NEWSWEEK CHAMPIONS CUP

March 6, 1995

David Wheaton

Q. David, I thought you serve and volleyed really well on a slow court. Is that part of the game plan, I mean, that is your game anyway, but a lot of people have to stay back more on this court?

DAVID WHEATON: Yeah, you know, I think it is really important for me to serve and volley most of the time because that is my -- the best way for me to play; especially on the first serve. I think you are right. The court is slow and it is tough to serve and volley all the time on your second serve, but not only that, the ball kicks up a bit too, so it is difficult to return the second serve as well. So I thought I served a little bit up and down overall, but I did serve well -- he had -- I think he had four breakpoints -- every time hit a breakpoint, I served pretty well, so he never really got -- if had he broken me, it is might have been a different match on a couple of different occasions. I happened to serve well on some big points.

Q. Once you hit the net on that net cord, that gave you a breakpoint for 4-1. Could you see the wind just come out of him?

DAVID WHEATON: Yeah, I think that was at 30-All to give me a breakpoint. When I was up 3-1 on the second -- I think that can be very demoralizing, just because, you know, we were kind of even on the point; I hit a shot, actually with not enough margin on it and just popped it over; he couldn't do anything about it. So to give me a breakpoint and then he missed -- an unforced error the next point. That is demoralizing especially when you are down a set and a break. I think more than that, it was a little difficult to play today. I don't think a lot of people -- anyone got a chance to practice yesterday, because of the rain. Also the conditions changed so much. It has been cold -- not cold, but cooler out here all week, and all of a sudden today, it is a little warmer and the ball is flying a lot more, so I think it was strange, because the conditions were typically Palm Springs, but we haven't been practicing in that kind of condition all week.

Q. Can you play much better than that?

DAVID WHEATON: Oh, yeah, I can play better than that. I think both of us can play better than that. I don't think either of us played real solid -- a real super high level match. As I said, I think we both had a little trouble adjusting to a different day, a day without practice yesterday, so I think both of us can definitely play better.

Q. Is this a start of a comeback time for you? Is this just another step along the way here just building towards, say, Wimbledon?

DAVID WHEATON: Well, I guess I don't concern my -- consider myself coming back from anything, really. I am only 25. I have had some ups-and-downs in my career, but, you know, I don't feel like I was out of it and this is -- and that I am on the comeback trail, or something like that. I feel like I am really learning a lot as I play these days and I feel like I am in probably the middle of my career somewhere in the middle of my career, and still have probably hopefully my best tennis left in me, as I continue to learn what is going to make me play my best, so I don't really -- I just consider myself trying to really improve my game and move forward in this career.

Q. When you are playing a guy like that, do you just kind of try to stick around and expect that he will lose his resolve?

DAVID WHEATON: No. I think that someone losing resolve has to do sometimes with what the other player is doing. As I said before, if there had been some breaks early in the match on his side of the court; if he had broke me a couple of times or if a few points had gone his way early and I hadn't got a good set and a break lead, you know, the match could have been totally different. I have been on the receiving end on a few of those before. So the difference between winning and losing, as you know in pro tennis, is very slight. All the players are very close and sometimes you know just a 3 and 1 match like that is -- it can turn quickly too. That is why when I am up in the second set a couple of breaks, I am trying to still push hard to, you know, put the match away. I am not trying to just kind of hope that his resolve is going to go. For instance, I think I was up 4-1; he had a breakpoint at 4-1, yeah, pretty sure he did. So he breaks there, 4-2 and then maybe he holds serve at 4-3; then you have a new match. You can't really rely on what the other person's mental approach is going to be because you don't really know. First of all, everyone kind of looks different. Sampras, a lot of times just looks likes he is kind of out there, but you know he is trying his hardest; other guys like Muster it is obvious that they are trying their hardest, so you can't really rely on what the other opponent looks like.

JOE LYNCH: Anything else? Thank you.

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