TMS - THE ERICSSON OPEN

March 25, 2001

Jan Michael Gambill

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

JAN-MICHAEL GAMBILL: The arm has felt better, but frankly I'm amazed. I went out there today and wasn't sure if I could even get through that first set. But it's painful and I'm just proud of myself for staying out there, win or lose, and playing the match. Sometimes it can be hard. Sometimes you can look at the crowd. If you start losing, you think to yourself, "Oh, my arm's killing me." But I didn't let that happen. I didn't really think negative thoughts and just did my best and actually served pretty damn well today.

JAN-MICHAEL GAMBILL: There's some constant pain on my strokes, yes.

JAN-MICHAEL GAMBILL: It's a dull pain with like pins and needles. But it's just a stretched nerve, and it's just something that will go away with time. But maybe that will be tomorrow. Maybe that's the time I need.

JAN-MICHAEL GAMBILL: Well, both the doctors and Doug and Billy, of course, who do an unbelievable job are working on me before the match and after. But for this type of injury, there's really nothing you can do. You can't ice it, can't do stem or ultrasound because you'll irritate it more.

JAN-MICHAEL GAMBILL: No, absolutely not. There's no permanent damage. The damage is done. It's just something I either have to get through or, you know, wimp out I guess. I'm not about to do that.

JAN-MICHAEL GAMBILL: Absolutely a great day for the US.

JAN-MICHAEL GAMBILL: Of course I watched Andy's match. He's a very good friend of mine.

JAN-MICHAEL GAMBILL: Well, first of all, I knew Andy's playing some great tennis coming into here. Tell you the truth, I wish it had been against a non-American that he had that great win. I want to see the Americans win. But, you know, he played great and, you know, I mean I look up to Pete Sampras more than anybody, you know, I think he's the greatest player to ever play the game. I've copied my serve after him, you know. I don't really want to say too much about that match. But I'm happy for Andy, and, you know, I'm excited he's playing good tennis. It's good for American tennis, it's awesome.

JAN-MICHAEL GAMBILL: I absolutely hope he is. We already played once this year, we had a real tough match in San Jose, no breaks, I was able to get through that one. But I want him up there. Like I said, I want the Americans to do well. I want more than five, six guys in the top 100. I think he's made it now, has he? He's got to be damn close, real close.

JAN-MICHAEL GAMBILL: They take 108, so...

JAN-MICHAEL GAMBILL: Is it 104? Well, I'm happy for him. He's really worked hard. He has a great attitude. He's very respectful. I liked the way he played the match. I was very proud of him. I mean, he went out there and, you know, in a match like that against a guy that, you know, that you respect and look up to, you can't just be in their face and you can't be a bad person on the court. I think that he handled himself very well, and, you know, was pumped after the match but besides that just played his game. That's really good.

JAN-MICHAEL GAMBILL: First of all, I think it's been a long time coming. I thought I had the game to get there in the first place and I think I have the game to go even further. You know, I had some disappointments. I had some injuries that had held me back in the past. I had last year where I didn't play too well indoors and that was unfortunate and had some back problems. Those kinds of things aside, I think I've had an unbelievable start of the year and I think that this can be, you know, the best year of my career and really carry me forward into having, you know, even a stellar career instead of just a good one. I'm hoping for that. I'm happy with my tennis, I'm happy with the way I'm competing out there. I had a little bit of a vice versa today when I didn't win that matchpoint that I had. Instead of going out and playing a weak third set, I played a great third set. I'm very happy with that. I fought hard.

JAN-MICHAEL GAMBILL: Well, Jonas is a very tough competitor. First of all, like you said, he's a very quick person, doesn't have as big a serve as some of the other guys but volleys well, has a very good all-court game and has beaten me in the past. So I'm definitely looking forward to that match, and hopefully I'll have, you know, all my facilities.

JAN-MICHAEL GAMBILL: Well, I think that's definitely a possibility. I mean if we keep playing the kind of tennis that we're playing right now, I see no reason that we both couldn't be in the Top 10. I just don't see it. There's no reason. If I keep playing this well every tournament, and I can't expect to play, you know, great tennis every tournament, but if I keep playing well at more tournaments than not, then I think I'm going to be up there. I think I'm getting closer and closer, and I have, if you look at, I don't like to look at points to defend and this and that, but I have nothing really until the grass after this. I defended the points that I had from here last year and I can only go up from here. Hopefully I'll have a great clay court season, end this tournament well and be rested and excited to play which I am. I'm having a great time.

JAN-MICHAEL GAMBILL: I need to go out against Bjorkman and serve well, like I have been doing this whole time and I need to mix it up. I need to come to the net a little bit. I need to control the points against him because he hits the ball pretty hard. When he gets on, he is controlling the points, he gets confident and plays real well. He has one of the better backhands on the tour. He used to have a weak forehand, doesn't have a weak forehand anymore. So it's going to come down to just being in the point longer than him and hopefully controlling him.

JAN-MICHAEL GAMBILL: Well, I think we've only played once.

JAN-MICHAEL GAMBILL: I know I've played him in doubles a few times but I only played him once in singles in Auckland which was the tournament that he won. That was one of the first tournaments I made the quarterfinals in, the first tournament. And he pretty much killed me that day. He drove me around the court and --

JAN-MICHAEL GAMBILL: That was in '97 I think. He played an unbelievable match and I wasn't in it. So hopefully I'll, you know, I'll definitely play better than that.

JAN-MICHAEL GAMBILL: I think that was one of the more impressive bounces that I've ever seen of a racquet.

JAN-MICHAEL GAMBILL: It bounced across the court, didn't affect the grip, and didn't break. I mean... (Laughing.) That's incredible. I mean, I was like, "Wow, that racquet is amazing," so I kept using it and I might have to just keep that racquet, have to keep restringing that racquet. But throwing it helped me release a little steam, yeah. I think that I should have won that matchpoint. I got my first serve in though and he hit a good return, it's just the way it goes sometimes. He went for a forehand, made a big ball. But, no, I was sitting over there, the crowd was for me. They booed me a little bit when I threw my racquet, which is fine, I expect that. They were still for me and they were saying nice things. I was listening to them a little bit, you know, saying it's still the third set, whoever wins this wins obviously. I stayed out there and played well. Played a really good third set. I didn't make many errors.