COMPAQ GRAND SLAM CUP

December 3, 1996

Michael Stich

MICHAEL STICH: No, of course not. I would have liked to win; to have another match; to practice. But, Tim played extremely well. And, considering that I didn't practice and play for five weeks, I'm not even dissatisfied. There was a lack of timing, mobility and a lot of things, but I had to know where I stood. Of course, I would have liked to have won. No, I'm not too surprised, I'm not too frustrated.

MICHAEL STICH: Well, I'm going to practice, to train, to be fit physically in Australia. My aim is to play well, come to grips with my shoulder. This is my goal now, keep working at this to come to grips with all my problems.

MICHAEL STICH: This is hard to say. He is very talented; plays very well. It takes a lot of luck, chance. I don't know how he's going to handle the publicity. You have to ask Tim. He's the only one that can answer. Potentially, his possibilities, I think he's one of those that could really go far. But, there's never any warranty about this.

MICHAEL STICH: Yes, but because my shoulder was hurting. My serve is hampered by my shoulder. Whether it's right or wrong, I didn't really know whether to play or not. If you really want to know where you are, you have to play such a match to see what you can do, how you handle the pressure. This is how I decided to play today.

MICHAEL STICH: Well, this would mean that it was a catastrophe, my performance? No. Tim was very good. He didn't have a lot of mistakes. He gave me a hard time. Like I say, I'm not complaining. I'm glad I played. I know what's lacking for Australia. As I mentioned, you can only find out in a match; not in practicing.

MICHAEL STICH: I think it's a very good tournament now. Not only talking about players' money here. Of course, if top players have to cancel, it's loses value in terms of sports. I think because of criticism during the first two or three years, it's a well established tournament, the organization is brilliant, nice to play here. Unfortunately, we're not talking about points, ATP points. We'll see next year, if it changes a bit, the new date, how it fits with the tournament calendar.

MICHAEL STICH: No. As I mentioned yesterday, I'm not upset with the German Federation. Suggestions have been made. Mr. Sanders, who is the secretary of the German Federation, wanted to talk to my manager, Boris and myself, he was the only one who knew. Three weeks later he informed us by letter. Well, of course, this is why he had to arrange this meeting. We had made many suggestions as far as the cooperation is concerned. These proposals made have been taken up by the federation. Six months later, they still lack any concept in implementing these proposals. As far as the Davis Cup is concerned, I've been talking to Niki Pilic. It's his job. Sanders doesn't have anything to do with this. We didn't need to talk with Dr. Stauder or Mr. Sanders about the Davis Cup. This is why the discussion didn't take place; not because we had turned it down.

MICHAEL STICH: Well, as I mentioned, Tim played very fast. He gave me a hard time. I never had time to play the balls I wanted. I was always half a step too late. Timing was lacking. Then, of course, you're not aggressive enough. All the motion, mobility, it didn't come together very well today.

MICHAEL STICH: I do not want to talk about this in any detail. The media are bringing it up, and up again. We have rather different points of view on a couple of things. At the beginning of this year, I made a lot of proposals, and the federation said, "Okay, we are going to think about your talent scouting, how you can improve things to get new players." Six months later they come up with the same points and say, "These are all proposals." Well, I had made these proposals at the beginning of the year. So, why do they ask us? If we're talking about good ideas and good approaches, why don't they implement all this? Two weeks after the US Open, Mr. Scheitenberger should have received all these proposals, and we didn't. This is hard to build upon. Even if you talk, it doesn't help. This is why we have these managers. This is their job. This is why they do these discussions and invite people to discussion. We didn't even know about it. I didn't think this was a good way to do things. The communication doesn't go smoothly. We are not on the same wavelength.

MICHAEL STICH: Well, you ask Mr. Sanders. He's going to tell you that I didn't supply any concepts; that he did. The point of the matter is that I have a very different opinion about how things should go than all the officials in the federation; it's difficult to understand each other. You must understand that Mr. Sanders cannot decide on his own frequently because he doesn't have the competence. There's a board. There are 15 people who have to give their go ahead. And, they are not involved in active sports. They are doing the important federation things. They are important, of course, but they are not involved in sports. It's a major problem.

MICHAEL STICH: No, I don't want to talk about this in any length. No, I'm not upset with the federation. We are not quarrelling. We simply don't agree. And, this has to be accepted, that's it. This is a thing between the federation and my manager and me, myself.

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