US OPEN

September 6, 1999

Vincent Spadea

USTA: Questions for Vince.

VINCENT SPADEA: Is there a question?

VINCENT SPADEA: Yeah, he served well. It's like a guessing game on his serve. I didn't start out on the right foot. I didn't hold serve. That was the idea.

VINCENT SPADEA: When he missed his first serve, I had opportunities.

VINCENT SPADEA: He came out like going for every shot. I think he had a game plan. The last two times I played him, I was the winner in straight sets both times. I think he had like this specific game plan. He just started trying to hit winners. The court was playing extremely fast, faster than I expected. I had hit on it, but his shots are obviously going to be even more penetrating. I can make a million excuses that are relevant, but he played well and I didn't.

VINCENT SPADEA: Yeah. The ball skids a lot. Even on his first volley, I had to like win the point off the return when he served. The ball, it's not like grass, but it skips. The slice skids even more. I was moving like a -- who knows what. I can't think of it.

VINCENT SPADEA: I mean, anytime you get into a Grand Slam in the second week, you're going to start feeling aches and pains. I didn't help myself by making life so tough in the first few rounds. Against a top player who doesn't leave a lot of openings, you have to be very sharp, and I was far from that. Even when I beat him the last two times, the scores, there were just very small openings, and I hit the right shots at the right times.

VINCENT SPADEA: Well, like yeah. I've always been fatigued from the second -- from the start of the second match. We didn't exactly have a lot of long points today. To make things worse, I thought I'd be okay.

VINCENT SPADEA: I've never been to this tournament, but I'm looking forward to getting some free cologne from Cool Water because that's what I use. I don't know. I mean, I heard it's a fun tournament. I don't know what to expect. It's obviously indoors.

VINCENT SPADEA: Are you from the Netherlands?

VINCENT SPADEA: Yeah. Obviously, I mean, the guy has won a Grand Slam. I don't need to express an opinion on something that's pretty much, you know, somewhat obvious. Anyone who is still left in the tournament can win this tournament. I don't know if you could specify a few guys. I think Kafelnikov maybe mentioned -- maybe thought that they might be the favorites or they have the advantage or something. In any tournament, anyone can win.

VINCENT SPADEA: With the way he played today, he played very well. He was hitting his wide serves extremely well. That's something that he must have been practicing or he just lights it up when he needs to. Usually I get a look at some serves. I don't know what his statistics were. I'd like to see them, if they were as far out, as helpless as I felt.

VINCENT SPADEA: How many aces?

VINCENT SPADEA: What's that?

VINCENT SPADEA: I felt like there were more. There were some aces, but there were a lot of balls that I barely got. Those were practically aces. I played a very poor tactical match, I felt. I think even as well as he was playing, I could have definitely improved my approach. It was one big mistake.

VINCENT SPADEA: Away from him?

VINCENT SPADEA: I don't know about that.

VINCENT SPADEA: Yeah, it was just as unsound as I've been. I haven't played particularly great tennis throughout the tournament. I was kind of grinding my way through. I was hopefully looking for that one match where I could start getting on my game again. It's difficult to play great tennis for three straight sets all the time. Plus I feel like the last time I beat him, he was definitely on like a mission, seemed like. It's obviously the US Open.

VINCENT SPADEA: I'm going home.

VINCENT SPADEA: Then Basel.

VINCENT SPADEA: Well, I know that I can't afford to spend all that time and effort in early round matches. In the second week, you have to be ready to play top level tennis for five sets. I guess you're supposed to be ready to play that every match, but still I had a lot of struggle. That's one lesson I learned. The other lesson is, you know, there's some positive to it. But obviously I've been in the Round of 16 of this tournament four years ago. It's not an incredible improvement.

VINCENT SPADEA: Well, that's the idea. To win the lottery, you still have to go to work every day and see your progress. That's a bad analogy.

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