Tuesday, June 4, 2002
A. COSTA/G. Canas 7-5, 3-6, 6-7, 6-4, 6-0


Q. You were down 4-2 in the fourth set. How did you turn it around?
What happened?

ALBERT COSTA: I really don't know. I was trying all the time. I
start I think to play better because I was a little strange in
some moments. But at the end I said, "Come on, if you don't do
it now, you're going to lose." So I have to push hard, and that's
what I did.

Q. Did you see it happening at all beforehand?

ALBERT COSTA: I don't understand.

Q. Did you think before that point you could turn it around?

ALBERT COSTA: When I lost the third set in the tiebreak, I was
thinking all the time how to win. I didn't think about to lose.
But he made the first game a break, and then I start bad again in
the third set down. But I was trying, trying, trying. That for me
is what I have to do, to try, to try to win the match. That's what
I did.

Q. You beat Gustavo Kuerten, you're in the semifinals for the first
time in the French Open. How do you feel?

ALBERT COSTA: I'm feeling great. I'm feeling very, very good, very
happy. For me, is a new sensation, no, to be in semifinals in Grand
Slam. I was three times in the quarters. I'm happy to be in the
semifinal. Now I have two days off, so is good.

Q. From the stands it looks like Canas has this incredible endurance,
that he doesn't get tired. Is that what you feel when you're playing him?

ALBERT COSTA: Yeah, that the what I was feeling because he was
fighting a lot, running, running, running. And I was trying to
do the same thing, trying to hit hard, trying to win the points.
But he was playing so good. Then I start to play better, pushing
more. At the end I think he was a little tired and a little upset
also.

Q. How do you think a so tough game becomes so comfortable for you
in the end?

ALBERT COSTA: Well, I was fighting a lot, trying all the time. We
were fighting both a lot, hitting hard, playing from the baseline,
trying to serve good. But all the points were unbelievable rallies,
one-two, one-two. At the end I think he was a little tired. He had
two matches, very, very tough ones, against Moya and Hewitt. Maybe
he was a little more tired than me. That's what I think. I don't know.

Q. I know that you are a big football fan. Have you watched the
match against Slovenia?

ALBERT COSTA: I watch it.

Q. What do you know about Slovenian team? Do you know any of the
players?

ALBERT COSTA: No. I just know one, Zahovic. I don't know too much
the Slovenian team.

Q. Whose outfit were you wearing the other day, it was a football outfit?

ALBERT COSTA: Sorry?

Q. The other day on the press conference, you were wearing Spanish
National outfit. Did you have any writing on the back?

ALBERT COSTA: No, I would love to have one, but I don't have it.

Q. Which one would be your favorite one to have?

ALBERT COSTA: Difficult to say. Maybe Raul or Puyol. Enrique (last
name not heard) also. I like a lot.

Q. How do you compare your level of play today compared against Gustavo?

ALBERT COSTA: I think against Gustavo I played better. Today at
the beginning I was playing good. I was feeling the ball very good.
But then I was a little windy, I was not pushing that much. I think
with Gustavo I played better than today. But today I fought a lot.
For me a great job today. I did a great job.

Q. In the next round, would you rather play a fellow Spaniard?

ALBERT COSTA: Well, I hope to play against Alex because that means
that he is also in the semifinal, no?

Q. Over the years of your professional career, you've never been
known as a glamour player, you don't have a fancy nickname like
Mosquito, you're just Al Costa.

ALBERT COSTA: Maybe Al is good (laughter).

Q. Just come to work every day, does his job. Is that the kind of
reputation you feel best about - just being a professional player
who comes to work every day, you don't necessarily need everybody
to know who you are around the world?

ALBERT COSTA: Yeah. You know, I'm playing since a long time. I
start professional in 1994. I don't know. I don't know if I'm more
famous or not, I don't know. I'm trying to do my job every day,
trying to wake up all the days, trying to run and trying to do
this. I'm play, play, play, play. Now I'm semifinals in Roland
Garros. I think I won 11 tournaments, so I think I have good prizes
from tennis.

Q. How hard was it for you to watch a lot of the guys from your
generation of players, the guys that you practiced with all the
time, getting into semifinals and finals, winning Grand Slams?
Was that difficult to take? Did that motivate you more?

ALBERT COSTA: Yeah, maybe motivate me a little bit because I was
watching, why, if they are playing the final or semifinal - like
Carlos Moya or Alex, Mantilla played semifinals also once - why I
cannot play? Since today, I think I was trying, trying, but I
didn't get it. I think the most important thing is to think that
the fighting and trying, at the end you have, prize, no? You get
the gift.

MODERATOR: Spanish questions, please.

Q. Which one would you like to meet the next time around, of the
four people in the draw?

ALBERT COSTA: The thing is it's very difficult to say because
Ferrero is there, Safin is there, Agassi is there. All of these
players are very, very good. It would be very nice to play against
Ferrero in the finals, but we still have to go through the semifinals,
and many things can happen until the end. Of course, Ferrero,
because he's a Spaniard like me, and only for this reason. If I
look at the way he plays, he also plays very, very well. I only
say so because he's a Spaniard and it would be a final against
Spaniards.

