NEWSWEEK CHAMPIONS CUP

March 11, 1996

Mark Woodforde

Q. Did you feel like this is the match you should have put away in straight sets? I mean, you had set point the first set.

MARK WOODFORDE: Yeah, I guess it would have been nice to have won in straight sets, but I think winning -- playing a tough match and losing a set, probably, you know, is more of a benefit for me. It is just really hard. I mean, there is a significant difference from practicing out in Mission Hills to here, the balls are much lighter. I don't think the court pace is too much different, but it just seems very different and yet like it is only ten minutes away. So I think it was better for me to play a tough match and I knew I was going to play a tough match with Javier, so it gets me ready for the other matches, but I still would have liked to have played a little bit better than what I did.

Q. Are you saying the biggest difference is the balls, you think from Mission Hills?

MARK WOODFORDE: Yeah, practicing there, it doesn't seem quite as fast or as light, and, you know, Javier was getting, you know, terrific topspin off of his serve. He was kicking it out, and I couldn't get my racket on the ball. So once it just -- darkness started to appear; I think that helped me. The conditions got a little bit heavy and I was able to control it a little bit. So think I was nervous. I mean, I felt like I was more nervous than, you know, when I play in front of my friends and family in Adelaide. I was a little bit jittery out there and I mean, I really like to do well here, so you know, it is nice to just get one on the board anyway.

Q. Was that because of buying a house here and everything, people are sort of watching you here?

MARK WOODFORDE: Yeah, you know, having lived here for a number of years now, you know, having, you know, of more recent times great singles results; I guess I would like to do well here. It is, you know, you feel like when you are playing well that you have got a chance if the draw is there that it can only open and I feel like I am playing well enough at times that I can push through into the latter stages as far as singles goes. Then, you know, Erin is from here and she has some family coming in, and, you know, just people at Mission Hills, it is a great bunch of people and they have all come out to watch me play, so, it is a nice feeling when you have got a lot of supporters if you play well.

Q. Tell me about the start of the year. What do you think is the reason you are playing as well as you are?

MARK WOODFORDE: I think at the end of last year I sort of -- it is not that I let my singles ability, you know, disintegrate. I think I just lost a bit of motivation, and, you know, doubles was -- we were playing a lot of doubles and since I just wasn't all there and I felt like I was not doing myself justice by giving 100%, and so I made a commitment to myself and to had my coach Ray Ruffels, and to my trainer, and I guess, in a way, to Tommy out at Mission Hills that I didn't want to play, you know, badly. If I lost to someone, I wanted to lose fair and square and play, you know, say that I played a good match. And I think that -- don't think that was happening at the end of last year, so I really had worked on a few areas of my game, my serve. I think I generally got fitter and a little bit stronger. It paid off the months that I had in Mission Hills and then just had some good results leading up to the Australian Open, and like I said earlier, that, you know, sometimes in these big events, that the top players, everyone is so even nowadays, there is no clear-cut favorites, and, you know, just was fortunate that Sampras got beaten by, you know, Philippoussis and I was playing very well and beat Philippoussis quite easy and just went on from there. And, you know, I played Memphis, made the quarters; played a tough match with Sampras, and, you know, last tournament was Philly losing to Courier, so the times that I have lost this year have all been the top 10 guys, so I feel like I am doing something right. You just, in a match like that, I think probably last year I had lost the first set and not hit too many balls in, I would have maybe found some way to have lost that match, you know, in two sets, so, you know, I think that is where another area -- a lot of confidence does you wonders on the court, and was able to just, you know, shrug off the first set loss, and, you know, really took the match -- took control of the match for the second and third set. So it is not one specific, I guess, area, but it is, you know, I think knowing that I have been a good doubles player over the years and winning some big matches and close matches, and, you know, working on certain areas, that it is just -- I really feel, you know, a lot better, like a better player on the court. My game is improving still.

Q. Has the singles success had any effect, positive or negative, on the doubles?

MARK WOODFORDE: Probably in reality, maybe it has had a negative effect, you know, in Australia, Todd and I won the first tournament we played in and then lost two first rounds even though our singles was continually improving and then Memphis wasn't -- it didn't really, you know, happen too badly, but by the time I got to the final, I think we were both pretty much tired and then the same thing in Philadelphia, Todd - both he and I - played a little bit slightly injured, and, you know, Todd was close to having to pull out of the doubles because of the effects of playing so many singles -- so many matches, but we just we got through that and we ended up winning, so we did notice the last week trying to practice here, both of us were just so tired. I mean, we didn't expect to spend, you know, as much time off the court than what we anticipated to having a good week, hitting hours upon hours and hours and hours - it was, more or less, the first few days were resting from playing two solid weeks from both singles and doubles. It is a great feeling to do well in both events, but I think maybe if we keep going the way we are as far as our singles are, we might just cut back a couple of tournaments on the doubles front, but I think we just need to assess that probably, you know, midway through the year when the French Open and Wimbledon come around.

Q. Is that a sacrifice you would be happy to make if it is called for?

MARK WOODFORDE: No, because we are greedy. We are very greedy. It is not like we are going to stop playing doubles altogether. It is just a matter of picking the tournaments where we are not -- perhaps we are not going to enter, but I think the way that we both are, we just love -- I think we just Love playing so much and playing together that it is going to be hard to pick which tournaments not to play in, but, you know, I mean, I don't want to say anything because Todd has got to decide some of it as well.

GREG SHARKO: Thank you.

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