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THE LIPTON CHAMPIONSHIPS


March 18, 1999


Cecil Mamiit


KEY BISCAYNE, FLORIDA, C. MAMIIT/P. Goldstein 4-6, 6-2, 7-5

Q. You need to tell us a bit about yourself. How many years on the Tour?

CECIL MAMIIT: Two and a half, working on my third. Turned pro at the US Open in '96. Age 22. Residing in Los Angeles.

Q. Did you have one year at college?

CECIL MAMIIT: Yes, USC, University of Southern California. Won the NCAA '96.

Q. You were the first freshman?

CECIL MAMIIT: Yes, since John McEnroe and Jimmy Connors, maybe a couple of others.

Q. What do you know about Henman?

CECIL MAMIIT: The last time I played Henman was in the satellites when before I went to college. It was probably like '94, '95.

Q. Can you remember where?

CECIL MAMIIT: It was in the Florida satellites. I don't know the specific tournaments. I played him twice. Both times went three sets.

Q. You won both times?

CECIL MAMIIT: He won both times. I believe he came in third maybe at that satellite. It was a tough satellite. Quite a group of guys, Magnus Norman, Andre Pavel, all the Swedes, Johansson.

Q. You can't remember the venue. What sort of places would that have been?

CECIL MAMIIT: Florida. One could have been Vero Beach, Florida, east coast, north of Daytona.

Q. Were there a number of people watching?

CECIL MAMIIT: At that low, I don't think there's that big of a crowd. Maximum of 50, minimum of 10. I think it was the semis of one the time I played Tim.

Q. What sort of player can you remember him to be?

CECIL MAMIIT: It was on clay. He kind of had an all-around game. We were both developing our game. One of my weaknesses was my second serve. Till this day, he's always been the time of player that put pressure on your second serve, come in. He was a little bit crafty. He was a little bit more experienced on the clay than I was.

Q. Not a national trait.

CECIL MAMIIT: Exactly. It was long ago. I couldn't be specific.

Q. Both of those matches were on clay?

CECIL MAMIIT: Yes, both were on clay.

Q. How did you start playing tennis in the first place?

CECIL MAMIIT: I was age seven years old. My cousins played at the park. I was just watching them play. My parents kind of forced me to play tennis. I didn't really like that, but it kind of grew on me. I enjoyed it. I started competing at about ten. So through my cousins, they were the first one.

Q. In what way did they force you?

CECIL MAMIIT: Just going out to their tournaments, kind of seeing how junior tennis is, seeing how they compete, practice.

Q. Telling you it was good for you, just like eating your greens?

CECIL MAMIIT: Exactly (laughter).

Q. How much did San Jose boost your confidence?

CECIL MAMIIT: I kind of juggled with it. I'm still not soaking it in. It's something I dreamed for. Having the opportunity to play a players who are former No. 1's or Top-10 players, still are, actually beating them. Right now, it's kind of good to look back at that tournament and go forth and continue it, know that I can go out against these great players. Maybe against Tim I can feel confident, take it to him and give him a good match.

Q. You may or may not be aware that Tim occasionally has a problem playing lower-ranked players.

CECIL MAMIIT: That's good for me (laughter). I'm actually looking forward to it. I told my coach I'm looking forward to play Tim, if I win the match, because it's been so long. I got to know him during that satellite period. I haven't seen him for two years. Pretty much after that year, he started doing so well.

Q. Did you think then that he had it within him to become a Top 10?

CECIL MAMIIT: Yeah, yeah. To me, he was good on clay. He had a great game, back then. Maybe I'm giving him respect because he beat me back then.

Q. What surface do you favor?

CECIL MAMIIT: I favor mostly the hard courts. Before, I used to like clay. To me, being such a short stature, I want to play a little bit more aggressive, like Chang. Before, when I was growing up, I was always modeling my game like Chang. With the technology of tennis and everything, I think I have to bring my game to another level and be a little bit more aggressive. For right now, since I'm doing so well, I would prefer hard courts.

Q. Would you have someone that you model yourself on now, having sort of moved on like the Chang era?

CECIL MAMIIT: Chang, he's trying to do the same thing I'm doing. He's trying to be more aggressive. I don't model one player, more to different players, like Boris Becker, Michael Chang, Agassi, takes the ball early, a couple of crafty guys like Arazi.

Q. Were you aware of what Tim did last week at Indian Wells? He was match point against Woodruff, double-faulted.

CECIL MAMIIT: Who is this?

Q. Tim. He played Chris Woodruff.

CECIL MAMIIT: I didn't know that.

Q. The match today was very up-and-down, particularly the set with service breaks. Was the wind a major problem?

CECIL MAMIIT: Yeah, it was on one side. I was having trouble with the wind kind of bringing the ball down. That kind of troubled me. He broke me the first game of the third set because I couldn't bring the ball down. I didn't have a high percentage of first serves. That troubled me. But I felt good because I felt the wind didn't bother me in my groundstrokes. Usually I have to move a lot more. But the only thing that bothered me was my serve.

Q. What about the knee?

CECIL MAMIIT: That bothered me in the beginning of the match.

Q. What is it?

CECIL MAMIIT: It's a little tendonitis. It needs to get warmed up. Actually, it's my first match back.

Q. Since when?

CECIL MAMIIT: It kind of hurt me during San Jose, but kind of got worse.

Q. What do you recall about Wimbledon?

CECIL MAMIIT: I lost to Draper, what year was that, '97, qualifying first round. But my first ever grass court tournament, I quallied at Queen's.

Q. You're talking a couple years ago?

CECIL MAMIIT: Yes.

Q. Who did you lose to at Queen's?

CECIL MAMIIT: David Nainkin.

Q. Who didn't qualify here.

CECIL MAMIIT: Yes.

Q. So you've not been in the main draw of Wimbledon?

CECIL MAMIIT: No. I'm really looking forward to that. Now that I broke the Top 100, I'm really excited to be at Wimbledon main draw. I was a little disappointed losing first round qualifying. One of the these days, to myself, I told myself that I want to be main draw at Wimbledon, play in that kind of atmosphere.

Q. The noise from the kids next door, for us sitting in the stands, we could hear them all the time. Were you able to shut it out, the shrill whistles and things like that?

CECIL MAMIIT: It bothered me in the first set, maybe because things weren't going well for me. I kind of got a little distracted. As things started rolling, I got on this roll and started blocking out all that.

Q. Three doubles in a row, went 3-Love down. "It's going to be one of those days."

CECIL MAMIIT: I thought it was going to be one of those days, not looking good, really negative. A couple of shots here and there, holding my serve, breaking back once.

Q. He's a tough competitor?

CECIL MAMIIT: Yeah. All respect to him. We travel together. We have the same coach, the same trainer. We travel together. I grew up in juniors and college with him, so we know each other. By his game, he's kind of like the same, like me, but a little more aggressive. He takes chances.

Q. Who is your coach?

CECIL MAMIIT: Scott McCain. He's with the USTA.

Q. M-c C-a-i-n?

CECIL MAMIIT: Yes.

Q. He was on the circuit for a few years.

CECIL MAMIIT: Yes.

End of FastScripts....

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