TMS - CINCINNATI

August 8, 2000

Alex Corretja

THE MODERATOR: Questions for Alex?

ALEX CORRETJA: Did you ask him? No, seriously. What did he say?

ALEX CORRETJA: He probably played well, I don't know. The best thing you can do is if you ask him, he should talk about himself. I believe he did his game. He was trying to put pressure under my second serve. He was trying to come into the net, and he was serving pretty well and making good volleys. And I honestly felt like a little tired on the court, and my movements were not too good. But because of the guy, he was playing fast, so it was difficult for me to find myself and my rhythm on the court.

ALEX CORRETJA: I was feeling great because I won two tournaments in Gstaad and Kitzbuhel and in the middle of the month, we won Davis Cup against USA. So it was great for us. But still I was a little tired mentally and physically. When I won Kitzbuhel, I needed a couple days off and unfortunately I didn't have much time and I had to come here. This is a tournament where you always like to play well. But for me, as a European, I always come the first tournament of the season on hard court in summer and it's always in a bad moment. It's a pity because you always like to play well, but sometimes you have to choose. And for me, it was important to prepare for Davis Cup tie against the USA because it was semifinals, as you know, real important for Spain. That's why I stay on clay a little bit longer. Then I come here, I was trying to do my best, I was practicing pretty well. But on hard court it's always difficult, especially if you play against a guy like Bjorkman, he wants to put pressure, he wants to come back again at the top. And I believe he was moving much better than me, and he was maybe -- his ideas were more clarified, you know. He knew what he has to do to beat me, and I was on the court maybe waiting for his mistake and not making my game.

ALEX CORRETJA: No, not about Wimbledon because that was something that we did, and it was over. And then it was okay because then we had some time off. We practice for Gstaad, which I won, and then Davis Cup and then Kitzbuhel. So it was really great summer for me, or really great month of July. But then I feel like I have to come here and I need more matches, you know. It's been like already three or four months since I've been playing on hard courts, since Key Biscayne. So it's a little while. And I need myself to be practicing a little more on hard courts to get used to it. It's clear that when you come here, you play such a great tournament like here in Cincinnati, you want to do it well. But I believe it's impossible to be 100 percent every week. And unfortunate for me this week, I was not 100 percent. That's why also I'm trying to play doubles, to see if I can get into the tournament. But unfortunately, we couldn't play yesterday. So it is difficult. Especially in this tournament, where everybody likes to play well.

ALEX CORRETJA: Yes. I feel proud about it.

ALEX CORRETJA: No, I feel proud because I have principles, you know, and I took them until the end. I believe many players give us the right. You know, at the end -- some people said that maybe we didn't act well because we didn't play -- but at the end, everybody said that we were right just acting like this. Because everybody was thinking that maybe Wimbledon shouldn't have changed the rules, so maybe they should have 32 seeds or maybe they should -- the other Slams, they should do the same as Wimbledon. So it seems like something was wrong. So that was our complaint; that they can do whatever they want. Because otherwise, all the tournaments should do the same. And I believe it would get like crazy for everyone. We have a ranking, an ATP ranking, so we have to respect that ranking. Otherwise, we don't need any rankings. When we go to a tournament, the tournament director should choose which players he prefers to be at the top of the draw and at the bottom, that would be embarrassing, no, for everybody? Because we play 52 weeks because we try to do our best on the Tour and we respect every player and you win matches and you win tournaments, so if you're high on the ranking, it's because you're playing well. It's not because you buy points on the Tour. I don't go to a shop and say, "I need 100 points for next week, can I get it." So why Wimbledon do everything they want? The French Open, they believe it's on clay, they have to do the same. What about hard courts? And ranking for different surfaces, I don't believe in that. I believe we have one ranking, let's just keep this ranking. If not, just find another solution with another ranking. But still we have this ranking, we have to be proud of that.

