2004 Western & Southern Financial Group Masters
Date: 2004-08-02
Safin def. Novak 6-3, 6-0

Question How did you feel today?
Answer Well, it was good. It was, actually, for my first win in two months. So it was pretty -- I was pretty happy. I was a little bit nervous at the beginning, and then I started to feel better and better. A little bit I gain some confidence. And was good. Good win for me.

Question Can you talk about your past few tournaments where you've had early exits.
Answer Yeah, was like a little bit disappointing for me. I had chances, and I had I would say -- just I had a lot of chances. I couldn't take them. Even against -- last week against Kiefer I didn't play really my best tennis, but I was there, I had the opportunity in the second set. Like I had the set and 2-Love. I couldn't hold my serve. And then it started to be complicated, and then he started to play with more confidence. And he beat me. It was like third-set tiebreak is a lottery. So I was little bit unlucky. Also in Wimbledon was same situation, you know. So it's basically the first win from French Open.

Question How important is it for this momentum?
Answer Very important. Very important. Very important to win some matches and start to win, you know, to get the confidence back, and try to work on yourself, not to rush too much, and try to go for another one. I mean, it's so complicated to get the confidence back. So you have to, you know, to take match by match and go slowly because everybody's playing pretty well. And they have to be focused. It's tough conditions. So it might help me because I didn't play a lot of matches so, you know, I am a little bit more fresh than other players.

Question It was a pretty quick win today. What was the difference?
Answer I mean, he didn't -- I played like I had nothing to lose, so I tried to do my best. I was running, I was fighting, I was serving well. So I didn't make big change in my match. And then he didn't really play well. I mean, I have to be honest. He didn't really felt comfortable on the court. So it was a matter of making a break in the first set, and things would be much easier. That's why it went so easy in the second set. He couldn't find himself on the court basically, and I took advantage of it.

Question What do you think of the tournament here?
Answer It's a Masters Series. Great tournament. I mean, even to -- in such tough conditions, not really a big city, you know, for Mason basically; is not Cincinnati. People are still interested in it. It's good entertainment for them. I hope they enjoy it. Because this tournament is here for a long time, so it means that it's doing well. And a lot of kids. So it's quite important. I mean, if the people still come and still interested in tennis, it means that we're doing well.