OLYMPIC TENNIS TOURNAMENT
Date: 2004-08-16

OLYMPIC TENNIS TOURNAMENT

August 16, 2004

Mark Philippoussis
ATHENS, GREECE
The Moderator Questions for Mark.

Question How can you explain that result, the way things turned around after the first set?
Mark Philippoussis You know, everything -- you know, seemed to be hitting the ball well. Breakpoint in the first game and the second, didn't take the opportunity. Bit of a sloppy game. Got it back to deuce, got the break. It was weird after that. I couldn't seem to get any pace on the ball or couldn't get any power on anything. You know, unfortunately I'm still having trouble moving. So I was making it tough for myself out there.

Question How much was the knee hampering you? Was it hurting or just awkward to move?
Mark Philippoussis The thing was, I've had tendinitis on it the last few days. Unfortunately, I haven't practiced a lot. It's just tendinitis, a dull ache. Tough to push off and then put a lot of weight on it, but nothing dangerous or anything to do with the cartilage, which is great. It's the first time back on hard courts for a while.

Question Are you going to have to modify your schedule at all ahead of the US Open?
Mark Philippoussis You know, I've got 10 days now before the US Open, so it's time to go back and just work on that and see what the best thing is to get rid of this. Obviously, you know, it's very, very frustrating getting on the court each time and having something niggling away and affecting me. Tennis is tough enough when you're feeling great out there. So I'm going to have to sort of go to my doctor, see my doctor in Miami, and see the best way to go about it.

Question What is your psychology like on the court? What are you thinking?
Mark Philippoussis My psychology? What am I thinking? I don't know. What can you say? Obviously, I'm thinking about that point, trying to change something. You know, things aren't working well, you want to try to change things. I was fighting tough.

Question How do you pick yourself up?
Mark Philippoussis It's not like I've never come back from a set down or two sets down. I've done that before. I lost the second set 6-Love, but I won the first set. A set all, the score doesn't really matter. You've just got to try to change something and take it a point at a time.

Question Disappointing not to go a bit further here because of your Greek background, this being the Olympics?
Mark Philippoussis Of course, it's extremely disappointing. You know, representing your country, the Olympics is once every four years, and it's in Athens. I was looking forward to it. Like I say, it's just very frustrating. I wish I could have prepared better, you know, better preparation and physically fitter for it. Unfortunately, I didn't have a chance to.

Question How much preparation did you have?
Mark Philippoussis Well, not that much. Probably within the last month, two months, month, three and a half weeks, I probably got on the court four times because I had three injections on my knee. That takes around two and a half weeks. So, you know, it was aching me. I just wanted to try to give the knee as much healing time as I could. Then when I tried to get back into it, I got tendinitis. As I said, it's a very, very frustrating situation.

Question Is that standard to get tendinitis after injections?
Mark Philippoussis No. I can't remember the last time I got tendinitis in my knee, to be quite honest. I think the last time was when I was 14, 15, when I had the growth spurt, grew up a few inches a year. So it's been a while.

Question Are you a bit concerned about it at all?
Mark Philippoussis It's nothing to be deeply concerned about. Tendinitis is something that's more annoying than anything. It's not going to be extremely dangerous or get any worse. Obviously, you're on the court, you know it's going to hurt, so you're going to have to deal with it. Obviously, the best way -- you only need a few days, with icing, taking care of it, and it will be good. But it's tough to have a few days off having not had any time on the court before that, and suddenly you're here.

Question (Question regarding preparation for the US Open.)
Mark Philippoussis I'm definitely looking forward to playing that. It's on the calendar for me. As I said, I'll just get back at home and really see -- talk to my doctor and see what the best way to handle the situation is.

Question Is that in America or Australia?
Mark Philippoussis No, Florida.

Question Is it a knee problem?
Mark Philippoussis Just a little bit of tendinitis. You know, it's nothing major. As I say, it's just an annoying thing, if anything.

Question The knee problem, is it related to the tendinitis?
Mark Philippoussis No, it's not related. It happens when it's been a long time since you've been on a hard court, you get on the hard court, it's a little sticky, you get a little tendinitis.

Question The knee is all right?
Mark Philippoussis The good thing is the knee is great, which is the important thing.

Question Will you possibly skip the US Open to save yourself for Davis Cup?
Mark Philippoussis I mean, like I said, the most important thing for me now obviously that I'm out of the Davis Cup (sic) is the US Open, so that's on my mind.

Question (Question regarding his girlfriend.)
Mark Philippoussis Yes.

Question She was put in the hospital for a fever, is that right?
Mark Philippoussis No, she's fine. She just was a little tired.

Question Where did you get the injections?
Mark Philippoussis I had it in Florida.

Question Are you going to play the Kremlin Cup in Moscow?
Mark Philippoussis I'm not sure yet. I'm really not sure. I don't know because from now onwards pretty much there's not much time off for me. We've got, you know, the US Open and then I think it's Davis Cup, then I have Shanghai, which I'm defending, I'm champion there. Then it's Japan. Then there was Moscow. Is it Barcelona, then Paris. I wouldn't have a week off. So I don't know. It's going to be extremely tough, so I've got to see which is the best way for me.

Question (Question regarding preparation for Australia.)
Mark Philippoussis Yeah, we've worked on that, we've got a plan.

Question Any tournaments planned?
Mark Philippoussis For what, next year?

Question Yes.
Mark Philippoussis No, not yet.

Question Will you stay in Athens?
Mark Philippoussis I think it's important for me to leave as soon as possible. Unfortunately, I don't have the luxury of sitting around, you know, and cheering other athletes. I've got to get out of here and try to take care and get ready for the US Open.

Question Greece welcomes you. What is your general opinion about the whole organization?
Mark Philippoussis I think they've done an incredible job. I think the opening ceremony, this is my third Olympics, and it was definitely one of the best ones if not the best so far that I've attended. They've done a great job with everything. I think the village so far has been the best for the athletes. They've done a great job in the complex here. I was speaking to Eleni. She was here 30 days ago for a drug test, and there was nothing here 30 days ago. I think it's typical about the Greeks, live at the last minute. But at least they got it done, so.

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