ALEX CORRETJA: I believe they're going to do something different. I don't know. Maybe they will still do the same and that will be a pity. But I believe many of the players, the feedback from the players, they were like if we were to go before to Wimbledon, they wouldn't have been able to go with us, many of them. Or some of them. But we didn't want to go to Wimbledon like on Friday. And just talking to the guys like making a big boycott, defending my position, Costa and Ferrero as well, that's why we believe it wasn't fair. You play for 52 weeks and you're ranked 11 or 12 in the world, you cannot be kicked out because they want, because they believe you are just a clay court player. And my best results were on hard court. This year I won Indian Wells and three years ago, the last one, (inaudible)...I won Masters in Hannover and Lyon. They said we cannot put you as a seed because we consider you as a clay court player. So maybe they are a little wrong. Even that, because if Ferrero cannot be seeded the first year that he try to play in Wimbledon, how is he going to prove himself he can play on grass? If he face first round Sampras or Agassi, for sure it's going to be more difficult for him to adapt to the grass. Even it seems like they can play with the game, because they can put the seeds wherever they want because they feel that this is better for the tournament. Yeah, but with this tournament, if you are ranked at 30, how can you be 13 or 14 or 12? I believe it's a little unfair.

ALEX CORRETJA: My solution is clear: Keep the ranking.

ALEX CORRETJA: I hope. I don't think so. But I hope. Otherwise, we will think about playing again or not. But it's -- I believe it is quite easy if you have a ranking to respect that ranking. Because as I said, it's not every tournament they believe -- what the problem, that Wimbledon, it is better than the other ones? That's the thing that it seems they show to the world. You know, it seems like Wimbledon, it is better than US Open because they can do whatever they want and US Open cannot do that. Or French Open, or the other tournaments. What's the difference playing here or in Wimbledon? Is no difference. They are the same players. The only difference is that they have a bigger prize money and a bigger draw. But the players are the same, and we compete to win and we compete to have a name on the Tour. Not to just go out there and do whatever they want.

ALEX CORRETJA: I don't know. It's difficult to know exactly.

ALEX CORRETJA: At least more than 25, 30 guys came to me. At least. Most of them, of course, are Spanish guys and South American guys. But then if you start to talk to the others, maybe you show your point, you know, and they respect you and maybe they understand that maybe it can happen to you, but it can happen to them tomorrow. So it was not a point that we said okay, it happens to the Spanish guys so we don't support it. No, just put your face there and say maybe it can happen to me, you know?

ALEX CORRETJA: Can you imagine Pete come to the French Open and they say no, sorry, because the last five years you didn't play well at the French, you skipped Monte Carlo because you said you were tired, you skipped Rome because you said you didn't want to play because you were tired, and you just played Hamburg in the second round so you have to go to the seed of 14. If he said that he agreed with that, I would be pretty surprised. Because if you are No. 1 or No. 2 in the world, you have to be seeded at that. And now I don't see, like Sampras has to be No. 14 seeded, because anybody would understand how especially with Pete Sampras -- or not even seeded because maybe they can say, "Listen, you didn't win enough matches on clay the last four years, you cannot be seeded. You face Andre Agassi first round because he's the defending champion." Is it going to be nice for him, for the other guy, for the tournament, for the spectators? It's going to be impossible to understand that.

ALEX CORRETJA: I believe it wouldn't be good. But that's my point. Why Wimbledon can do that? You know. Because it's on grass. But what's the story on grass? The only difference is it's a green surface. Last year we have also green surface here. (Laughter.)

ALEX CORRETJA: Yeah.

ALEX CORRETJA: Yeah, I believe. Yes.

ALEX CORRETJA: I watch maybe two points.

ALEX CORRETJA: Yeah. Not because I have anything against Wimbledon, just because I was home and when I'm home, unless I really have a friend playing, sometimes I like to watch it. Sometimes if I have something else to do, I just prefer to spend time with my girlfriend and with my family. Not because I have, as I said, nothing against Wimbledon. Maybe it happens at the US Open I play there, I don't play well and I go home and I don't watch at all. It depends on how I feel like this. Especially at this Wimbledon, I was not feeling well to watch it, so I didn't watch match.

