TENNIS MASTERS SERIES - ROMA

May 6, 2002

Greg Rusedski

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

GREG RUSEDSKI: Yeah. No, I -- you know, I never really felt that I got my rhythm . I was struggling for my rhythm, I think, for the whole match from the first ball to the last ball, to be quite honest with you. I just didn't feel like I played very well. I mean, on paper it was a great draw. Just didn't take advantage.

GREG RUSEDSKI: Yeah. I had a little bit of a neck problem, so I pulled out of two tournaments. So I only practiced about ten days coming in here. So I would have liked to have hit more balls and practiced a little bit more, but, unfortunately, I didn't. And I thought things were going to be okay this week. But that's the way it goes.

GREG RUSEDSKI: Yeah.

GREG RUSEDSKI: Well, I got about three weeks in. I managed to get three weeks of physical work in. I did that, so that was good. But, unfortunately, the tennis wasn't too good today.

GREG RUSEDSKI: Yeah. I just need to play matches. And just, you know, clay is a tough surface for me first match back. It's not -- I don't think it's an easy sort of game. You know, I didn't get it right in any combinations - whether attacking or whether staying back. I really didn't put anything too positive together.

GREG RUSEDSKI: I don't know yet. I haven't decided after today's performance, because obviously I'm very disappointed. So I don't know. I still have to sit down, figure out what I'm going to do with my clay court season. I haven't made any decisions yet completely.

GREG RUSEDSKI: We'll see.

GREG RUSEDSKI: Well, I haven't made any decisions yet. I mean, I want to improve my game and do things. And I'm not happy with the way I played today at all. I thought that was probably one of my worst performances I've ever played.

GREG RUSEDSKI: I don't know. I don't know. I don't know if it's surface or whatever. I've been working on a few things. I'm not happy with them at the moment. I have to be happy with my game and what I'm doing. If I'm happy with my game and what I'm doing, whether I win or lose, I don't mind, if that's the way it goes. I just have to figure out something where I'm happy with my game. I don't mind losing as long as I feel like I did the right things. When I feel like I don't do any of the above, then I'm not happy.

GREG RUSEDSKI: Yeah.

GREG RUSEDSKI: I think he's great. He fought and played well. He deserved to win. I felt my tennis wasn't very good today. That's my opinion of myself.

GREG RUSEDSKI: He competed well. And, you know, he did what he had to, to get the win today and that's all there is really to say. I mean, there's not much more. I'm looking at it from my point of view, what I did, rather than what he did out there so much.

GREG RUSEDSKI: No, I hadn't looked that far ahead. I mean, you just got to look at it one match at a time. He's playing Gonzalez, and that's not an easy first-round match by any means, especially if it's slippery and it's quick like it was today. You know, that guy's pretty good. Neither one of us can look ahead. Had we both been in the second round, that would have been much better.

GREG RUSEDSKI: No, I remember the match. I played okay, but I didn't do anything right today. I didn't attack properly, or I didn't defend properly. So, you know, I was totally lost in what I was doing with my thinking process out there. By no means, clay is not an easy surface for me. I mean, you just have to look at my record. I've had some good results one week here, one week there. But historically, if you look over the record, it's -- I wouldn't say it's great by any means.

GREG RUSEDSKI: Right now, I'm tentatively entered in them. And, you know, I'm just going to go home tonight and reflect and try to make a decision about what I'm going to do for the rest of the clay court season. You know, that's something I just have to think about.

GREG RUSEDSKI: I don't really put it into the equation. If my game's -- if I'm playing well and playing positive tennis and doing the right thing, last year, did it make a difference if you were seeded? To me, that's the most important thing. I've got to be fresh. I've got to be hungry. I've got to be doing the right things on the court. If I'm not, I'm just wasting my time. That's the way I felt today was.

GREG RUSEDSKI: No, I mean, I don't think clay is -- no, I mean, I don't think it's really clay that I'm complaining about at the moment. What I'm more complaining about at the moment is the way I played and the way I put the game together. And that's the thing which I have to do. I want to make sure that I put the game together the way I want it to be. That's the most important thing.

GREG RUSEDSKI: You know I'm going to -- 99.9% that I'm going to play the French Open, how's that? Right now, I'm P'ed off that I lost. It's as simple as that.

GREG RUSEDSKI: I'm not happy about it. So, you know, obviously don't put in the headlines that I'm not playing the French Open and I'm not playing this and I'm not playing that. I don't want to see that. But I can tell you I probably am. But right now, the way I feel, after your first match back you'd like to get through it and play reasonably well. If you lose, you'd like to say, "Okay, I did some positive things." But the thing is, I don't have the feeling that I did positive things out there.