DAVIS CUP - SPAIN vs USA

July 21, 2000

Alex Corretja

ALEX CORRETJA: ...(Inaudible)...He was having a wonderful service and a lot of speed. So I just couldn't really find the right rhythm. And with the whole team, I've been able to be supported. But my sensation was very, very complex. Everybody thought that it would be just something very easy, but I knew it wasn't going to be so easy. But anybody who understands a bit about tennis will say that he was really playing a very spectacular game. And at the beginning, well, I wasn't aggressive enough. The counterpart doesn't give you the possibility of playing the best you can. Afterwards, I felt really a bit better and I had a different option - to move a little bit and to have a better balanced match. But I mean, really, I just couldn't with some of his strokes really. He was just wonderful.

ALEX CORRETJA: The main reason was Jan-Michael was playing unbelievable tennis. He was overpowering me, and I couldn't do anything more than just wait for his mistake. I was trying to move him a little bit, but he was serving big. His second serve was pretty deep as well, and his returns were every time to the corners of the court. So I cannot say I was playing bad tennis. I have to say he was playing unbelievable, great, and the best thing I had was that I was mentally prepared for everything, and I was ready for these kind of matches. And today was a difficult situation for me to see. I was 6-1 down, everybody was expecting me maybe to win easy, and that was not the point. So I was pretty proud to see that I was playing really good tennis to beat him.

CAPTAIN JAVIER DUARTE: It will be just Corretja.

CAPTAIN JAVIER DUARTE: Yes.

CAPTAIN JAVIER DUARTE: In principle, of course, the last point is the most difficult one. But where we wanted to try to win three points before starting the qualification, we have already got two. So if we had 1-1 or 2-0, I mean it would be different. Of course we still need an extra point. But I mean it kind of is anxiety.

ALEX CORRETJA: Well, I don't know. He should have thought about that, if he can play better than this. But I can tell you from my point of view, it was really difficult to see that the guy was playing great tennis, and he didn't drop his level till maybe the middle of the second set. There was a main point in the second set when it was a really long game, and I came back pretty strongly. Afterwards, I start to play much more aggressive. I return maybe deeper, and the guy start to make more mistakes. But it was not normal the way he was playing. He was playing just great, perfect. And, as I said, it was not my fault. It was that the guy was playing much better than me. At the same time I have to say that I was mentally pretty strong. Otherwise, I would have never come back and win that match. And I really feel satisfied about my performance, because it is difficult to come back on these kind of matches, and I really did it and I feel proud about myself, even if it's normal.

ALEX CORRETJA: The public showed that they were well-educated and they knew how to be there, and we do thank them for their behavior. They've been very good, indeed. And to see from the court that people are really supporting you is just great. And if you have got a chance of having such a public and such a team as we've got, and all your colleagues and all the technical staff, it does help you a lot. And if you have 13,000 people who are just supporting you all the time and want you to win and to go towards victory, I mean it's much better. It's spectacular is the only word I would have - just spectacular.

ALEX CORRETJA: We've been working hard, all of us, the whole team, even the players who are not here. And we have to maintain, to be quiet. To have 2-0 today, I mean we had very good training yesterday, a good dinner, and we slept all right, and on the court 100 percent. I mean I think that both Albert and myself, we've been doing the utmost really. I mean of course we can always do better, and we cannot always play very well, as you know. I mean the first match in a tournament is always very difficult as you know. These were the first ones within the tournament. And to play your best tournament in the first day is very complicated, but I'm quite happy to do what we've been speaking about. All our friends were not criticizing anything. I mean so to the public, please don't you think that it is well done? Because we'll still have a lot to suffer, particularly with the level of a good game, or for the different lobs and services that they have. It will be difficult, and we'll have to suffer a lot in order to win. And if we don't win tomorrow, we'll still have two possibilities next Sunday. This is why we are here: To try to win three points, and we are lucky enough to already have two.

