ATP Tour World Championship

November 24, 1998

Marcelo Rios

Q. Towards the end of the first set you might have just tweaked your leg a bit.

MARCELO RIOS: I didn't understand.

MARCELO RIOS: Yeah, I think I was in a really bad position right now. My back is really bad. I can't hold my back right now. It's like killing; it's hurting really, really, really a lot. I think it's going to be really tough to continue playing. I've been having this for the last two months. I think I'm not in a great condition right now to keep on playing.

MARCELO RIOS: Yes, this started in Munich. The thing is when I go back to clay, I know it doesn't hurt. I come into hard courts, and suddenly it just start hurting one day from another. It's not feeling very good the last months, two months. I don't know.

MARCELO RIOS: No. I'm going to see how I wake up tomorrow. I think when your body is warm up, it doesn't feel that bad, but when it's cool down. For sure I want to play. I think I'm having the chance to be No. 1. I want to play. But I think the body is the one that's stopping right now. I have to see how it feels tomorrow.

MARCELO RIOS: Well, we have massage, put some hot stuff before you play. I think it's not enough. I think it's more than that. I'm going to try to have some treatment today, tonight, tomorrow, see how it's going.

MARCELO RIOS: That question is not very nice, I think. I can't blame -- I can't say that because of my injury I didn't win. To beat Henman, you've got to be a hundred percent. He's a great player. Maybe I could do a better match if I was not injured. But I think this level you got to be a hundred percent to win.

MARCELO RIOS: Never. I was feeling really good, like playing clay. I practice here, first days I was feeling really good. I was really motivated to play, I try to do my best. I mean, really bad luck with the back. Like I say, right now the body is the one that's talking. I think we're professionals like this. We don't go to the court just to play two games. I think if we go to the court, it's to win. If you're not ready to do it, you just got to listen to your body.

MARCELO RIOS: Really a lot on my forehand and my serve. The weird thing is when I'm walking or sitting down, it doesn't hurt at all. When I'm playing, maybe the tension of the match, being on the court, running, that make you start hurting.

MARCELO RIOS: No. I have this like three years ago; it never came back again. Since like three months ago, it came again. I don't know. It's really weird.

MARCELO RIOS: Yeah. I have rest a couple months. Have treatment. I've been not having treatment because I've been playing, haven't had a lot of weeks off to say, "Okay, I'm going to have treatment, not play." One day, I start playing again, it come again, then you need a long rest to take care of an injury.

MARCELO RIOS: Well, I've been talking that for the last five minutes. I felt it in the match.

MARCELO RIOS: It was the last two days at the end of the day it was really stiff. It start bothering me a little bit. Today when I went back, I could feel a little bit. I think when the match start getting like close, I don't know if it's the tension of the match, you start feeling it more. It's tough to run. It's tough to play with pain.

MARCELO RIOS: Well, I don't think I have advantage in that point, like all the Europeans just fly two hours and come and play. I got to travel 15 hours to come. Always is maybe the reason, being 15 hours in a plane, come back, change hours. So it was pretty tough.

MARCELO RIOS: Well, I couldn't enjoy that much. I can't tell you if it was good or bad. I saw a lot of Chilean people supporting me. That make you feel pretty good. Even if you're far from a country, they're supporting you. I would say thanks to the people that support me all over the world.

MARCELO RIOS: I think he's always been a good player. Not because I beat him easy or two times mean that he's not good. I think he has a pretty good serve, really good volleys. I think he has improved a lot. His record has improved a lot, he's Top 10 now. Like I say, you got to be a hundred percent to beat these guys.

MARCELO RIOS: Yeah.

MARCELO RIOS: He's doubles players, Lobo.