Nicolas Escude: going for a record?
‘I reckon they just like me here at Ahoy
http://www.abnamrowtt.nl/en/main.asp?recid=68
Nobody has won the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament three times in a row.
So if he pulls it off, Nicolas Escude will set a new record. Following his
victories in 2001 and 2002, the Frenchman has good memories of Rotterdam,
but the bad news is that Escude (26) has been dogged by injuries. Last
week, a thighbone injury forced him to withdraw from the semi-finals of
the ATP tournament in Marseilles.
What happened in Marseilles last week?
‘I had to pull out of both my singles and my doubles semi-finals. I’d
over-stretched myself by carrying on playing straight after the Davis Cup
matches. Of course I’m very happy to play for France, but I don’t want
the Davis Cup to ruin my career. So I think we’ll really have to get
together with our team managers to find a way of making sure we’re not
constantly being pushed to the limit. I really wanted to play in Marseilles
because there aren’t that many tournaments in France. Things were just
starting to go well again and then I picked up another injury.’
Did you save yourself especially for this tournament?
‘I simply didn’t want to take any risks. After all, I’ve learned my
lesson now. Too often in the past, I carried on playing with certain injuries
and then had to rest up, sometimes for quite a while. After Rotterdam I’ll
be playing in Dubai next week. And then there are another three Super 9
Tournaments on the programme. This series of tournaments is very important
to me.’
You could set a unique record in Rotterdam.
‘I’m aware that Arthur Ashe and Stefan Edberg won the tournament twice in
a row. And obviously I’d love to win it a third time; that would be really
great. I flew to Rotterdam on Saturday evening especially to prepare for it.
And over the past few days I’ve concentrated mainly on fitness training.
It’s wonderful to be back here. Lots of people keep asking me why I play so
well in Rotterdam. I really don’t know the answer to that, although the
atmosphere is of course fantastic. I reckon they just like me here at Ahoy’.
Incidentally, during the Davis Cup matches in Milan I heard that the
tournament director Wim Buitendijk had died. That was a big shock to me,
because I’d built up a good relationship with Wim over the years. We talked
about the tournament a lot.’
What does the Davis Cup mean to you?
‘It’s an important event. We’ve won lots of Davis Cup matches in recent
years. Last year we played four home matches, but it was very disappointing
that we lost in the final against Russia in Paris. I only played the doubles
match. The Davis Cup is a very tough competition, both physically and
mentally, so there’s always a certain amount of pressure on you. France
got off to a good start this year with a victory over Romania, but it made
no difference to us whether we would play the Netherlands or Switzerland
in the next round. After all, if you want to get to the final, you’ve got
to beat everyone anyway. We’ll be playing the next match against Switzerland
at home. For myself, I’m hoping to remain injury-free this year. Over the
past three years, I’ve always been out of circulation for several months,
so I hope to stay completely fit for at least an entire year.’
Your last defeat in Ahoy’ was in 2000 when you lost to Yevgeny
Kafelnikov in the second round.
‘I really don’t remember. I’d forgotten that defeat a long time ago.
Thanks to my tournament victories in in 2001 and 2002 and my victory against
Sjeng Schalken in the 2001 Davis Cup, I’ve built up a pretty good
reputation at Ahoy’.’
You’re playing Albert Costa today. How do you rate your chances?
‘There are no easy opponents in this tournament. Albert certainly won’t
be a walkover. But I’m feeling a lot stronger now. Other than that, I’ll
just have to play each match as it comes. Of course I’m hoping to achieve a
unique record in Rotterdam.’
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