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WESTERN AND SOUTHERN FINANCIAL GROUP MASTERS


August 10, 2002


Carlos Moya


CINCINNATI, OHIO

THE MODERATOR: Questions.

Q. You had no mercy for Juan Carlos today. Are you going to invite him to dinner to ease his pain?

CARLOS MOYA: Well, I think was my turn today to beat him. He beat me so many times, so I feel like it was now or never, you know? I had the feeling that today was gonna be my day. I was very confident, and I think I played a great match. Today I deserve to win.

Q. Your huge forehand seemed to make a difference in today's game.

CARLOS MOYA: I think it did. I think my serve also helped me a lot to control the game with my forehand. You know, I feel that it doesn't matter from where I was hitting the forehand, I was going in and I was going for the winner. I felt very confident. Also my backhand helped me pretty well today. So I'm very happy the way the forehand worked today.

Q. Did you improve a lot your backhand? You improved it a lot? Did you work a lot to improve it?

CARLOS MOYA: Yeah, in the last couple years I been working so hard on my backhand. It looks like now it's -- you know, is working very well. I mean, it won't be like my forehand, I know that. But at least I can put the ball in, I can hit the cross-court down the line. And, you know, then when I will have the chance to hit with my forehand, just go for the winner.

Q. You only lost nine points on your serve in ten service games. What was the difference in how you were able to serve so easily? Does that change the match so much when you know you're going to win your serve?

CARLOS MOYA: Well, it helps you a lot. I'm sure most of those nine points came in the second set. I serve very well. I was not serving that fast, but I try to change, you know, and try to kick it and, you know, and then use my forehand to dominate the point. I think it worked pretty well. I was very confident with my serve. I think he didn't have any breakpoint. It gave me a lot of confidence that I knew I was serving very well, and also my forehand was helping me a lot.

Q. Is everything 100% with the back?

CARLOS MOYA: Yeah.

Q. Are you still doing special precautions?

CARLOS MOYA: I have always -- I mean, I always have to do something with my -- to not fall injured again. I'm doing special treatment like getting massage every day even if it doesn't bother me at all. I have to, you know, to maintain that to -- not to have problems again. But now I can say I healthy 100%.

Q. When you said it was now or never, did you mean just against him, or to get back into the Top 10?

CARLOS MOYA: No, against him, the match today, yeah. I feel -- I had a special feeling that today was gonna be my day, and I don't know why. Because so many other times when I played him, I was playing well too. But today I knew that it was something special that I was gonna beat him.

Q. What was different?

CARLOS MOYA: I don't know. Just... I don't know. Just have the feeling that something is gonna happen and you don't know the reason. But I just had this feeling today.

Q. Was there a point early on when you realized that it was gonna be your day?

CARLOS MOYA: I mean, before the match started I knew that. Sometimes I know that, too, and I ended up losing the match. But today, I mean, since the first point, I was playing very confident with my forehand and my serve and everything. I was not nervous. Maybe yesterday I was a little bit more nervous than today. And today, I mean, is always more pressure when you play Spanish guy. Today I didn't feel that pressure. I felt that, you know, it was gonna be my day, and it has been.

Q. You talked about building up your confidence and winning all those matches on clay. Are you as confident now in your tennis as you've ever been, even when you were No. 1?

CARLOS MOYA: Well, I remember now how much confident I was when I was No. 1. Obviously, you have to be a lot of confidence. Because I was feeling that even when I was not playing perfect, I was winning matches. That means that you're very confident. And now, I feeling that I'm playing very well and I'm winning those matches. So now my game is there. Before, even if my game wasn't there, I was winning the matches. So that's maybe the difference.

Q. Can you speak a little bit about Lleyton or Fernando.

CARLOS MOYA: Well, it will be interesting match either way. Hewitt is playing really well. I mean, everybody knows him and how he plays. He's a great fighter, and he had a great match last night against Agassi. And Gonzalez, he's playing unbelievable. He's hitting the ball so hard. It's not easy to beat him when he's playing this way. I play him this year in Miami. He beat me pretty easily. So I just try to play my game and to use my forehand to control the match, and I'll see what can I do.

Q. Did you see his match yesterday against Roddick?

CARLOS MOYA: No, because they didn't show on TV I think. I could watch only Agassi-Hewitt. Yeah, but I know how he plays. But still I think is great to watch him playing, because he's funny. He's hitting the ball so hard. It's not funny when you play against him when he hits the ball that hard (smiling). But to watch him, you enjoy watching him.

Q. Juan Carlos said that you are not getting angry anymore when you lose a point. Before, you were more bad against yourself. You are not anymore. Did you change that?

