THE MASTERS SERIES 2001
THE ERICSSON OPEN
MIAMI, FLORIDA
March 24, 2001
D. PRINOSIL/G. Rusedski
6-3, 6-2
An Interview With:
DAVID PRINOSIL
THE MODERATOR: First question, please.
Q. A truly fantastic display of service returning out there today. Did you just have some sort of groove you couldn't get out of today?
DAVID PRINOSIL: I mean, we
played a few times against each other and was always tight matches. And
I knew what he's gonna do against
me. Last time, it was I
knew that he's gonna be -- kick it to my forehand a lot because usually
I don't like it. But today, I mean, I came out and
was returning unbelievable.
I think he didn't know what to do. And I mean, I know if I can return very
well, what I did today, I can beat him.
And that's why I won today,
because I was returning unbelievable.
Q. Have you ever in your life returned this well against a player this strong?
DAVID PRINOSIL: Yeah, I mean,
of course maybe not like today. But it's actually my -- I know that I can
return well. That's my game. Even
if I lose my serve, I can
still break the guys because of my return. Sometimes it's good, sometimes
it's not good. Today was good.
Q. He said you're a player
that has great hot streaks. You've got a good ranking at the moment. Do
you feel as though even after
ten years on the Tour you
probably could be playing as well as you've ever played?
DAVID PRINOSIL: That's right.
I had my best season last year and I'm improving all the time. And you
can see on Andre Agassi, I mean he's
playing 30, 31, is playing
his best tennis. I mean, I'm 28 now, and I think I had the same as Greg
last year, I had a lot of injuries also in the
beginning.
Q. Same hospital?
DAVID PRINOSIL: We were in
the same hospital, same operation, same city in Munich. So I was coming
unbelievable the next half year
after last year, and I didn't
-- I had some tough, tough matches here the month before. I mean, I played
last week Sampras, then I played twice
first round against Safin,
so it's not so easy. I didn't have so many matches. I just went two rounds
in the Australian Open. But it feels fine to
win some matches and my
ranking's 30 at the moment and I hope I can go higher and higher.
Q. David, you say you've
had very tough draws this year, and Agassi as well. Must have gotten to
a point where the draw would
come out and you would look
at it and say, "How do I keep drawing these guys every time, first round,
second round?"
DAVID PRINOSIL: You have
to keep going, keep going, keep going. Everybody, it's tough. I mean, I
was little bit lucky that I was seeded
here so I didn't play first
round against -- second round against Agassi or somebody else. Still, Greg
is not seeded but was very tough, tough
opponent in the second round
for sure. You just have to keep playing. Some days, I mean, there's no
easy opponents. Of course it's little bit
better to play some other
guy than Agassi the first round. But you have to keep going and keep going
and some day you will win, you will
beat someone.
Q. How about the current
rivalry, as it were, in the German Davis Cup side? I mean, you've got Kiefer
back now and obviously
Tommy Haas, too, but if
you keep playing the way you're playing, would you hope to get a singles,
one of the singles berths in the
next round?
DAVID PRINOSIL: Honestly,
I'm not thinking about it now. Everybody playing in a tournament and I
just concentrate on this game. Of
course, I mean, Nicolas
wasn't seeded. Second round, lost to Sampras. That's a tough draw also
for him. I mean, we got to see. If I play well
here, and if I still be
in the tournament next week, or the week after in the Davis Cup preparation,
maybe I can play singles of course.
Q. When you were in the hospital
in Munich with Greg, you had a similar operation but you didn't have the
same surgeon. Is that
right?
DAVID PRINOSIL: No, no. Different one.
Q. Not the same surgeon. Different one?
DAVID PRINOSIL: I had two days before Greg and I saw him two days later.
Q. You were chatting to each other, obviously?
DAVID PRINOSIL: Yeah. We had rehabilitation. It was in the same place in Germany. So we spend month together.
Q. You still like him? (Laughter.)
DAVID PRINOSIL: He was talking
a lot. But... (Laughing.) No, we understood each other very well. I mean,
he came after the match to me
and said, "Good luck for
the next round and keep playing like this," so we like each other.
Q. Speaking of good luck,
late in the second set, the double let cord point, you hit the let cord
leaving him a fairly easy shot. He hits
the let cord and gives you
a sitter to put away. Was that just the way the day was going for you?
DAVID PRINOSIL: That's right.
If everything is going right, also lucky shots are going for you. You have
to have luck a little bit. Everybody
has luck, was a little bit
lucky for me. But I think I had the whole match actually under control.
Even if I had a break 2-0 and I lost my serve, I
had him always under pressure
on his serve. He knew that he has to serve pretty big to win his serves.
Q. Did you notice him every
time you hit some unbelievable service return off a 130-mile an hour serve,
he would begin looking up at
Pat Cash in the box like,
"Somebody help me."
DAVID PRINOSIL: Yeah, everybody's
doing that. I wasn't looking at him. I was just concentrating on my game
and I was looking at my
coach.
Q. You didn't play here for
many years. Today you get your first win ever at Key Biscayne. Why didn't
you come here all those
years?
DAVID PRINOSIL: I played here four times, I lost four times first round.
Q. But then '93?
DAVID PRINOSIL: Actually,
you know what happen, I play here first year, was unbelievably windy, it
was after hurricane. I said I'm not
gonna come here anymore.
But I came again because every year is the weather is changing. But was
actually always pretty windy. I don't like
wind so much. So I was playing
the tournaments actually in Europe a lot of times, and -- but now I'm the
fifth time here so it's nice to be in
the third round.
Q. You changed your mind about Key Biscayne?
DAVID PRINOSIL: Ask me maybe after finals. (Laughter.)
End of FastScripts....