AUSTRALIAN OPEN

January 17, 2001

Wayne Arthurs

WAYNE ARTHURS: It certainly is, I've had a few rough draws in Adelaide and Sydney, it's good to get maybe a little easier draw coming into the Australian Open. It's good to get the win as well.

WAYNE ARTHURS: It was a very up and down match. I was actually pleased with the way I came through the last set. I sort of concentrated a lot better than I had done in the first four sets and pulled it out 6-1. So that was very pleasing.

WAYNE ARTHURS: I didn't find it a distraction, no. Playing in your hometown --.

WAYNE ARTHURS: No, I can only see that as a positive. I actually fed off them in the last sort of set and a half. Actually, I think there's about ten guys from Camberwell Grammar, where I used to go to school out there. I don't actually know who they are, but they're making a lot of noise out there, which is great.

WAYNE ARTHURS: I wouldn't say we are great friends. We've played doubles a few times, actually haven't played Tim in singles since the '94 French Open qualifying, which I beat him. That's a long time ago and a lot of water under the bridge since then. So I'm looking forward to the match.

WAYNE ARTHURS: I'm not really sure. I had a bit of a lapse on my serve, which has been happening in the last couple of matches which I'm not really sure what it is. I think it's maybe a little bit, too, the windy conditions. But I -- it's just something I have to sort out in the next day or so. Coming into the fifth, I felt pretty good even though I'd lost the fourth set, I was up an early break in that set. I still thought that I was going to win the match.

WAYNE ARTHURS: Yeah, my coach and I, we have a set plan for each player that we try and stick to during the match. That was one of the tactics that we were trying to use.

WAYNE ARTHURS: Definitely I've got to concentrate a lot harder than I have been. I'm not actually concentrating, but just the ebbs and the flows, there's got to be a little bit more on an even keel than -- with a Top 10 player, you can't afford to have lapses in there. They'll take advantage of that. So that's something that I'll be looking to straighten out.

WAYNE ARTHURS: That's good to hear. I always like to hear that. We practiced in Adelaide, and I didn't -- try not to give too many secrets away on my serve, and just put it so he can return a few. But I have a few tricks up my sleeve there.

WAYNE ARTHURS: I think because I've been -- I hadn't been in this situation before, and at the end of '99 I went and watched Davis Cup and it was very draining, actually. All the Davis Cup leadup to that, where I played in Brisbane and that sort of thing, it took a bit of a toll on me. I wasn't used to that, coming out here, speaking to you guys sort of week in and week out. I just didn't really get over it for three or four months. Then I sort of got used to it sort of half way through last year, 2000, and started to play and get my confidence back.

WAYNE ARTHURS: I think it was, yeah. It was just a strange situation for me at the time.

WAYNE ARTHURS: Approximately three years.

WAYNE ARTHURS: Not a great deal. I mean, around Wimbledon time, four or five weeks in a row. But usually I'm back maybe two days or two days every three weeks or something if I'm playing in Europe. It just depends where I'm playing. Go through a six-week stretch in the States so I'm not really there at all in the next three or four months.

WAYNE ARTHURS: No, not at all. (Laughing.) Yeah, he's always had the ability, he's always had the talent. It's a bit of hard work on his part in the last couple of years, he's shown that he belongs in the Top 10.

WAYNE ARTHURS: Not officially. It's certainly a option. There's also Sandon here as well and I think Jason's going as well. So there's a few combinations that could be tossed around.