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WIMBLEDON

July 2, 2007

Wayne Arthurs

LONDON, ENGLAND

Q. Did you feel like you just couldn't get the things in rhythm again one more time?
WAYNE ARTHURS: Yeah, just couldn't get the balance right. I was so hyperactive in the locker room before I went out there today, and I just -- just too excited to play, and came out and couldn't do anything.
To his credit, he played very well. I mean, he returned my serve like probably no one else has done in the last four matches that I've played and got on top of me very early.
And then after the rain break I was actually -- I felt like I played a lot better, like more calm and that sort of thing. But by that time it was over.

Q. You mentioned in your press conference the other day possible quarterfinals and back in the top 100 you may reconsider not hanging up the racquet as far as Wimbledon is concerned. What's the situation right now?
WAYNE ARTHURS: No, I'm done. I'll be retiring after this tournament.

Q. Could you give us a bit of emotion on that? How you feel about it?
WAYNE ARTHURS: Yeah, it was very emotional actually. Sort of the stage was set in that last couple of games. A big cloud sort of ascended over the court and it was all dark. It felt like the end of my career sort of coming over the top of my head. It was a very strange atmosphere actually because it was so dark behind.
Yeah, pretty emotional, but I think I've accepted that over the last four or five months. I knew that I was going to retire here, and there was a very small possibility that I was going to go on, and that would have been the fair I tale.
I had the dream to make it here and it's landed somewhere in between both of those, so I can't complain.

Q. When you look back on your career, what would be the things you most fondly recall?
WAYNE ARTHURS: Winning my first title in Scottsdale was a huge moment for me, something that I always wanted to do, and it took me a long, long time to do it. But it was very satisfying that I did actually win an ATP singles event.
Also Davis Cup, as well, has always been a huge part of my career since '99, and 2003. Winning the Davis Cup in 2003, is right up there.
Another big moment, also, it's probably the other side of the scale, was playing the fifth rubber in Davis Cup, even though it was a losing match that I did play. I got unbelievable support from the Australian public after that match, and it's a very memorable day for the wrong reasons but also for a lot of the right reasons.

Q. It's interesting because a lot of people sort of saw that and thought you got shafted on that day.
WAYNE ARTHURS: Yeah, I sort of take a positive out of it rather than look at the negative side, and the positive feedback certainly outweighed what actually happened in that tie. I tend to look at it as a very positive day for my career, and Davis Cup in general has always been such a huge priority of mine.
I've never won a Grand Slam, and that's as close as I've come to winning huge events. I've never taken a backwards step in playing for Australia.

Q. Was Jonas aware that this could have been your last match?
WAYNE ARTHURS: I don't know. I didn't ask him. I'm not best of friends with him.

Q. My question was if he did know, what did he say to you?
WAYNE ARTHURS: No, he just said -- I don't remember actually. I'm sure Todd has probably told me. Todd is coaching him, so I'm sure he's probably up to speed with it.

Q. On the flipside, any regrets along the way, that you didn't kick off your singles career earlier?
WAYNE ARTHURS: Yeah, there probably is a regret that I probably didn't believe in my ability early on in my career and didn't seek the guidance that you need to really get that to come to fruition. Yeah, there was a lot of years in the wilderness, but very happy that I got out of the wilderness, and I probably have to thank Brent Larkham for doing that, the AIS coach now who coached me for seven or eight years. A huge debt of gratitude to him.
There's a lot of other people that I could thank, as well, people that sponsored me leading up to that. Brent got a couple of sponsors, Chris and Sue Ralph. Actually they're English people and they sponsored us through those years and we've become great friends with them, and a couple other people from the States, Tommy and Lisa, so who have been really supportive over my career, as well.

Q. You said the other day that you didn't want your wife to find out that you might be playing -- did she get wind of it?
WAYNE ARTHURS: She did get wind of it, yes. There was a couple of rackets flying past my head (laughter). No, she's been great. Caroline has been a rock for the last 15 years we've been together. Yeah, she came from a tennis background, also. She was the No. 1 junior in Sweden at 16, 18, and had an unfortunate knee problem which stopped her playing when she was 18.
But yeah, she's been a great support and a great fiancé, as well, over the last 15 years.

