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U.S. OPEN


August 28, 1996


Wayne Ferreira


NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK

Q. What did you think coming into this match? Did you feel he was going to be a very tough opponent?

WAYNE FERREIRA: I knew he'd be difficult, yeah.

Q. Can you tell us a little bit about your history playing each other?

WAYNE FERREIRA: I don't remember the last time I played him. It's been at least four or five years.

Q. You said you started playing each other when you were very young, though?

WAYNE FERREIRA: He was a little bit older than me, different age group. I didn't play against him that much. We've played.

Q. He said he thought you'd played about ten times.

WAYNE FERREIRA: Probably right. I don't remember when was the last.

Q. Would you have won the majority of those?

WAYNE FERREIRA: Probably not, no.

Q. Probably not?

WAYNE FERREIRA: No.

Q. About even?

WAYNE FERREIRA: No, no. I think when we were younger, he would have won probably every time.

Q. Really?

WAYNE FERREIRA: Yeah.

Q. How is it that he won today?

WAYNE FERREIRA: Well, I think he played very good. I think he played well enough to win. I don't think I played that well. I found it a little bit difficult. You know, a credit to him. He did what was necessary to win it.

Q. Do you think there's a danger that you've had too much tennis this summer? I know Agassi said that about his summer last year when he had a lot of wins. He said that by the time he got here, there wasn't enough gas in the tank.

WAYNE FERREIRA: I definitely can't lie. I felt like I've been playing tennis every day for the last five months. That's how I felt today. It was very difficult to get motivated to play mentally. When that doesn't happen, your physical side kind of disappears. It was a very difficult day for me.

Q. Do you think it was possible that a different opponent, you might have been able to jack yourself up a little better if it was someone a little more formidable?

WAYNE FERREIRA: It's hard to say. Right from the start mentally I was very, very soft, whatever you want to call it. I wasn't mentally tough at all. I don't know if it was because of him. I think pretty much it would have been against anybody.

Q. When did you realize that? Did you know before coming out on the court? Did it take a few points?

WAYNE FERREIRA: It took a while; not very long.

Q. Did anything he did surprise you today?

WAYNE FERREIRA: Not really. I think he hit his forehand very well. I know he has a good forehand. I expected him to miss a little bit more, which he didn't. But he played pretty much the way I've always known him to play.

Q. Did you start playing him when you were about ten? I hope I'm not asking the same question.

WAYNE FERREIRA: Yeah. As I said, he was in an age group above me. He was a lot better than me when I was a junior. I played against him a couple times, but not really that often.

Q. What did you think of your chances coming into this tournament?

WAYNE FERREIRA: I mean, I played great tennis last week. I knew it would be tough to get motivated from the physical side as well. I played great. I was hitting the ball well. I just felt if I could be fit enough and be able to get motivated for the matches, I should do all right. But it was pretty difficult.

Q. Motivation. Most people would say, "He's at the US Open, what more motivation do you need?" That's obviously not the way you're looking at it.

WAYNE FERREIRA: I mean, it's tough. I played a lot of matches this last couple of months. I'm motivated in a sense, but my mind's a little bit slower today. When it's like that, I want to get to where I'm going, but my body just doesn't want to go there. Just played maybe a little bit too much.

Q. You overplayed, you think?

WAYNE FERREIRA: Possibly, yeah. I would say so.

Q. Sound like somebody who would welcome a break from this for a few weeks.

WAYNE FERREIRA: Yeah.

Q. Is that possible?

WAYNE FERREIRA: That's very possible (Laughter).

Q. Did you not plan your summer leading up to this? In other words, a lot of players, particularly American players, hardcourt players, plan their summer to play in this tournament.

WAYNE FERREIRA: Well, I think this summer was very tough because of the Olympics. With these designations and stuff you have to do, I pulled out of Washington last year through injury, was forced to play it this year. I was forced to enter my designations to play Cincinnati, to play New Haven, to play Toronto. Basically I didn't have to play the Olympics, but who would not? I was forced to play eight, nine weeks in a row. I don't think I would have done it, but I didn't really have too many choices.

Q. Did you have surgery on your knees?

WAYNE FERREIRA: Yes. I'm going to get that done on Friday.

Q. One knee or both?

WAYNE FERREIRA: Only one at this stage. It's just the one that's giving me troubles.

Q. Which one?

WAYNE FERREIRA: My right knee.

Q. Scoped?

WAYNE FERREIRA: Yeah. I have a tear in the meniscus.

Q. How long do they expect that to keep you out?

WAYNE FERREIRA: Hard to say. I would say they say roughly between two and three weeks.

Q. How is your wrist?

WAYNE FERREIRA: My wrist?

Q. Yes.

WAYNE FERREIRA: Fine. I never had a problem with the wrist.

Q. You had something at birth?

WAYNE FERREIRA: No, that's not a problem.

Q. When will you have the knee surgery?

WAYNE FERREIRA: Friday.

Q. Did you schedule it when you lost?

WAYNE FERREIRA: I'm busy scheduling it now. Obviously I didn't expect to finish this quickly. In a way, it is good because now I can maybe get it done, be ready for the first tournament that I was supposed to play anyway. We'll see if I can get it done. The sooner, the better.

Q. Where will you have that done?

WAYNE FERREIRA: Here.

Q. You knew him, he was an older guy, said he was a better player. What's been your observation of him that he hasn't come along very well?

WAYNE FERREIRA: It's surprising. I mean, he's a good player. I mean, obviously he doesn't really have too much, though. Not really much power in his game, nothing that really dominates. I think he hit his forehand very well today, which I don't think he does that well. Besides that, there's nothing really that exceptional in his game. He doesn't serve very well, doesn't volley very well. He's a work horse, you know. He runs around a lot, chases a lot of balls. He's very quick, tries to keep it going. He's solid from the baseline, but I know he has a lot of bad days, too, that he can lose to anybody on certain days. I honestly think he played a very good game today.

Q. He said he had never played five sets before. You probably weren't aware of that. Would it have been to your advantage if you had gone into a fifth set?

WAYNE FERREIRA: The way I was feeling, probably not.

Q. Are you too tired to be mad at yourself for this, Wayne?

WAYNE FERREIRA: It's my responsibility, I guess. I had such a good week last week that I think it was more important for me -- obviously I wanted to do well here and I was going to come and give it my best effort, try as hard as I could, which I felt I did. Me winning last week's tournament was something that I've always wanted to do. If I was too tired to come here, lost first round, I'd still be happy because of my efforts last week. I'm not unhappy. I don't want to lose, but I really couldn't in a sense expect to do as well as I wanted to.

End of FastScripts….

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