U.S. OPEN

September 2, 1996

David Wheaton

DAVID WHEATON: To be honest, it's hard to tell. I mean, I don't think today was a good indication of how well, you know, either of us could have played. I don't think either of us played that well. That was the unfortunate part for me, is that the quality of tennis really wasn't that good, to be honest, I felt. So I don't feel that, you know, he played at the top of his game; I don't feel I played at the top of my game. It's hard to tell at this point.

DAVID WHEATON: Well, I mean, obviously, you know, you have to somehow get around his return. You have to serve pretty well. Then you can't let him control the points from the baseline because he makes you run all over the court. That's the main thing. I just made so many unforced errors today. It's just strange. You can go out one day on the court, feel like you're moving well, hitting the ball great. The next day out on the court, you feel kind of like you're out of step or something. That's how I felt today a little bit. Take a little better performance than that to beat him.

DAVID WHEATON: I don't know. You know, I think I would have to favor Agassi if he plays Muster on this surface. On clay, it may be a different story, but this surface I'd say I'd have to give the, you know -- I'd say that Agassi is maybe a better hardcourt player and Muster is maybe more comfortable on clay. That doesn't mean Agassi is going to win. Anything can happen in a day.

DAVID WHEATON: Yeah. I think I actually played well, quite well, at certain points in the first set. The break, I played a very good game. Beginning of the second set, it's like I didn't do necessary -- play the necessary game to push ahead at that point when I really needed to. Instead, I just kind of let my game fall off a little bit, I thought. Basically, you know, kind of let my game drop a little bit, which gave him a chance to break me. Not going to really get anywhere like that, you know, doing that plan.

DAVID WHEATON: I thought he played very steady. I don't think he'd ever say that he played a great match today. I think he played very steady the whole match. Basically he waited for me to miss a lot of balls, like I did. Sometimes I miss some balls for a second or so. Over the course of the match, I seemed to get a little better rhythm. Today I didn't find my rhythm, just hit and miss a little bit. I was sporadic. That really hurt me. You know, I think I felt a little better in the fourth set, had some good chances in the last game. It was unfortunate, I just felt like I could have played a lot better today.

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