Q. Otherwise you don't really care who you play against?

ALBERT COSTA: Technically they're all very good. They both hit
with both hands, their backhand. They both have a lot of strength.
One may have a better serve, may run less than the others. Agassi
and Ferrero. There are advantages and disadvantages to every player.
But all I want is to reach the finals, and I don't care against whom.

Q. When there was an interruption because of rain, did you have the
feeling that he was a bit upset?

ALBERT COSTA: Yes. At that time I felt that he was feeling not too
well because he was not really running too much and he had his
doubts. I think the fact that we had to stop wasn't really good
for me. He could have recovered, or perhaps he felt tired or had
his doubts. But I felt he wasn't quite comfortable out there, and
we had to stop at that point, and I lost the tiebreak. I think at
that time he did have his doubts. At the end I had the same level
that I had throughout the game, and his level went down, if anything.

Q. When you were 4-2 in the fourth set, did you think the game was
getting away from you or did you think if you kept up you'd be able
to win?

ALBERT COSTA: I thought a bit about everything. I reacted. I thought
if, "If I continue this way, I'm going to lose." I also thought his
level had to go down. It couldn't be that I continued to play and
strike the ball as I should, and that I don't get any results. So
he lost two points, then I finally ended up winning that set. But
I knew that his level had to go down. He really couldn't play at
that level throughout - at least that is the feeling I had out there.

Q. At some point we saw you with certain doubts. I think it was in
the third set, 4-Love.

ALBERT COSTA: Yes, I did have my doubts at that stage because he
was playing well, and I didn't see a way to throw him off. I wasn't
really able to throw him off. He ran, he returned all my balls, he
defended every single point, and I didn't know how to score. At the
end, something gave. He plays a strong game.

Q. Is it a surprise to you?

ALBERT COSTA: Yes, he made me run all around. I suppose he must have
thought the same thing about me because he was doing the same thing to me.

Q. At that point did you think you had to change your strategy, that
your kind of game wasn't really leading you anywhere, that you had
to hit the ball from behind?

ALBERT COSTA: Yes, perhaps a higher ball, and because I thought I
was playing too much to where he was standing. He changed a bit. I
began to give more height to my balls and to attack more. If I played
straight to him, this was making the game easier for him.

Q. After many years, you reached the semifinals. What made you change
your game to be able to reach the semifinals? Your outlook? Your mentality?

ALBERT COSTA: I think there's a bit of everything in this. Two games
that I lost in quarterfinals here . Against Muster, I think I deserved
to win. Also he deserved to win it. But I had played well enough to
deserve to win. At that time I didn't pull it off. Then I think in
Aussie reached the quarterfinals, and I wasn't able to win over
Sampras. Perhaps the most recent time was with Squillari. I think
he played very, very well, but I was not able to beat him. I think
what one has to say is that if you endure long enough, you'll be
able to get there at the end.

Q. You've been able to overcome a hurdle. There are other tennis
players that whenever they reach a hurdle, are able to overcome,
they're not able to really maintain the right type of tension?

ALBERT COSTA: No. I think I'm going to keep up now because this
hurdle to me was not really an obsession. I wasn't obsessed by it.
It was something that I thought sooner or later had to come about.
As of now, the most important part awaits me, and I have to be ready
for it for the next two days. I have to take a rest. But, of course,
I have to be ready for the match on Friday.

Q. What is better, to play against a friend or an acquaintance? Alex
Corretja?

ALBERT COSTA: I prefer to play against him because it means we both
reach the semifinals and are playing well. Then we'll have to play
it out. Whoever wins, well, it will be fine. Whoever wins, that's
just the game.

Q. Spain is playing against Paraguay in football. Is this a good
motivation to concentrate or you're not thinking about football
right now?

ALBERT COSTA: When I'm relaxed, yes, perhaps I can think about
football. But to jump up and down, I don't think I can do it
right now. If we're simply relaxed and looking at the game, that's okay.

Q. Coming back to the game. Is it rather difficult to see you're
doing everything as you should be doing it and you're still losing?

ALBERT COSTA: I think that when I was behind, I wasn't playing as
well as I could play, I think, because there were times when I was
playing from a strategic point of view not really as I should. At
the end, I realized how it was that I should play him. I think this
is what really changed the outcome of the game. When he saw this,
I think in the fifth set he felt that he was defeated. He felt,
"I've done everything I should do." To me it would have been the
same thing if I had done that. If I had done everything I should
have done, and at the end it gets me to the fifth set, I would have
felt defeated, as well.

Q. What was the way to overcome?

ALBERT COSTA: To play higher. He likes to run. That apparently
doesn't phase him out. He feels better when he's running around.
Perhaps you have to find the right kind of pace. You also have to
play some dropshots. I think he was tired. Also to change the rhythm,
to play a higher ball, and then to mix up the rhythm. Because I think
I was repeating my strokes too much in the beginning and he was
feeling comfortable. I tried and tried to find a way out, to wrap-up
the game. Apparently before that I hadn't found a way.