COMPAQ GRAND SLAM CUP

December 7, 1993

Todd Martin

TODD MARTIN: It is a nice city. Great. I have never been to Germany before.

TODD MARTIN: The tournament is about five hours old -- geez, three hours old. I didn't enjoy my time out on the court, but I am sure it has been a nice time for me, the four, five days I have been here already.

TODD MARTIN: Saturday.

TODD MARTIN: I can't count too well, maybe three, four.

TODD MARTIN: I think just Wayne was here Saturday when I got here, so I didn't -- I didn't know if anybody was here, so I just slept and then I practiced Sunday and Monday, before the match today.

TODD MARTIN: Well, the only problem is I qualified for this two months ago when I did okay at the U.S. Open, and Wimbledon was the best part of my year. But this is no way to end the year losing with only winning five games, but, you know, hopefully I can learn from it. And if I come back next year, then I will be a little better prepared.

TODD MARTIN: Temptation to come here ten days before?

TODD MARTIN: There was no temptation.

TODD MARTIN: No. It is my holiday, so, you know, I have been practicing consistently, but not as intense as I am going to when I go home. I have got to prepare for next year, and although this tournament is very important, I needed to take a little break after my long trip in the fall, and I just -- it has been four weeks since I have played a match, and it just showed. But there was no temptation to come ten days earlier and leave home.

TODD MARTIN: Yes.

TODD MARTIN: I play Sydney, which is the week of the 10th, and Melbourne, which is the week of the 17th, and I will probably arrive the 8th or so, maybe the 7th.

TODD MARTIN: Well --

TODD MARTIN: What I mean is that most tournaments have pretty much the same importance to me, and the reason I play is to prove my ability, whether I get paid nothing or get paid a lot. I still want to prove that I am a good player. The reason I came here was not because I knew I had the chance to make a million, $600,000 or just $100,000 to lose first round. It is because this is 16 of the better players in the world, you know, minus just a few of the top 10 guys, and it is a great chance for me to test my skills against these guys. And even today was good because I did test him, and Stefan showed that I still need a lot of work.

TODD MARTIN: The things that I am working on are one, my movement which is not very good today, and my strength, and on top of that, working on my volleys to back up my serve. All three of those, I have been working on a lot, especially in the last couple of weeks getting ready for the tournament. And I think the physical part, the strength and the speed, I think, goes down before it goes up because I have been lifting weights a lot and stuff like that and I think maybe I am just a little sluggish right now and the volleys I didn't get to hit any because I never served -- made a first serve, so --

TODD MARTIN: Well, just didn't -- no special reason, I don't like to shave, but after a while it feels good to, so --