US OPEN

August 25, 1997

Jason Stoltenberg

Q. What happened, up a break in the first set and things fell to pieces?

JASON STOLTENBERG: Pretty much. He came out a bit slow, served a couple doubles in his first service game. Would have been nice to get that first set. I slipped up there by giving him the break back. But, once he got -- had a roll going, he really didn't make too many unforced errors. Whereas, I did. So, that was the difference.

JASON STOLTENBERG: Yeah, it is. It is always -- first round is always difficult. But, I was looking forward to playing well here. But, I came up against a tough opponent today. He played quite well. I thought played -- Mantilla, on hard court, may work in my favor a little bit, but I just didn't do the things I had to do well enough.

JASON STOLTENBERG: Yeah, it has been a funny year. It has been so up and down, bad start of the year with the injury and then I sort of got it going on the clay; played quite well and then since then, it has been up and down. A lot of good things have happened and a lot of bad things. So, I will be happy to see this year out and maybe look forward to the next year.

JASON STOLTENBERG: Injuries are fine. So, physically as far as injury-wise, I am feeling good. There is no complaints.

JASON STOLTENBERG: It is great. It is similar in ways to the tennis center in Melbourne. We got the tunnels here now underneath and every court is an individual court which was something they were missing here. I remember last year playing on a court playing with another men's match going right beside me which was pretty tough. Now, each court with its own stand which is what you need for a Grand Slam. I think it is great. Center Court is fantastic. It will be a great experience to play out there. But, just looking at it, they have done a great job. I think all the players are going to really like it.

JASON STOLTENBERG: Actually I spoke to his brother, who is coaching him, a couple of days ago. I said, "It will be great if he drew Sampras." He said, "Yeah, it would be. But, Todd doesn't think so." And I said, well, you know, even though it is the worst draw you can get to play the first evening match on that stadium against Sampras, it is something he will enjoy telling his kids one day, I think.

JASON STOLTENBERG: On hard court I think he is nowhere near the player he is - wouldn't say nowhere - but he is certainly not the player he is on clay. Clay is his best surface. If he has enough time to get set and hit his shots, then he is very tough. If he you can rush him enough, the courts are quicker, then he is going to struggle a little bit. I just didn't slice, get into the net well enough and volley well enough there. There were things I had to do well today and I didn't have enough on my shots today and didn't trouble him at all. So, if you stay back and rally, he is very difficult. If you serve and volley well enough, chip, charge get into the net, then he is a completely different player.

JASON STOLTENBERG: Oh, no I think Mark and Pat have certainly deserved it playing singles, no doubt about that. They are the two that are going to play, but, I am going to go there and prepare with them just in case something happens and try and work out and work out with the boys and do the best I can. Being the fifth player, I have got a job to do and I have been in that position before. And, I know it is a big place to be. The players rely on you to do whatever they want. At the same time, I get good practice. I realize that I don't have a good chance of playing, but I am still going to go there with the attitude as if I would be playing, try and work out and prepare and do the best I can for myself as well as them.

JASON STOLTENBERG: I think with Pat beating Chang last week and giving Sampras a pretty close match in Cincinnati, and Scott, you know, has got the game to cause a lot of damage, so it is going to be interesting. I really think we have a realistically good chance of winning. Davis Cup Sampras and Chang are No. 1 and No. 2 in the world, but Davis Cup conditions, we have nothing to lose, we are the underdog. And, I think we are going to go in and enjoy it. This is the one that Reggie and Newc have been looking forward to. We are going to be fired up for it with the Woodies. Hopefully, they are going to play well. If we can get singles in the first day, it is going to be interesting.

End of FastScripts….