ALEX CORRETJA: Yes, we are trying to look for everything. We are really ambitious. I think that a Davis Cup tie is an objective for all of us, and I will sacrifice to have an individual important title and instead to win the Davis Cup tie as a team. I think for the whole team mainly and for Spanish tennis and for our country, it will be much bigger than an individual prize. Perhaps we will have to sacrifice some individual tournament, but we'll see it later on. What is really important is to try to get an extra point and to reach the final, which we're all looking for.

ALEX CORRETJA: I have to say that since '98, when we reached the semifinals, we start to realize that we can also play well in Davis Cup. And at that time it was difficult and different because we were playing outside; we were playing the Swedish guys, the best guys on the Tour at that moment in the Davis Cup. And then this year, we've been playing at home. It always helps. We create a new system, and everything starts to work pretty well. And, fortunate for us, we play against Italy pretty well, then against the Russian guys, and now we're playing again home. So it always helped to choose the surface, to choose your own balls and to choose everything. Even that, last year we were playing home against Brazil and we also lost. So you never know. There are many facts that can help, but for sure the main thing is that right now everybody thinks the same way. That's the main difference - that we sacrificed many things to get to the Davis Cup in the best way we can get.

CAPTAIN JAVIER DUARTE: Well, it's a bit like Alex just explained. It's a new generation. I mean from '98, it was against Sweden in the semifinals. And since '87 we didn't win. So this is a new generation, which wasn't born this year, of course. They've been playing very well the last few years, so there is a series of conditions really which can explain that. We've got a good draw. But it is true that we've been lucky. But I mean we've had it perhaps in the past. We were lucky in another draw. But we have very impressive players, and this is a fundamental basis. And from here we have a working system, and players are very happy with that system, and the players are good. And they are happy as well, normally things function very well.

ALEX CORRETJA: Technical what?

ALEX CORRETJA: Uh-huh. Well, when you're playing against, for sure you don't expect to be maybe the home favorite because if you see that the guy who is playing better than you, you don't know how to react. But mental, before the match I was feeling that I was -- we were feeling that we are a better team than them on clay to win this tie. And then as you say for the Committee, it is something that we work pretty hard to have this team in good conditions, and we don't expect the other guys to be as good as we are on clay because we work harder than the others. So I don't know if they can do something to improve their own games, but for sure they will need to work pretty hard to get at this level. But as they showed today, they can also play well on clay. And one day it's always difficult to win against these kind of guys.

ALEX CORRETJA: One never knows, but I'm well, in good shape again physically and mentally. I would say I'm in good shape. I feel well. In the last few days, I've been very happy, I would say, and I am thinking going on this year, and I hope I will do good things in the future. It's a bit similar like in '98, but now the difference is that if we win that qualifying round, it will be much more important to us for the final. And we'll have to see what I'm able to do because we still have a long period and a difficult period and very fast courts in the U.S. Then we'll have the Olympics, et cetera. We'll have to go gradually because it's a very complex year. I'm sure we'll still have ups and downs of course.

ALEX CORRETJA: Yes, he did congratulate me. I'm very proud of it because he is the head of the team. And, personally, I don't mind. We will try to do the best we can tomorrow, but McEnroe cannot be included in the team because he hadn't done it here yesterday; I don't think he has any option. But if he is on the court, well, if he thinks he's well-prepared to do it, why not? I'm not thinking about it. We've got enough problems to think about any others. I'm trying to think of myself and my team.

CAPTAIN JAVIER DUARTE: In principle, the doubles tomorrow, it will be Corretja and Balcells. And I don't know about them; I think it would be Woodruff and Spadea, I don't know if they will change it or not. What will be obvious is it will be a very difficult match, but I think we are in good conditions to win that point. Technically and psychologically speaking, we will be very relaxed, as already mentioned. We can play relaxed because things are functioning all right. We have the possibility of winning. And if they are better than we are, we'll still have two points more for next Sunday. So we will be quiet I think tomorrow; we will be relaxed.

