18^th June, 2000

My hard work is showing results

The past week or so has probably been the most productive I have had this year. I definitely feel a lot better about my game, even thou I lost in the second round to Richard Krajicek. The hard work is starting to pay off again. My serving, which has been a worry, is progressing to where I want it to be again and the confidence is starting to return. The success or failure of my game depends on how hard I work in practice. There are no secrets and the decision to stay behind in Paris for a week after losing to Cedric Pioline at the French Open is paying off.

We worked bloody hard and I feel as though my game is going forward again. Going from clay to grass always presents a few problems and the court in Halle seems to have the ball jumping all over the place. I am concentrating now on my returns because I have gone three matches now without getting a

break point. The last thing I would want going into Wimbledon is not having the confidence to know you can step it up on return when you need to. I beat Sjeng Schalken in two tiebreaks and the first two sets against Krajicek went the same way before he went away from me in the third set. They have big serves and they are tough to return. Playing doubles this week with Jonas Bjorkman will help from the returning side of things and then I have Rosmalen next week. I have been fortunate enough to win there for the past two years and I would love to do it for a third time.

Gustavo Kuerten's French Open win again showed what a tough battle Australia will have in Davis Cup against Brazil in Brisbane next month. Kuerten is a tremendous competitor who never gives up and the guy can play on grass. He has a big serve and, on grass, he can be lethal. He made it to the Wimbledon quarter finals last year and he desperately wants to get Brazil into this year's Davis Cup final. He has Fernando Meligeni and Andre Sa to back him up so we will not be taking it lightly. But we have plenty of options for singles in Lleyton, Mark, Wayne and myself. By the time we return to Brisbane we will have had plenty of time on grass and we will be ready.