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Lleyton defeats Marcelo Filippini in the
First Round at Wimbledon 6-2, 6-2, 6-1
Tuesday 22nd June - Official interview
Q. How was that?
A. Not bad. It's always nice to get through, and, you know, I was a bit nervous going out
there the first couple of games, and then things started to get rolling and to have a nice
easy win in the first round, in your first main draw at Wimbledon, is always I suppose
pretty nice, a good start to get off.
Q. Do you think you'll remember your first Wimbledon match ten years from now, or fifteen
years from now?
A. I'm sure I will. You know, I lost five games in that match and, you know, apart from
the start, I think I played pretty well. I sort of was trying to attack the whole match
and, you know, had him under a lot of pressure, and he
was trying to work on other little things to try to mix up his game, I suppose to try to
throw mine off. You know, in the future I think it's a good match to remember.
Q. Lleyton, you keep surprising all of us, maybe not yourself, but you know there will be
people that say, okay, he's a great runner, he's got great ground strokes, and he really
gets into the grass, with a couple of big hitters, with maybe Philippoussis or maybe
Pioline and you go and beat them, and then coming here to Wimbledon. How do you account
for the grittiness that you are showing this year?
A. I don't know, I just think the courts are playing really nicely and it's sort of
playing into my hands a little bit. You know, I've been returning well all year and that's
always been a sort of strength of mine, and I mean, it continued
there today, even though Filippini wasn't as big a server as Pioline, Sampras or
Philippoussis, but against those guys you've got to be on your game and you've got to be
returning well and you've got to be seeing the ball well, and I think that's where I've
been doing well against those types of guys and, you know, the courts have been playing
well enough, I can play from the baseline a lot of the time and I'm trying to sort of pick
the short ball, the right ball to come in off and sort of put them under pressure then.
Q. What did you mean by they're playing -- the grass courts are playing into your --
A. Sort of at the moment, I suppose before the courts get cut up a lot, they're sort of
pretty high bounces and, you know, pretty true bounces as well, so I'm always getting a
good look at a ground stroke to sort of put the
pressure on them, I suppose, to make them hit a good passing short.
Q. Did you have any pre-set goals coming into this particular Wimbledon?
A. No, not at all, I'm just taking it one match at a time and I suppose the biggest thing
was depending on the draw and you could have been playing Sampras first round, which was
always going to be pretty tough task, I suppose, and you know, I got a pretty good draw, I
suppose, first round, and I'm glad to get through that one, but, you know, every match is
going to get tougher I think from now.
Q. Have you looked ahead into the draw where there's sort of Becker and Rafter?
A. No, not really, I haven't even looked into it. Those guys have got to get there the
same as I do, so I'm just taking it one match at a time at the moment.
Q. Is all this fun for you at the age of 18? You could be very easily overwhelmed by the
tour, the travel, the names of the players you have to play, Sampras, Rafter,
Philippoussis. Are you finding time to enjoy what you're doing?
A. I'm enjoying it, you know, every week sort of coming here and I suppose 17, 18, you'll
be wanting to get Patrick Rafter's autograph and Sampras and Agassi, and I'm out there
practising with them and going out there and competing against them. So I've been really
enjoying it, I think, you know, ever since I came on the tour when I won Adelaide and it's
been -- I suppose I've been improving my ranking every week and sort of getting entry into
those bigger tournaments, and they're so much better than playing the Challengers and
that, that I played a few last year. So I really enjoy sort of being in the top 35 now in
the world.
Q. Have you noticed your opponents knowing more about your game and being better prepared
to play you?
A. A little bit, but I think I've had my best results the last few, I suppose, months now,
since the Australian Open, or since Adelaide when I made the final there, and I think
everyone knew my game pretty well then. I think I've
had a lot better year this year than I did last year. So I don't know, I think it helps
both ways. I think, for sure, they know my game a lot better, but I think I know theirs a
lot better as well.
Q. Lleyton, do you see your size as a limitation that you're going to have to deal with in
a way, to do some things to compensate for height?
A. No, a little bit in some ways, but then you look at sort of Andre Agassi and he's won
every championship and he's around my height. He's just got unbelievable, I suppose,
eye/ball coordination, and, you know, he's the
cleanest hitter of the ball and if he can win every Grand Slam, I suppose, on every
different surface, I think there's a good chance for everyone, no matter what the height
is.
Q. Did you relate to that, watching him win the French Open?
A. You know, it was great, I suppose, to see Andre win the French Open. I think if he
didn't win the French Open he was going to be one of the greatest players never to win it.
I think that was his third final he'd been in, and, you
know, I think for a guy who just goes out there and just plays his game, no matter who
he's playing against, I think he really deserves it.
Q. Lleyton, did you relate personally in the sense that, you know, "He's about my
size, you know, maybe he's a little bit more muscular than I am right now" --
A. No, I didn't really look at it at all in that way. I suppose a lot of people relate me
to either a Chang or an Agassi, someone like that, with the height and the build, and you
know, Andre is not the biggest guy out there as well.
He would be lifting a lot of weights.
Q. Lleyton, yesterday Anna Kournikova said she's single. How's your status at the moment?
Any offers around about the same age? Maybe she's an older woman, I don't know.
A. I'm not sure. I'm single still. I'm not really looking around, though, at the moment.
Q. Hey, mate, this is the best time.
A. I know it is. There are a few decent ones out there, but ...
Q. Lleyton, your country has produced some of the greatest players ever. Have any of
those guys talked to you?