CAPTAIN JAVIER DUARTE: Well, it is a similar question as before. What has been changing, about five or six years ago, the team with Alex, I mean they were 20 or 21 years old. Moya was even younger. So it hasn't much to do with the team which we have right now. Well, they were playing with Amelio (phonetic spelling) with the doubles in Mexico. I mean the team was completely different. So we cannot compare really. The players were very good, of course, but Amelio Casalles (phonetic spelling), and now we've got a team which is more mature. They are not so young but they are not old either. I mean I think that they got a lot of experience to go to the final. They have all been winning important things, and this is a joint effort during certain weeks which are one or two before as well. And each of them has to think about himself and globally as well. This has been changing. This is a change. I mean they've thought about winning the Davis Cup tie. Of course the other teams did think about it, but I mean the draw, as well, is important. I mean to have players, to select on that type of red clay court, et cetera, I mean it's a good thing. We got to select players. Even we got Carlos Moya and Alex who could play indoors. We haven't got perhaps eight or ten as in a rec league. So we have more and more players. Juan Carlos Ferrero on hardcourt really adapts to fast court very rapidly indeed. So this has been some of a change that we have known.

ALEX CORRETJA: Not yet.

ALEX CORRETJA: No, not yet because we're not in the final yet. So we still have to win one more point, and then maybe we will call all the guys because they didn't win. So maybe they know how to get to the final, but, unfortunately, our country never won Davis Cup, so we're here to fight for it. And of course it is always good to have some advice from people like Santana and all these guys who played the Finals. So maybe they can give us some good tips about it.

ALEX CORRETJA: We love to win and we don't look at the opponent. The main thing for us is to win, and I can tell you, I don't know if Sampras or Agassi would play better than Gambill today, so I don't care. Because for me, the important thing is to go on the court and to win the guy in front of you. And if it was Gambill, it was Gambill. If it was my father, I would be happy as well.

ALEX CORRETJA: Well, I can say we are more prepared because we are more clay court specialists than them maybe. And of course we play like many more clay court tournaments during the year. So when you get to the Davis Cup and you have to play on clay, you know how to play. And they have to adapt their games to play on clay again. And for them I believe it's pretty difficult to play in Wimbledon and then go home and then come back to Spain and play on clay again. That's a really difficult effort. So that's why maybe the other guys didn't want to show up, because it's really difficult to adjust your game, you know, from clay to grass and then back to clay. The main thing was that we kept our level on clay. As you know, we didn't play Wimbledon and we had time to practice, and that's why we were more prepared than them, because we had last week to play in Gstaad. Albert Costa played semis, won the final. Ferrero was there playing also as well. So we were more thinking of this thing.

ALEX CORRETJA: No, I cannot say they didn't play well enough to beat us. So I believe they were playing pretty well. Todd made his match, I believe. Albert was playing better. And Jan-Michael, maybe he would have practiced a little bit more on clay, maybe he would have been even better. Maybe he could have kept his game longer. But still, he was good enough to beat me today, so I had to play 100 percent to beat him. And fortunately, mentally and physically, I was pretty strong. So I cannot say that the guy was maybe not adapt to the clay, because he was playing pretty well.

CAPTAIN JAVIER DUARTE: Sure. I mean everybody has got his own character I would say, basically more than the pressure. I mean it doesn't mean that I'm nervous. It's my special way of expressing myself and that's it. And pressure, no, because I see the players are in very fantastic shape and I have a technical team behind who supports us. And I've got the Federation, the public, everything, the Spanish journalists were just wonderful. So everything is great. So I was not particularly under pressure really; I've just been acting the way I normally act. This is my way of acting.

ALEX CORRETJA: Before finishing, I would like to congratulate Aranxta. I would like to congratulate her, Joan and Aranxta. We haven't been able to be with them today, but we do hope everything will be great for her and they will have a nice wedding. Congratulations to Aranxta. And we are very happy as well for her. Thank you very much.