CARLOS MOYA: Well, when you have won 19 of the last 21 matches, I mean, that helps you a lot not to get angry and to get upset. Even if you have a bad call, you just have to accept it. So I cannot say that I improve that. Mentally, I cannot say I improve that. If I lost the last five or six tournaments in the first round, probably I would get angry if I miss a ball. But now I have no reason to complain. I'm playing very well, and maybe that's why I am not complaining at all.

Q. If you play Lleyton, you beat him twice this year on clay since the time you played him on hardcourt. Does that help you any, even if it is a different surface, to have gotten a couple wins against him?

CARLOS MOYA: I think it helps. Because here I can play in the same style of game, same -- I mean, I can do the same thing as I am doing on clay because it's not too fast, the surface. I can use my forehand, I can use my serve. But I know he improved. He plays better here than he does on clay. But still, it's good to get to the court knowing that the last two times you beat the guy.

Q. Can you get that confidence that you had going into today the day before a match, or do you have to wait until tomorrow before the final?

CARLOS MOYA: I just wake up and I see what -- how my confidence is, how everything is. But since I knew that I was playing Ferrero, I don't know why I had that feeling. So suddenly it comes sometimes. I was not looking for it, and it came. So I have to wait to see and see what's -- what kind of feeling I have for tomorrow.

Q. What could winning a championship on hardcourts mean to you, you know, for the long run and for your confidence?

CARLOS MOYA: Well, it means a lot if finally I am able to make it. The last -- I mean, before I was injured, I knew that my game on hardcourt was fine because I won one tournament on hard, I played final Australian Open, semis US Open, final in Masters. So I think it was not only one tournament, but a few tournaments I did well. But I felt that this year my game was good only on clay, and I didn't know the reason. I didn't think that many things changed in my game, that I was not able to do well on hard. And suddenly I came here, my record was not very good, but my game was okay in Toronto . And here I just try to adapt little bit more to the hard. There are some small adjustments that you have to do, and I was able to get some practice before I came here. Now it looks like I am able to play well on hardcourts. I knew that I was going to be able to make it, but the matches were not good for me. And, you know, this week I been doing very well.

Q. If you meet tomorrow Fernando, what kind of strategy are you going to apply to it? What is his weakness?

CARLOS MOYA: Well, his forehand is huge, so I'll try to play on his backhand and try to dominate my forehand. So I don't know, I prefer to see what's gonna happen tonight and then find one strategy depending which player I play.

Q. You played Juan Carlos several times before. But was it, again, tough or awkward today to play a friend?

CARLOS MOYA: Yeah, it's tough. It's also tough knowing that he beat me the last five times and that I didn't beat him for three years when he was like 18 or 19 years old. So, yeah, it's special to play a guy like him. We had dinner last night, and we were talking right before the match. You know, it's not easy. But once you get to the court, you forget about everything.

Q. So you had dinner last night? Did you talk at all about the match?

CARLOS MOYA: No, no.

Q. What did you talk about instead?

CARLOS MOYA: Talk a little about cars when we're together. We love cars, and the speed, you know. But we didn't talk at all about the match.

Q. Do you have as many cars as he has?

CARLOS MOYA: No. I mean, not as good as the one that he has.

Q. Where did you have dinner? What restaurant?

CARLOS MOYA: We going to the -- I mean, I been going every night to the Carraba's I think it's called, next to the hotel.

Q. Are you physically feeling fit, any pains at all?

CARLOS MOYA: No pains at all. I am feeling very fast on the court, my endurance is good. I'm not tired at all. So I feel pretty well.

Q. This period that we're in now where so many players are winning the big events, are we going to stay in that for a while, or do you see three or four guys separating themselves? Hewitt might be one, but is there anyone else?

CARLOS MOYA: Well, I think it's gonna be like this few more years I guess. Maybe the last two, three years, only Hewitt has been there really all the time, you know? And the other guys, I don't think they are very consistent, you know.

Q. Why is that?

CARLOS MOYA: Why?

Q. I mean, we went from an era of Connors, McEnroe, Borg, to Sampras, Agassi. And now, you have so many different guys.

CARLOS MOYA: I think the difference is that before those guys were getting to the quarters very easy, you know. I think it happen what is happening in the women's game. I mean, you could predict who were gonna be in the semifinal, quarterfinals even, and they were not having very tough matches at every round. Now, for instance here, I don't know how many seeds lost the first day. How many?

Q. Eight.

CARLOS MOYA: Eight, so that shows something - that you can lose to any player. I would say the No. 100 in the world is much better player now than No. 100 ten years ago. So I think that makes a difference.

Q. Is that because they are better trained or because they are more talented or a combination of both?

CARLOS MOYA: No, because I think in these days, I mean, in any small country you can play tennis. Maybe before, 10 years, 15 years ago, only the elite, you know, only the high-class people could play tennis. Maybe that's the reason.

End of FastScripts….

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