A. Yes, you're always talking to, like, Rod Laver was out at Indian Wells watching all the
guys and he was there at the French Open, presenting the trophies and stuff and it's just
good, I suppose, to speak to those guys and
sort of see what they think about your games and stuff like that, and just talk about
normal stuff I suppose with them as well, and, you know, all the guys were around the
Australian Open as well, and also Wimbledon a lot of
the guys come in. You've always got Newc and Rochey around because they're with the Davis
Cup and that, but you've got Fred Stolle, all those commentators as well, and I think
they're pretty keen to see all the Aussie
guys do well and they're out there supporting you, and I spoke to Paul McNamee on the way
in, so everyone has tried, I suppose.
Q. There were occasional primal screams you let out at other destinations on this tour.
Have you decided you might have to rein those in here at Wimbledon just because of the
aura of the tournament?
A. Not really, no, I don't think too many people are going to get put off by them, so I'm
just going to play my game and sort of go out there and do what I have to do to win.
Q. What did reaching the semi-final at Queen's Club do for your confidence?
A. That did a lot for my confidence, to come out and beat Mark Philippoussis on grass,
you're obviously playing pretty well and really pretty much in my first main draw
tournament in grass and coming straight off the clay courts, there was a lot of confidence
in that, and particularly I went out there and played my own game. I didn't even have to
change my game to play against Mark and also, beating Cedric Pioline, who's been a
Wimbledon finalist, it gave me a lot of confidence going into Nottingham and going into
the quarter and losing against one of the best grass courters in the game, Greg Rusedski.
So I have a confidence going into this tournament.
Q. For an 18 year old who hasn't quite finished high school yet, I think a lot of people
think of you as extremely mature for 18 years old. Have you always been this mature, or
were you a real hellian when you were a lot
younger?
A. I'm not sure. It depends who you're rating with me, I suppose, but a lot of people have
said I handle the press pretty well and stuff like that. I think I've been brought up
well, I suppose, because I was sort of put in that situation, by Newc and Roche a little
bit. I've sort of been the orange boy of the Davis Cup, and then sort of I've been around
Patrick Rafter so much and those types of guys when they've had all their success as well.
So they've sort of showed me a little bit of the way and I've followed in their footsteps,
how to handle all the pressure and all the expectations and doing media and stuff like
that.
Q. Your responses to the media, they're not sort of canned, they always seem very honest
and almost as if they're extemporaneous, whereas you have a lot of players who come in
here and they have canned answers to
everyone.
A. I feel comfortable coming into the media, and, you know, it's nothing -- you know,
sometimes you don't want to do it, but that's part of being a professional tennis player,
you know, and you sort of -- it's always your guys' jobs to do your jobs as well, sort of
writing out what I say. So I just come in here, I try to be truthful, and you know, be
honest and feel free.
Q. If you're not chasing women, what are you doing in your free time to get your mind off
of tennis?
A. I've been playing a lot of table tennis, actually. I think I'm all right at table
tennis, so I've been playing a little bit of that, and that's about it. I've been on the
computer a little bit and playing a golf game on that as well.
Q. Does Newcy and Rochey give you a kick up the bum if you occasionally carry on a bit of
on the court?
A. A little bit now and then, but not really. They'll send me down once in a while and
talk to me, but they've been pretty positive, I suppose, all the time that I've been
working with them, and they've been a big influence in my rise
up the rankings so far.
Q. So you can understand how Martina felt in the final?
A. For sure, you know, it's tough coming out here as a teenager, particularlywith her,
she's got so much expectation on her, and you know, she's still only 18, and, you know,
she wanted that French Open so badly I think, and I think everyone feels a little bit
sorry for her, because she was that close to winning it, yet I suppose to make another
final in her case, where she's just about clearly the number 1 in the world, is a little
bit disappointing.
Q. Who were you playing table tennis with?
A. I was playing with Darren and I was playing with John McKerny, my manager.
Q. Was there a little tournament going on there?
A. Not really. There will be soon, though, it is a bit competitive.
Q. What about the other Aussies on tour, Rafter, Philippoussis? Do they play?
A. At table tennis? I haven't played them yet. I'll wait for a challenge.
Q. Did you bring your footy with you?
A. Darren Cane has a footy. It's at my place.
Q. Have you been out for a kick?
A. Where did we go for a kick? We had a kick in Paris. Sort of once I lost there, Scotty
Draper and a few of the guys, Muddy Waters who works with all the Australian guys as sort
of a fitness dietician, that type of guy, he was
out there having a boot as well. He used to play as well.
Q. You can't be happy with the Crows.
A. Not at the moment. I think we're 6 and 7, I think. I think we've got a good chance. I
think we've got to win 6 out of the next 10 matches to sort of come down to percentage, I
think. In the finals, if we win 7 out of 10 I think we'll be home. If we do make that
final 8 we're in with a definite chance.
Q. You pinched the other two. You're not going to pinch another one.
A. We didn't pinch anything, mate. It was great to beat up the Victorians, I can tell you.
Q. Where did you watch the cricket, if you watched it?
A. I watched Pakistan's innings over at Aorangi over here with all the South Africans and
all those guys, and then I went back to Advantage, in their house, and watched the
Australian innings.
Q. Were you offered a ticket for the final?
A. Yes, I was, actually, by --
Q. You didn't take it?
A. No, I was actually -- I couldn't say no to hitting with Andre Agassi, having a practice
session.
Q. You went to hit with Agassi over going to the Australian cricket final?
A. I thought it was going to be a bit one-sided anyway.
Q. Are you serious about that? Did you actually have the choice and picked having a
practice with Agassi?
A. Well, I had the choice. They said I could come out in the afternoon if I wanted to,
and, you know, it was getting a bit late then, and by then the Australian guys were
killing them anyway, so, you know, I think cricket is
also pretty good to watch on the TV as well.
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