AUSTRALIAN OPEN

January 21, 2006

Peter Luczak

PETER LUCZAK: Feels like I just came off the court so I haven't really thought about it too much. Well you know, the guy's an incredible player. I think he's made quarters or semis here before. You know, the thing I can take out of it is maybe if I can hang with him for most of the match, I should be able to, you know, maybe compete with these guys on a more regular basis.

PETER LUCZAK: Yeah. I'm just going to have to sustain it, you know, try to cut out the bad weeks or losses where, you know, I'm losing to guys outside of the top 300. You know, I've got to try to, you know, make sure every time a guy's ranked behind me, try to knock him off and try to keep moving forward.

PETER LUCZAK: I guess, yeah, in the subconscious there's a chance of that. But, you know, I've done that a number of times. I did it three or four times last year alone against Tommy Robredo and Tommy Haas last year. This time I was actually thinking, Come on, mate, you can do it this time. In the conscious, it definitely wasn't a part of it.

PETER LUCZAK: I probably could have returned a little bit better, and also my backhand was probably a little bit too erratic. If that was a bit more consistent. I probably missed a few too many in the tape.

PETER LUCZAK: Yeah, I guess. But a loss is a loss. You're always a little bit disappointed after you lose. Especially, for me, such a big opportunity. It's not often I get to play for 75 points. Normally I have to be in the semis or a final to play for that amount of points.

PETER LUCZAK: Yeah, it was incredible. You know, when I was down in that fourth set, the crowd just every time I came out from change of ends, would try to get me back into it. It was just electric. I couldn't hear myself think. I was thinking, Man, you just got to enjoy this. The crowd is with you. Just try to get a few balls back, you never know what happened. He just played a bit too good for me at the end.

PETER LUCZAK: He's got incredible groundstrokes. He can go either way off both sides, forehand and backhand. Especially the backhand up the line is normally a tough shot for most players, but he hits it incredibly well. Anything in his striking zone, you know, you got problems. You got to either try to get the ball up high or down low on him. Anything here, it's normally curtains.

PETER LUCZAK: Yeah, well, you know, I'll probably have to watch the tape. Maybe not tomorrow, day after maybe, a week or two. It's hard to tell. Sometimes from the outside point of view, you can see if it was a good standard of match or not. When you come off the court, you don't really know. Or sometimes you play well, obviously you know. Buy I just -- I don't know. Everything happened so fast. I'm not really too sure what happened out there.

PETER LUCZAK: Yeah, I'll take a couple days off, probably try to play a bit of golf, spend some time with my girlfriend, start hitting some balls on the clay. If that's an option, if Fitzy wants me there, you know, I'll get into it straightaway, maybe in two or three days.

PETER LUCZAK: Yeah, I love playing in crowds like that. When I played on Margaret Court against Rochus, it seemed like a Davis Cup crowd. There was a whole section of the herd. They were all going crazy. I really love that sort of atmosphere. It's very easy to play when you've got so many people cheering from you. I'm sure you get that same sort of feeling, even if they're against you, just so many people wanting to watch and just willing one person on. Just incredible atmosphere to play in.

PETER LUCZAK: Yeah, I don't mind it.

PETER LUCZAK: Yeah, I'm sure it's going to be a little bit difficult. But you've just got to mentally prepare for that. Just say, mate, if you want to get ready for the bigger stage, obviously a guy of my ranking, I've got to play some of the small tournaments first. If I want to get there, just gives me a bit of a taste of, you know, where I'd like to be at. You know, I'm going to have to be mentally strong and compete like an animal out there to get past the challenger level.

PETER LUCZAK: I haven't really looked at it too closely. If I'd have a guess, it would probably be around 110, 115.