Q. Can I ask you, why the sort of certainty? Why was it for you that sort of as soon as that match finished it was your last one?
WAYNE ARTHURS: Yeah, because I always said that this was going to be my last. My ranking doesn't move pretty much at all because I qualified here and I got 60 points, which moves me from 200 to 175 or something like that.
No, but the decision was made, and that was it. I have no regrets on my decision. I knew it was time.

Q. Tennis is a bit harsh because you win the tournament you're always going to lose your last match?
WAYNE ARTHURS: It is. I've had a lot of losses. There's a lot of losses in people's careers. The general public don't see that outside the Grand Slams. They're not really aware that there's 30 other tournaments you play throughout the year and you lose every week.
Unless you're Roger Federer you lose every week or you're losing 30, 40 matches a year minimum probably for most people. So it's a big up and down sort of lifestyle that you have in tennis. The highs are generally great, but there's a lot of lows certainly at the level that I was.
I was top 50 at one stage, but there's a lot of losses that go along with the wins.

Q. But you've also had two fourth round --
WAYNE ARTHURS: Yeah, but I lost, remember (laughter)?

Q. I mean, fourth round is fourth round.
WAYNE ARTHURS: I'm not saying that, but it's very hard to be on an even keel, which you have to be throughout your tennis career, otherwise you're going to go nuts, you really are.

Q. You must have been satisfied with that, too?
WAYNE ARTHURS: Yeah, I'm not saying I'm not satisfied with a lot of my results that I've had, but I'm saying that you can go -- one week you can be on top of the world, and then next week all of a sudden you're losing to whoever it is straightaway. So it's very difficult to be even, but that's the way you have to be.

Q. You mentioned you wanted to put something back into tennis the other day. Have you got any thoughts on what that might be, where to go from here for you?
WAYNE ARTHURS: Not fully. I'll sort of step back for a couple of months and sort of enjoy retirement for a couple of months at least. Probably development of some of the younger guys.
I think I'm pretty good technically, teaching technical stuff. I could set up a serving school for some of these guys might be a good idea.
But there's no final plan. But I think it is an obligation when you have been pretty good in the sport to put back and try and grow tennis, Australian tennis, to where it used to be.

Q. You seem to have a very good perspective on the ups and downs and the losses. You were a bit of a late bloomer yourself. Do you think other people in the sport could use that, the perspective that you have?
WAYNE ARTHURS: You don't sort of get that perspective until you get to my age, as well, and you've had such lows and you've had the highs. I've been very lucky. I've been ranked most of the time between 50 and 100 through my Davis Cup career. I mean, if you look back in the past through Davis Cup, I mean, if you're ranked 50 to 100, you wouldn't even get a game.
In that respect I've been very lucky. Yeah, that's the sort of thing that I could probably teach some of the younger guys coming up. It is sort of life and death when you're on the court, but you've got to also see the other side of the fence sometimes, and that's what maybe some of the parents that are growing up with younger kids don't sort of see. You want to have sort of a balance between the good side and what not to do at the same time.

Q. Would you actually encourage your daughter to be a tennis player?
WAYNE ARTHURS: I wouldn't discourage it if she shows some promise in any sport. It's a great lifestyle. I've had a great lifestyle the last 15, 20 years, whatever it is, to be out there doing a sport that you absolutely love. I wouldn't hold her back from doing it.
I mean, I don't know what sort of pushy parent I would be. I don't think I would, though, because I had pretty good grounding from my parents, as well. They've been very supportive but in the background, and that's maybe the way that I would go, as well.
If she shows promise, she's got some pretty good genes behind her.

Q. Is your dad here, by the way?
WAYNE ARTHURS: No, they're not over here.

Q. Anything waiting for you in the locker room today?
WAYNE ARTHURS: There was a, Well done, Wayne, on a white board as I came in from -- Neville Fowler who organizes all the towels and that sort of thing, he's an Aussie, as well. So that was nice.

Q. He was the guy with the wheelchair?
WAYNE ARTHURS: That was a different guy. He was the guy with the downstairs locker.

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