A. COSTA/J.C. Ferrero 6-1, 6-0, 4-6, 6-3



Q. What happened in the first two sets?

JUAN CARLOS FERRERO: First and second?

Q. Yes.

JUAN CARLOS FERRERO: Nothing special. Did a lot of mistakes maybe because I
had some problems with my body. You know, I feel some pain in my legs,
abductor, and also my abdominal. But I try all the time to play good the
final, you know, but the first two sets I couldn't play because I feel so
much pain. And then improve a little bit, you know, and I could play a little
bit better in the third. I think in the fourth, I had a lot of chances, lot of
breakpoints, you know, in the second game in the fourth set, and also with 4-3
-- no -- with 3-2 I break back. Maybe I could play better the next game. You
know, I lost my serve Love-40, and also he take some more confidence than me,
and finally he won the match.

Q. Could you tell us which part of your body did you feel the pain the most?

JUAN CARLOS FERRERO: I feel my abdominal and also in my (abductors/adductors?).
I think all this coming from my ankle because my ankle was not very good
during the two weeks. I think was the reason of all my pains.

Q. When did you feel it? Before the match? Practice?

JUAN CARLOS FERRERO: I feel it around all the week, you know, but today I feel
more pain in the first two sets. And then I take some aspirin and something,
and I could play without pain sometime.

Q. Mentally, did you start already to play this first big final for you?

JUAN CARLOS FERRERO: I try. I try. I try. I try. But I think all the time he
play so solid, without mistakes, and I couldn't play at my level.

Q. And the third set, did you feel that the match could turn your way?

JUAN CARLOS FERRERO: I didn't play so well the third set, but, you know, I won
it, and I try to play better and better in the fourth set. But was impossible
today.

MODERATOR: Spanish questions.

Q. During the two sets, he played in an extraordinary way. You managed to
reverse the situation in the third set. Is this due to Albert? Do you think
Albert deserves the victory?

JUAN CARLOS FERRERO: I believe that Albert really deserved winning because he
played a great match. He played very solid and I played very badly in the
first two sets. And then I lost confidence and courage when I was already
down two sets. I lost my confidence. I didn't play well. I was not making
things hard for him because I was making unforced errors all the time, and I
think I couldn't win today.

Q. You only played each other four times before. Is it very bad for you to
lose to a Davis Cup friend?

JUAN CARLOS FERRERO: Well, we've had a number of losses, but also a great
number of wins. I think that he's a very solid player. He can play any sort
of shot. And I just to do just as well as he did, but I was not able to today.

Q. This was bad day for you, but how do you account for this? Was it only
physical? How did you start the match in the first place?

JUAN CARLOS FERRERO: I don't think I can really explain things today. I can't
really find the reasons why I didn't play well today. When I played Agassi, I
played very well. I played, in fact, four matches at the same level. I
practiced very well all the other days. I also had those injury problems
these other days, but I could play very well. Whereas today I was not able
to play well. At some point in the match, I couldn't get my confidence back.
I was both physically and mentally bad.

Q. What were those physical problems you had?

JUAN CARLOS FERRERO: Well, my ankle problems, first of all, led to other sorts
of problems in (abductors/adductors?). I also had some abdominal pain. With
Angel, just about every day we tried to improve the situation as much as we
could. It did improve, but physically I was not really in top shape as I'm
used to being.

Q. The final is the most important day of the tournament, and you realize
that you can't play your best tennis, what do you feel?

JUAN CARLOS FERRERO: Well, I know there will be many other finals and I will
be able to demonstrate how well I can play. For the time being, I hope that
there will be many others. It's true that I would like to start it all over
again today, but it's not possible.

Q. Apart from all those problems, you managed to win one set.

JUAN CARLOS FERRERO: Yes, 6-3. I managed to get into the match at that time.
But after that, in the fourth set at 3-All, I lost a Love game. Then I tried
to fight as much as I could, but really I didn't manage. I felt I missed
confidence. There are so many things I cannot explain but which happened all
the same.

Q. He was extraordinarily strong today.

JUAN CARLOS FERRERO: Yes. He played very well today. He was extremely solid.
He knew when we were at deuce, he was leading, and I had the pressure on
myself. If I had managed to put some more pressure on him, maybe things would
have been different.

Q. What did you think about this 6-Love score? Did you think this could happen
in a final?

JUAN CARLOS FERRERO: Well, he played very well and I played very badly during
that set, so that explains the score. Then in the third set, I had some
opportunities, and again in the fourth set. I'll say it again, starting from
3-All, things were better for me. They had improved. But until the end of the
match, you can never know whether you are going to win or lose.

Q. Your loss today of course certainly does not make us forget your victory
over Agassi and other major players. You've played very well during this
tournament.

JUAN CARLOS FERRERO: Yes, I like to play here in the French Open. I hope I
will be able to remain as consistent as possible in the future, and that I
will be again in the French Open in order to see my dream come true and win
the final here.

Q. Did you ever think that you might withdraw from the match?

JUAN CARLOS FERRERO: No.

Q. Costa was celebrating his victory after the end of the match. What went
through your head at that time?

JUAN CARLOS FERRERO: Well, at those points, you usually don't feel very
comfortable. I saw him raising the trophy, and of course I didn't feel very
well at the time. But he is a very good clay court player, and he had never
been beyond a quarterfinal in a Grand Slam tournament. He deserved his victory.
Of course, I was sad at that particular time, but I didn't really think about
everything. I was not saying to myself that I am so bad, no this should not
have happened. No, I was not thinking that. You know, you just have those
moments when you just don't think about anything actually.

Q. Were you affected by the fact that this was your first final?

JUAN CARLOS FERRERO: No. I played a lot of matches with a lot of pressure, and
more particularly in the Davis Cup or in other finals, and this never affected
me in any way. Here, the pressure was not a problem for me. It's just that he
was so much better than I was today. I was not feeling comfortable. I couldn't
play my true tennis level. I went into the court with great intentions of
winning, and I fought as hard as I could, but I couldn't manage to play well
in the beginning, so that's how it came about.

Q. During the first two sets, when you lost in this way, I'm certain that this
affected your mental condition. What did you think then? Did you think that
you ought to retire?

JUAN CARLOS FERRERO: No, no, of course not. When I lost 6-Love in the second
set, I thought to myself, "Well, if I have to lose, I have to give all the
effort I can and try and take all the opportunities I can in order to do as
best as I can, even if I have to lose."

Q. You ended the match on a double-fault. This happened to you on other
occasions.

JUAN CARLOS FERRERO: It's true that during the whole match I didn't serve
well. I felt some pain in my abdomen when I was serving. In those cases it's
really difficult to serve. I really had a bad match today, that's all.

Q. Following all this, what are you trying to do in the next few weeks?

JUAN CARLOS FERRERO: I'm going to take some relax, then I'm going to practice
on grass. I don't know yet if I'm going to play the next week -- not the next
week, then the other week. Then, of course, I'm going to go to Wimbledon.

Q. So you might go to Wimbledon directly?

JUAN CARLOS FERRERO: Yeah, yeah, maybe. I don't know yet.

Q. Two Spaniards in the final. If you had been in normal conditions, do you
think you could have won?

JUAN CARLOS FERRERO: You never know, last year and in 2000 I was playing very
well. The conditions were quite normal. At other times I was playing very well
and I could manage to reach the final. You can never know what is going to
happen. You have to be ready for any possible event. In a normal condition,
when you're feeling well, of course, you have more chances of winning.

Q. Can you tell me who gave you the football T-shirt and why?

JUAN CARLOS FERRERO: The prince give me the T-shirt. It's from Raul and the
rest of the team.