DAVIS CUP - USA vs SWITZERLAND

February 11, 2001

Jan Michael Gambill

THE MODERATOR: First question for Jan-Michael, please.

JAN-MICHAEL GAMBILL: Yeah, obviously I'm disappointed. I think we came here, we had a great week practicing, couldn't have a better coach in Patrick, you know, he's great on the sidelines. He's saying all the right things to me out there. But Roger simply played better than I did today. I worked my ass off out there. I tried as hard as I could, and things just didn't go right for me in a few points there. Even in that first set, I had set point, ripped a forehand into the corner, and he came up with the slimiest lob I've ever seen. It was just too good. Shots like that, you know, that's what makes Federer such a good player these days. So, you know, you got to hand it to him. He played some good points. He negates my power very well with that slice of his. I'm going to have to find a way around it if I expect to ever beat him.

JAN-MICHAEL GAMBILL: Well, I think that -- well, not really discouraged to the point where it was affecting my play. I get discouraged on one point, I think I'm able to put it past me these days pretty well and go to the next point. I was down on my serve quite a few times and I showed a lot of strength coming back there and playing pretty well. He puts a lot of pressure on me. He doesn't miss very many returns, but I don't think I missed very many returns either today. My game plan was to hit the second serve return hard and make him play a lot of points. His defense was extraordinary. I think that his defense is as good as anybody's, if not better. He plays it different than most guys. When I hit a big ball, he's hitting it back, you know, with a half-pace ball. It's hard for me to hit another hard one. His passing shots are so good that when you come in, you know, he has a lot of options. So it's very tough to, you know, figure out the way to win those points. But I think I could have served a little better in a few of those opportunities. But, you know, I can't be too disappointed because, you know, I really thought that I played the way that I wanted to play and just didn't come up with the result that we wanted.

JAN-MICHAEL GAMBILL: Well, I think so. I think I always return a little bit better in singles. I was a little flat-footed in that match yesterday in the doubles and didn't return very well. But, you know, I think that one of my biggest strengths is my return, and I think that I can do it, you know, better and better. I need to keep my eyes open out there. I was reading the ball well today, so I was in most of his service games. And I put a lot of pressure on him, but it wasn't enough.

JAN-MICHAEL GAMBILL: I mean, you had this guy coming on before the match today talking about the Non-Partisan Rule, saying things like that. Roger hits an approach shot, and there's guys up there, you know, doing their -- usually, if you're going to have a match and the crowd's going to get into it, I think they should get into it and have it like a basketball match. I'm all for that. If that's how tennis is going to be, that's how it's going to be. We're going to have it the whole match. But if it's going to be they can cheer in between points and not during the point, then you got to stick to it. So when the crowd, you know -- if I'm ready for it and it's happening the whole match, it's fine. But when somebody, you know, sounds off a horn before I hit a forehand, that's very tough, you know, out of the blue. And it affected my shot there. So, you know, I think that the lines -- the umpire should have said something. I think he should have played that point over, you know. I was able to get out of that game alive, but, you know, you got to do it one way or the other. You can't mix it, and you can't have things, you know, happening that are strange. He's got to stick to the game plan.

JAN-MICHAEL GAMBILL: Well, I think that you had to be blind to not see that. (Laughter.) I mean, he's obviously playing very good tennis.

JAN-MICHAEL GAMBILL: Well, actually I don't think it would be fair to compare him with somebody else. He plays his own type of game. I really can't think of another player out there that he plays like really. He's solid from the baseline and serves fairly well and he has a good all-court game, is able to throw in those off-paced balls. I can't really think of another player -- I guess Pete hits a little bit of a backhand kind of like that. I think he molded his backhand after Pete's. But I'm not comparing him to Pete, I don't think he's as good a player as Pete is. But I think that, you know, he's a very good player and he's only going to get better.

JAN-MICHAEL GAMBILL: Well, I think that the American tennis fans, for the most part, except for the real astute tennis fans, aren't going to know who Federer is for the most part. He's very popular in Europe. In the States, I don't think they're going to know who he is. Maybe after this they will. They'll obviously, if they watched the match, know what kind of tennis he can play. If they've been watching in, you know, in the last year, they're going to maybe know who he is. But they're going to be very disappointed. We always get the negative press and it's going to be, you know, "Why didn't Pete and Andre and that kind of thing play?" But, you know, this is the team that we have. These are the guys who want to play Davis Cup. I'm here for the Davis Cup every single time. I can speak for the rest of the team and say that no matter what happens, we're going to be here for the team. And, you know, that's what Davis Cup's about. And, you know, that's all I really can say about it. I hope that, you know, the people back home can see how hard we worked, and I think that everybody who came over here knows, you know, we gave it our all. We gave it 100 percent. You really can't do any more than that.

JAN-MICHAEL GAMBILL: Andy Roddick was going to play the fifth match. He's going to be there for our team in the future, and he's going to be a good player. Thanks.