good omen to do anything about my hair.

Q. You seem to be enjoying this so much. How does this compare to other Grand Slams you've been in? Seems to be one of your favorites?
WAYNE ARTHURS: It is my favorite. I've just been disappointed in the past that I sort of haven't played well here. It's nice, when it's your last one, to have a couple of wins and enjoy the crowd and just soak it up for a few more days.

Q. Have you made a schedule beyond here?
WAYNE ARTHURS: No.

Q. Was it hard not to break out in laughter with the guy with multi-colored hair?
WAYNE ARTHURS: One of the comments came, Here go the French guys. I was going to nearly laugh then. Don't know what that means.

End of FastScripts

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