2004 U.S. Open
Date: 2004-09-01
Davydenko def. Philippoussis 1-6, 6-3, 3-6, 7-6, 4-1 (ret)

Question Can you tell us about the injury first.
Answer Yeah, I think it was like 2-All or 3-All in the fourth. I just held serve. It wasn't on any particular shot. All of a sudden just my left side, my left glut just seized up, just locked up on me. It wasn't a cramp. So, you know, went inside now and just saw the doctors. They don't think it's nerve related. I don't know what happened. Spasm or something. Just locked up.

Question How was it affecting your play?
Answer I mean, I was like hopping on one leg. I couldn't move, I couldn't push off for my serve. You know, so...

Question Have you had a similar problem in the past?
Answer No. I've never had anything like this. Like I said, I was feeling great. Obviously, it was hot out there, so getting a little tired. But nothing was hurting. You know, physically I was feeling good. Like I said, just came out of nowhere. It was really weird.

Question Have the doctors given you any idea as to what could have caused it?
Answer No. They said normally when something like this happens, you know, something in your body might be a little off, you know, a little unbalanced in your body so, yeah...

Question Have you been able to play much since you came back from the Olympics?
Answer I've had a few days off, then I started training at home, and felt good. Hitting the ball pretty well. Got a couple hours on Thursday before I got here, hit for close to three hours, and it felt good. Hitting the ball well here. So it's disappointing.

Question How is it now?
Answer I mean, I'm not doing anything, so it's obviously eased off. You know, it's feeling okay now. Just feel stiff, that's all.

Question How are you going to treat it?
Answer Just got to go back and see someone just to check out my body and see if there's anything, you know, off or unbalanced to see what might have caused it. You know, with something like this, you just give it time. I think you've just got to stay on top of it. What they're pretty much saying is it's very important for me to see someone who can just check out my body who knows what they're doing to see if there's something that caused it, and if there is, make sure to take care of it so it doesn't happen again.

Question Are you going to rest or do you have other plans?
Answer The most important thing now is to go back to Florida and see someone, try and get on top of it.

Question Do you still have the place in Cardiff?
Answer No. I was just renting there.

Question Do you still go there?
Answer Unfortunately, no, not too much. I went there a couple of times to visit friends and surf. But, no, not so much.

Question I would think being there and surfing like you did would keep you pretty loose.
Answer Yeah.

Question Maybe you shouldn't have left.
Answer I was pretty happy there. I mean, I'm pretty happy in the water. I guess when you feel this way, it's nice to get in the water. Hopefully that will take my mind off of it if I get a chance.

Question Is the Davis Cup something that you can think about?
Answer Not now.

Question Are you in danger at all?
Answer That's not even in my thoughts. You know, I've got a while till that. I've got to go home and, as I said, just take care of this, try and get on top of it, see what caused it, and make sure it doesn't happen again, to work on whatever I have to work on, my core, my body.

Question Prior to today, was Davis Cup in your thoughts? Was it on your schedule?
Answer Sure it was on my schedule, yeah.

Question When were you planning to go there? Straight after here?
Answer I wasn't really thinking about it, to be honest.

Question Were you hoping this tournament could be sort of a good way to end a year that maybe hasn't been your best year, have a good run here?
Answer Well, it's pretty much the worst year of my tennis career, by far, so far. And I feel like I just want to start all over again. You know, I just wanted to come out here and just try and play some good tennis, try and get something rolling. You know, it's disappointing. Of all these years I've played, I think I've only defaulted like three times, and that was with my knee twice. Once at Wimbledon, two years ago here at the US Open, and today. I've always played with a lot of pain on court. I was just sick of playing with pain. Out there today I just said, "Enough is enough. I don't want to play in pain any more. This game is tough enough."

Question It was the same court, wasn't it?
Answer Yeah.

Question Don't want to see that court again for a while?
Answer I mean, I like playing on that court. It's a great court.

Question What was actually going through your mind? Were you struggling with it?
Answer It was very important for me to get that fourth set because if this is the type of injury where I can get worked on and have a day off and anything can happen, you might feel great and come back. But, you know, when I lost that fourth set, I thought, "Okay, just got to hang in there. This might go away if I play a couple games. " It's happened before, there can be a bit of pain and all of a sudden it can be gone. But it just got worse and worse. I mean, I was very frustrated. You know, very frustrated.

Question How much does it hurt you having such a good year last year, not being able to back it up this year with a few injuries and frustrations? Does it really hurt you?
Answer Yeah, it's frustrating. But, you know, I've got a few months now before the end of the year, so I've got to sit down and, you know, and see what's the best way to put everything together, think about what I have to do to try and start fresh next year. Obviously, I've got to put this whole year behind me. I've got to see, you know, what do I have to do, what do I want, what is going to make me happy inside, what's going to make me play better. I've got to sit down. I've got a lot of things to think about.

Question Having had a year like this, did it ever cross your mind during the past year to say, "All right, enough is enough, I'm done with the game"?
Answer No. I mean, sometimes you feel like "I'm done" for a couple weeks, and I get away, whatever, go surfing, do something to get my mind off the tennis completely and get away. But you get frustrated and you get angry. When you get angry, people burst out and they'll think a lot of things, negative things. But, you know, I have things I want to do in my career that I haven't yet done. I definitely want to keep playing till I've achieved that.

Question Has it been important for you to have somebody in your life like Delta in terms of encouragement, in terms of having a shoulder to lean on?
Answer Well, my family's always been there for me. My family, my best friends. Now Delta is with me. That's what your family's there for, your best friends. They believe in you no matter what. They're always there through thick and thin. People come in your life, in and out of your life. When you're playing great, you're on top of the world, all of a sudden you've got new friends all of a sudden next to you. You know, took me a while to realize that. But I have. I mean, the last few years I've just had my family around me and those people, you know, that I care for and close friends. They're there with you no matter what.