THE STELLA ARTOIS CHAMPIONSHIPS
Date: 2006-06-14

THE STELLA ARTOIS CHAMPIONSHIPS

June 14, 2006

Mark Philippoussis
LONDON, ENGLAND

The Moderator Questions, please.

Question Mark, when is the last time you won two matches in a day?
Mark Philippoussis In a day, uhm, a long time. I can't remember the last time I had two matches in one day to be honest.

Question Has it happened?
Mark Philippoussis Maybe like finishing off a set and then a match. But two matches, I don't think so. Not two singles matches, no.

Question What about your improvement during the day, especially the serve from the first match to the second?
Mark Philippoussis Yes. You know, I guess it was -- I would like to think that maybe that the wind dropped down a little bit in the second match, but I guess it (didn't/did?). It was windy at some stages.
But, you know, obviously having good rhythm out there definitely makes life a lot easier, and it won me a lot of free points today. You know, gave me more of a chance to push on his service games and try and do things, 'cause, you know, I was holding pretty comfortably at some stages. So I was happy.

Question Mark, so far the All England Club haven't said anything as yet about a wildcard. Is that in the back of your mind? I mean, do you feel that you've really got to put in a good showing over here?
Mark Philippoussis No, because I've got to be honest with you. I got an e-mail a couple days saying that I didn't get one. So I, you know, had to expect that, you know. You got to earn your wildcards, and I've been very fortunate to have a lot, and I know that. For me, I just need to play matches. And whether that was final, I'm not sure, the e-mail was final. I just wanted to concentrate on this tournament and take it a match at a time. And whatever happens, you know, I'm ready to -- I'm definitely ready to qualify, whatever it takes.

Question Did you get the impression from the e-mail that the door might still be open?
Mark Philippoussis I don't know, to be honest. I would have thought that it was out by now. I was surprised you guys don't know. So in that case, maybe I'll change someone's mind. I don't know.
But, again, I'm not even thinking about that. I'm thinking about this week. And next week I'm prepared to play qualifying, and my mind was on that even before I came here. I was prepared to play qualifying from the start.

Question You looked quite relaxed against Grosjean. There was a bit of banter going on, that sort of thing. Were you as relaxed as you sounded?
Mark Philippoussis Yeah, I was relaxed the whole day, I think. That's just one thing I'm just telling myself, Have fun. You know, I want to go out there and do the right things and just play, not think about winning or losing, just go out there, enjoy myself. That's what I did today. You know, that's what I want to keep on doing.

Question Is it more important to maybe really try to have a go at Wimbledon even if you have to qualify? I mean, does that mean a lot more to you than maybe another Grand Slam?
Mark Philippoussis Well, like I said, to be quite honest, my mind's not even on that, you know. I've played two good matches today. I'm thinking about González, I play tomorrow. That's where my match is -- my mind is.
When this tournament is over for me, whatever I have to do, whether I have to go out there and play quallies, win three matches, I've got to do that. It doesn't matter. It has to be done.

Question How do you see González as an opponent?
Mark Philippoussis He's a tough player. I played him on grass I think a couple years ago at Wimbledon. Strong player. Hits the ball extremely hard. So he's tough on any surface. So this is definitely a match -- another tough match.

Question How much do you think you've picked up since Surbiton last week?
Mark Philippoussis Well, I mean, that was one of those matches where you get there, the grass court, you know, is not in great condition. You're playing a guy who I guess -- I don't know what his ranking was, six or 700, but he doesn't play like that. He's been injured himself. He's a left-hander and hits the heart out of the ball. And he served bombs, you know. I lost my serve twice and, to be quite honest, didn't do too many -- anything wrong, you know. I double-faulted a couple times in one; obviously, it doesn't help. But he hit some passing shots, couple of miss hits, went over. I had five or six breakpoints. Four of them he hit aces and two of them on second serves.
Unfortunately, they're matches where it's so easy to say, Okay, here's another loss, you know, things are getting worse and worse for him. But people have to sit there and watch the match to realize it happens. It will happen to anyone.
And there's nothing to put my head down about. I just went out there and trained harder. Last few days, just been training really hard. That's all I got to do. If I lose, I got to train harder. Like I said, I have no doubt I'm gonna come back, I just got to get out on the court and train. That's the only thing I can do - keep trying, keep training, and everything's going to be fine.

Question When you go into Wimbledon, do you take inspiration from what happened to Goran in 2001?
Mark Philippoussis Like I said, I'm not thinking about Wimbledon. It's way far away for me. My mind's on this match, on this tournament. That's pretty much where it will stay for the moment until it starts.

Question The way you're playing at the moment, do you really feel as though you've got yourself back on track?
Mark Philippoussis I'm feeling healthy and confident. Obviously, two matches, it definitely helps the confidence. Like you said, looks like I'm enjoying myself, which I am. For me, that's the key. I'm enjoying the challenge, enjoying being out there on the court.
And tomorrow I'm going to go out there and try and do the right things and compete and enjoy myself again.

Question With your dad not being here, is that correct, this week?
Mark Philippoussis Yeah.

Question Where do you take guidance from around the practice courts, from other Australians?
Mark Philippoussis No, just being by myself, to be honest. Yeah, I'm just here with my mum, which is nice to see. I haven't seen her since the Australian Open. It's obviously nice to have someone there.
But, you know, I mean, I've been on tour for so long, I know what I have to do, what I don't have to do, I know when I have to train. No one should be pushing the player to train. If it doesn't come from him, it will never happen.
So although it is nice to have someone there to talk to, to joke around, just to have somewhere there, so that's the toughest part. But besides that, you're on the court by yourself. And, you know, whatever I have to do, go out there and train, you know, I know all the guys so we joke around on the practice courts. So that's no problem.

Question Is there a good side to playing two matches in one day?
Mark Philippoussis The up side is knowing that, you know, I'm held up and feeling good and, like I said, I think it will boost the confidence definitely, you know, playing those two matches in one day.

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