GREAT AMERICAN INSURANCE ATP CHAMPIONSHIP

August 7, 1997

Jan Siemerink

Q. Seems like you had sought of hard luck this year with some of the matches that you almost had. Did you kind of feel like this was a breakthrough for you?

JAN SIEMERINK: Yes, you are right. The rest of the year, the beginning of the year has been very bad start for me. And, yeah, it has been a hard time also, like you said, I had a few very close matches and I couldn't win them somehow, you know, and -- I don't know. Always different circumstances why you are not winning a match. Yeah, when you finally play a few good matches in a row, I mean, you are very happy that everything comes together again.

JAN SIEMERINK: Well, Goran, you never know. I think he doesn't even know what is going to happen when he goes out there during a match. And, with his big serve that he has, he is dangerous for everybody. The thing against Goran, you just have to concentrate on your own service games. I play serve and volley and I don't give him so much rhythm and seems like he doesn't really like that. When he gets a few serves back and he gets the important points, then he gets a bit, I don't know, a bit rushy. He wants to hit a quick ace otherwise he thinks he is in trouble. And, that is what happens on the matchpoint also, I think -- I mean, I had matchpoint and he was rushing a little bit, couldn't hit the ace and he was trying to hit ace with the second serve and he missed it. Yeah, that is what he plays. You never know what to expect.

JAN SIEMERINK: Yeah, I used to hate it, actually. (laughs).

JAN SIEMERINK: Playing lefty. Normally as a lefty you have the change of serve on the ad side and against lefty you don't have it because they have the forehand. In the beginning I have some problems with that, but seems to go better and better now. And it is nice to play another lefty, you know, you don't have to adjust every match you play then.

JAN SIEMERINK: Well, I have played him before and I never beat him and he is a very tough competitor. He never gives up. He fights for every point and of course, he is very solid from the baseline. So, what I am trying to do tomorrow is to play my own game again, play serve and volley on first and second. And try to come in as much as I can, you know, to keep the pressure on him because from the baseline, it is going to be hard for me to beat him. So, I have to find another way to beat him and I think that is at the net.

JAN SIEMERINK: I guess so. But, his clay court season is not that great this year. And, you know, maybe he set his mind more on the hard courts than on the clay courts. That is maybe the difference with last year that he was playing so long on the clay court that he knew he was going to win and then on the hard court it is a little bit different game, a little bit faster. Now he seems to be playing better on the hard court than on the clay, somehow. I don't know how that comes.

JAN SIEMERINK: Yes.

JAN SIEMERINK: Yeah, it is hard to do, but -- yeah, of course. Like you said about Goran, but I always played first and second serve and volley, that is just my game. So, if you want to beat a good player you have to play your best tennis and my best tennis is to play serve and volley on first and second. If it is not good enough, then I have to improve my second serve. And, that is what you are working on when you are serve and volley player, serve and volley better and better all the time.

JAN SIEMERINK: Yeah, it is tough to do. Like you said, guys are returning better and better, and it is harder to play serve and volley; especially on the second serve and, you know, there are still a few guys who do it and it is not impossible. It is -- like I said, if you want to do it, you have to improve your serve. You have to improve your volleys because it is going faster and faster and that is -- that is not something impossible to do. But you have to keep working on it.

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