 |
An Interview With Alex Corretja And
Jordi Arrese
4/5/02 |
Q. Alex, when did you feel
a sense of momentum, a swing your way in this match? Did it happen in
the tiebreak?
ALEX CORRETJA: No, actually, I start to feel better like in the
beginning of the third set when I start to return better. I think I
was kind of returning pretty well both first sets, but he was just serving
pretty well. And I was little (inaudible) with my serve, so I start
to focus on my serve. I start to push little bit more harder with my
second serve. And even though I made some double-faults, it gave me
some confidence thinking that I will keep him on the back of the court.
I start thinking to myself, especially at the beginning of the third
set.
Q. You said yesterday that anything can happen
on one day for you, even if it's not your favorite surface. Can it happen
on two days, three days for you?
ALEX CORRETJA: Of course. Because tomorrow doesn't count as today,
you know. So tomorrow, it's another day (laughter). Anything can happen
in one day, you know. So for sure we are looking forward to play tomorrow.
And it's nice for our team to have one point today, because it was our
main goal to have one point and go into a doubles 1-all. Because we
strongly believe that we really have good chances to win that. And it's
nice to see that even if we lost the first five sets we played on this
tie, finally we came through and we won a match and it's pretty satisfying
for the whole team. And especially for myself, which was a nice victory.
It's good to see that you came back from two-sets-to-love-down against
Sampras on grass.
Q. Did you sense he was losing confidence? If
you did, how did that make you feel to see Pete Sampras lose confidence
on grass?
ALEX CORRETJA: Well, I think he start to slow down his second
serve probably beginning of third set. And I felt like I had pretty
good chances with my return. I was thinking to keep my serve -- to hold
my serve, and it will be a good advantage. Because I was feeling like
that I have a nice moment to broke him every time. So I felt like it
was love-15 once, then 15-30, then 30-all, you know. So I was waiting
for that moment. And I couldn't broke him one serve, but then we get
to the breaker, and finally I get 6-0 and then I make a really good
passing shot. And from that point on, I felt like I was going to have
pretty good chances to win this match. Because I was returning well.
And even if I was making some double-faults, I felt like I was pretty
much confident with my serve.
Q. Alex, you've been playing on the tour since
'92 full-time. You've only played ten grass court matches. Does a match
like today make you rethink whether you want to go to Wimbledon and
maybe do this?
ALEX CORRETJA: No, I always said I would like to play Wimbledon,
but it's not my problem. It's a problem of calendar. And it's a problem,
before it was another issue, as you know. I always said I didn't have
anything against Wimbledon. But if you play through Scottsdale, Indian
Wells, then you go to Key Biscayne, then you have to play Davis Cup,
then you got to play Monte-Carlo, Hamburg, Rome, French Open, how come
I can be ready to play Wimbledon? I need some time to rest. And then,
I need time to recover myself for a big season like from starting like
March and finish in June. So I don't regret anything to myself, thinking,
"Oh, I could have gone to Wimbledon and done it better or just
play." Because if you play a lot of matches on clay, then you need
a rest to recover. And because French Open and Wimbledon is only three
weeks in between, or two weeks in between, I cannot just get ready for
grass.
Q. Alex, where will you put this in victories
of your career? Does it go right up there with some of your best wins?
ALEX CORRETJA: Well, absolutely goes in a high position, because
-- pretty high position. Because it's always nice when you win tournaments.
But beating Sampras on grass after losing first two sets, it makes something
special, and especially when it's in Davis Cup in US. So I don't know
at this stage which position it's going to take because I'm just focus
on my match for tomorrow. And then I will see if I could put it even
higher. But of course as a professional tennis player, this is something
pretty satisfying.
Q. For Jordi, your player's down 2-love to one
of the best grass court players of all time. What are you telling him
at that moment at the beginning of the third set?
CAPTAIN JORDI ARRESE: Alex was down. Although he was down in
the first two sets, he had two games where he was actually up. And after
the first break, even though he hadn't played a lot on grass, he was
starting to move forward and improve. And I said, "Just stay focused,"
and that he would be on grass and with the break that he would be able
to move forward.
Q. Alex, you've had chances to serve out matches
before. Were there more nerves or anything, this was the fifth set here.
What were you thinking on the changeover?
ALEX CORRETJA: Well, no, I was just focus. I mean, I felt like
I had good chances, and I knew that he was serving pretty well the first
two sets. But I think he kind of slowed down his serve in the third.
And not maybe in the third, but of course absolutely in the fourth set.
So we went to a tiebreak. If he would have beat me that tiebreak, we
would have said, "Okay, was a pretty close match." But nothing
else. But in the tiebreak I get focused thinking that I have really
good chance if I can get through to that tiebreak. And then fourth set
and fifth set I feel like I was pretty high in his return -- in my return
game. And even if I get some trouble with my serve, I think it was possible
to make some double-faults.
Q. So the first point of that last game, you
did your Boris Becker impersonation. Hit many of those in your lifetime?
ALEX CORRETJA: Yeah, only one (laughter). Yeah. Was my first
time highlight. Yeah. No, no, I mean, you're nervous when you have to
serve for the match sometimes, or when you have to serve for the fourth
set, as you notice. He broke me back. But you also have that when you
play for a regular tournament, you know. Because you want to close down
and just win the set. But, unfortunately, sometimes you can do it, sometimes
you cannot -- you can't. But I think I managed pretty well, especially
when I broke him the fifth set, I felt pretty confident with myself.
We were talking now in the locker room that 4-3 I was serving really
well, and then 5-4 I didn't have any doubts on myself because I felt
pretty - I don't know - pretty hard on that. Even if I had to make a
jump, whatever you call that, it was good to do it, because I couldn't
reach it otherwise.
Q. Alex, you won almost 80 percent of your net
approaches. You came in over 80 times. Have you volleyed much better
than you volleyed today?
ALEX CORRETJA: I think I have a good volley. I don't use it,
but I do have it, so... I should consider going more to the net. So
I think I played pretty deep in my volleys. Even though I think he played
some good passing shots, especially first two sets. But my chances were
to keep him at the -- try to keep him on the baseline and try to move
him a little bit and try to mix it up with my serve. And sometimes come
to the net with my slice. And of course put -- I mean, pushing his backhand,
which for sure it's a little weaker than his forehand side.
Q. Alex, Patrick said that even though Pete lost
the match today that he was happy that you physically had to play a
long match today, then you'll have to play doubles, then Sunday. Physically,
are you capable of winning physically three matches?
ALEX CORRETJA: Well, I understand Patrick's point of view, and
I'm happy to see I make a big effort physically and I won. Imagine if
I would have been there four hours and I lost, you know (laughter)?
So that would be terrible. So I do understand his point. And I'm capable.
Because I've been doing that on clay for many times, and playing on
clay is much harder than on grass. So I don't think -- I don't have
to think like I'm going to have any trouble physically tomorrow or something.