ALEX CORRETJA: Yes, yes. When I finish my press conference on Sunday afternoon, I flew next Monday and flew home and start to practice on clay, so it was different mentality for me. Unfortunately. Because the main thing is for us to play a good tournament, you know? So it's a pity that you have to say, "I don't want to play Wimbledon because they don't respect my ranking and my tennis," because if they kick you out, it's because they believe that you're not good enough to be seeded. So I feel unhappy.

ALEX CORRETJA: For me, well, all the Slams have different things. It starts at the beginning of the year, you have other tournaments and you have to play a Slam, then French Open, so you've been playing on clay for a while and sometimes you get a little tired before you get there, sometimes not. So it's difficult to prepare. And here, for me, it is good because I spend one month here in the States in the summertime, always come here to Cincinnati, then I go to Washington and probably Long Island. So I really prepare well the tournament. But I would like to prepare better this tournament because it's big enough to do it well. But as I said, the main problem is 100 percent, it's almost impossible to be in every tournament. So that's why I come in this week here, I was trying to practice hard, and, unfortunately, it didn't work as good as I thought. For the Open, maybe I'm going to be more in shape. I will practice a little bit more on this court. I will get used to the summer season, you know, and to the humidity and all this stuff. So maybe I'm going to be in a better shape. But I never look forward like thinking, "I'm coming to Cincinnati to prepare for US Open." That's completely unfair because I never would say that. For me, the most important thing is to play well the tournament where you are. So right now, it is a bad day because I lost. I have now a chance to play another match in doubles. But we play Lareau and Nestor. We stay there and see how it goes.

ALEX CORRETJA: Yeah, it would probably change a little bit and maybe think about it. But the main thing for us, the bad thing is we just have four clay court Championship Series events for the whole year, and two of them are Stuttgart and Kitzbuhel. They are the weeks before Toronto and Cincinnati. So for us, it's a little bit difficult to say, okay, I'm going to skip Championship Series, because for the best five tournaments, I had like 20 points, 20 points like four weeks ago. It seems that I was playing the Masters Series and some small tournaments, but I mean I didn't have the chance to give myself little points on the other side. And it was important for me to play Stuttgart or Kitzbuhel, and Stuttgart I missed because of the Davis Cup. So I said okay, I wanted to play a little bit more on clay. So fortunately, it worked very well because I would have missed out on Kitzbuhel. Unfortunately, to come up here, maybe you don't feel as well as you like.

ALEX CORRETJA: I came last Friday.

ALEX CORRETJA: The people, yes. They talk to me a lot, "Hey, well done. Well done, you played great. Unbelievable, nice, nice double." None of them saw me like, "Oh, man, this is the guy who support his team to beat the USA" you know? No, no. All of them, honestly, I was very surprised. The main thing I was surprised was that they followed the tie because many people told me, I mean when I walk out there, you know, I mean they know me little bit. But this year especially they talk a lot to me. They like to come to me and say, "Well, done," whatever. They seem interested in it.

ALEX CORRETJA: Really? Not in tennis. For the moment. At least not personal with me. Can you imagine walking out there and people throwing things at me because I was on the team against the USA? That would be bad. So I feel proud that I can go out there and practicing quietly.

ALEX CORRETJA: Oh, not at all. I never do that. Not even for the next day. So can you imagine four months? That's too much. No, I just have to go day by day. I'm going to stay here, practicing hard, and try to win my doubles, and then I will see how it goes. So I don't think farther than this because it's impossible for us to prepare. Because if you're going to get there in a good condition for tomorrow, you will always have to stay today. The main thing, you have to practice today and maybe you can do something tomorrow. But if you jump today, it's difficult to get to tomorrow.

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