COMPAQ GRAND SLAM CUP

September 30, 1998

Cedric Pioline

Q. Do you have any explanation for the result?

CEDRIC PIOLINE: Sorry?

CEDRIC PIOLINE: I think he played good. And my knees, I couldn't move or run very well. He played very good, so.

CEDRIC PIOLINE: During Davis Cup, no, it was pretty okay. But with practice here, the surface is very like -- I don't know how you say -- very rough. During my practice these last two days, I felt a little pain.

CEDRIC PIOLINE: Yeah, that's a big point, for sure.

CEDRIC PIOLINE: Well, it comes up from time to time, it's especially due to this surface which slows you down, it's rough, you have some friction. It doesn't happen all the time, but from time to time. It's like a needle.

CEDRIC PIOLINE: Well, I wasn't too bad. I tried to play well. I tried to put up enough pressure in order to turn around the match. I tried to move up to the net.

CEDRIC PIOLINE: It was a long, long time ago.

CEDRIC PIOLINE: Yeah, well, of course. You know that you're not going to win, so you just try to get a little bit back into your rhythm. But that's really difficult against a player who plays so well, who is really into his game at that moment. I thought I will try to slow him down somehow. That's what I really tried, but I didn't have any chance.

CEDRIC PIOLINE: I had some problems in the beginning after Roland Garros with some injuries. I wasn't simply playing too well, so I tried to practice and then recover. But I tried to come back, of course. I always try to beat my opponent, but that didn't work out. That's also why I didn't play too much.

CEDRIC PIOLINE: Well, I don't want to put everything into question now. The question is, I lost a lot of matches in the past few weeks in the United States, I lost -- sometimes these were close matches, so it wasn't always too bad. But nevertheless, in all my matches, there was more or less the same profile or development of a match when I didn't win. I was always giving my opponent quite a hard time, but I didn't win.

CEDRIC PIOLINE: I think I have to relax a little bit more. Maybe this has been just too much now. I was really very, very focused and concentrated at Roland Garros. I tried very hard the last couple of weeks. But now I think it's just been too long of playing. It's not that I somehow don't care anymore, but I think I have to relax for a little time and then come back again with a very clear focus.

CEDRIC PIOLINE: Yes, I had some good matches on a very fast surface, which was a very special one. But certainly it feels good to win several matches in a row.

CEDRIC PIOLINE: Well, that's something that irritates me a little bit to change over from outdoors to indoors, that's not too difficult, because indoors you've got ideal conditions. So I will practice also with other players, and I'll try to practice in a group with several other players with a mix of different players, playing levels. I think that's better than getting ready for a tournament on your own.

CEDRIC PIOLINE: No. Next week I will go to Vienna and then to Stockholm. That's more or less it.

CEDRIC PIOLINE: I think one week of a break will help recover from that knee injury. If that really works out well, then I have no fear, no problem with my physical fitness, I think.

CEDRIC PIOLINE: I think during the two or three weeks that followed that tournament, I felt a little bit sorry about having been disqualified, but I still think it was just a question of the referee. But nevertheless, it's him, the referee, who has the power to throw you out of the tournament. There was nothing left for me to do against that. I think today that's all over, and I don't really think about that any longer, fortunately.