“I was really looking forward to playing in New Haven again, but unfortunately the pain on my neck hasn't completely gone away and I am not able to give my best on the court,”
“For me, every moment is a different situation. Maybe in 2000, '99, I could come here and win a match, it would be one match for me, not a good result. But right now, it's important because I'm able to play another match. Basically, I have no contracts, so I try to find different shirts. In Brazil, I have a friend that is making them for me. Every tournament I'm using a different shirt.”
“At the end of the second set, it got very tight. The trainer helped me out a little bit. ... I was able to play well in the third set, but, unfortunately, I couldn't serve the same way. And that's probably the best part of my game.”
“It's always great to play at home. I won here last year and it's great to start with a win like this today. The first match was difficult and I thought it was step in the right direction.”
“I played two very different sets. I had a lot of chances at the beginning of the second set that I couldn't take advantage of. When you have a player that has been in against the best players and you gives him such chances, it definitely makes things more complicated.”
