TMS MONTE CARLO

April 24, 2004

Guillermo Coria

GUILLERMO CORIA: (Laughing). I have to continue winning more matches, that's very important, especially to win 25 matches that I played. But I believe what I lack is having won more important tournaments to consider myself as one of the best players on clay. I think Ferrero won more than I did - more matches, more tournaments.

GUILLERMO CORIA: No, no. For me, it's better that it's the best-of-five because when you go into the court, you might be a bit nervous. If it's in five sets, you have more opportunities to turn the situation around and come back into the match. I'm going to step on to the court with a lot of confidence. I feel perfectly fit. So for me it's not a problem that it's in five sets.

GUILLERMO CORIA: Safin is a very dangerous player. He is good on all sides - forehand, backhand, everywhere - and he has a beautiful serve. What I must do is play him very deep, keep putting pressure on him all the time, because if I lower my intensity, then I'll be out of the match. It's an important match for me because Safin is one of the best players.

GUILLERMO CORIA: In fact, he broke my serve. I was concentrated, but at that particular moment I lacked concentration. He stopped moving for a while, and I lost this game. After, it was very difficult to break back. So what I did is try to save myself for the third set.

GUILLERMO CORIA: Well, in fact, if it had been closer to the court, it would have been the same. It was just a joke, in fact. It was a joke mainly. The score wasn't that important.

GUILLERMO CORIA: In fact, both of them have completely different games from each other. Ferrero has very good results on clay, so he's more difficult. But Safin can be a very dangerous player. In fact, if I get to the finals in the French Open, I would rather have neither of them and have another player (smiling).

GUILLERMO CORIA: The match I prefer, the win I prefer, is the final in Hamburg. That's the most important match and, for me, the most important win. The other wins were important, too. The other match that was very important to me also to win was against Agassi in the French Open.

GUILLERMO CORIA: Either of them will be the same thing. Moya went to the finals in Buenos Aires and I won, and Schuettler has been having good results recently. He's a very dangerous and fast player. Right now his confidence is very high. So with either of them it's going to be the same. What I have to do is think about myself.

GUILLERMO CORIA: Well, sometimes on TV I watch a match if it's very tight or if it's a very important match, then I'll watch. But otherwise, I don't watch a lot because I know all the players anyway.

GUILLERMO CORIA: There are 15 courts in this village, but they didn't increase the number of courts since I've been having good results. Nothing has changed. In fact, it's a very small area, and it's a bit difficult. But tennis is getting very strong - not only in Venado Tuerto, but also in the whole country of Argentina.