NEWSWEEK CHAMPIONS CUP

March 8, 1995

Michael Stich

MICHAEL STICH: I know that Richey is a very good hard court player. He came on very strong in the beginning and was a little slow and I knew it was not going to be easy to play against him.

Q. What was behind the slow start?

MICHAEL STICH: You know, I just tried to get into the match. It was my first match outdoors and then he just took everything very early and returned really well and didn't miss anything like in the first one and a half sets and I was not very, very confident. I started to stay back. I was always in the defensive and he was very aggressive

Q. How much better were you serving late in the match compared to the earlier match; did it take...

MICHAEL STICH: I served terrible in the beginning. Every time I had a second serve he really, you know, went for the winner and that made me being even tight on my first serve knowing that I had to get it in getting into play. After the second set I started to loosen up a little bit and went for a little bit more and I had more first serves and more free points on my service games, but you have to say he had a lot of chances, even third chance 15-40, Love-40 once I just hung in there and just played it out.

Q. He made a considerable point of missing what he described as a relatively easy volley at 15-15 in his service game at 5-3 in the second set. Did you think that was that easy a volley.

MICHAEL STICH: You know, considering what he did with other volleys before, it was an easy volley for him, but I think those kind of volleys, where you really have to follow through and hit the ball, it is a high falling volley, I think it is one of the toughest volleys to play. He just pushed a little bit. That is why it went long, but for him, probably felt like an easy one because he hadn't missed too many shots before that anyway, but it was an important point; that is for sure.

Q. Share a little bit on the Davis Cup. How does it stand at the moment? We are seeing stories about you pulling out or not playing.

MICHAEL STICH: No, no decision made yet. We just talked to the Federation and, you know, the Federation is not doing a good job, you know, they are not behaving very smart and not doing the things they should do and it is not regarding one person. It is just regarding the whole Federation, the whole system how it works and it is just not perfect right now, but I haven't made up my mind what I am going to do; what I am not going to do, but it has nothing to do with money. It is just the principle that I say, you know, if they want to treat as what they have always said they want to treat the players the same way or do what they have to do and then they try to, you know, bring some money some other ways around and, you know, not being honest and not being really open; then I am just starting to get a little upset.

Q. Do you feel you have been lied to? Will you not play then; is it possible?

MICHAEL STICH: Everything is possible.

Q. When do you have to commit to playing?

MICHAEL STICH: I think the deadline for the team to be announced is on the 16th of March, so the Federation has, let us see, one more week, I think, to work on a couple of things and we will see what the outcome will be.

Q. Have you giving them anything like an ultimatum?

MICHAEL STICH: That is what everyone says that my manager gave the ultimatum and things like that, but that is not the truth. The truth is the Federation and I talked to Mr. Sanders yesterday for about 40 minutes; that the Federation always expects us to approach the Federation, we want this; could we do this; could we do that way. I think it should be a different way. The Federation wants me to be part of the Davis Cup; wants me to represent the Federation and the country and they should come themselves and say, listen, we may possibly have a deal with Boris and we always gave you our word; we are going to make the same deal with you, so let us sit down and just talk about our contract again. They never did that. Now they are trying to blame everything else on us; that we are giving them an ultimatum; that we are just doing everything wrong. I think that is very easy by the Federation even after my manager did send the letter to the Federation like I think eight days or nine days ago, there was never a response except from the President, but that was not a real response. It was just like a letter saying, yeah, we are trying to do certain things and we will work it out and things like that. Nothing really specific.

Q. Is there a money issue here?

MICHAEL STICH: It is not about money. I mean, I always said that I am happy with what I get, and I don't have any problem with Boris getting more than I do because he did much more for the German tennis than I did because he has been there three, four years before I was there. It is just a matter of principle; that people not being honest to me and not telling me the truth just trying to, you know, let us say, sell me out a little bit and that is what I don't like, so now it is getting a matter of money, because the Federation wasn't honest and maybe possibly lied to me.

Q. Do you feel that way -- what is your stance on Davis Cup right now, whether or not you would play or not or; are you still noncommittal?

MICHAEL STICH: I think it is not the right time to say if I am not going to play or if I am going to play. It is just open right now and we will see what the Federation will do the next week, but as I talk to Mr. Sanders, he told me everyone is on holiday; he can't get everyone together. He has his holiday next week and he expected my manager to fly into Key Biscayne to have a talk with him. I said, hey, if you want something, just fly where you have to fly to and just deal with the people you have to deal with. But we are not traveling after you to get something. It is just -- should be coming from the other side.

Q. Are you tired of all of this?

MICHAEL STICH: I am very tired of all of this. It just takes all the fun out of playing Davis Cup and I am just very sad about it because I think I owe it to all the other players on the team that I should be part of the team playing against the Netherlands. On the other hand, I am in a position now where I don't have to, you know, take everything from the Federation whether, yeah, you have to do it anyway,. I won the Davis Cup. I have done a lot of things in my career; achieved a lot, and I don't have to do everything they want me to do. I think they have to really start to understand that they have players that can think themselves. They make up their own minds and they don't need to do everything, you know, to be -- to be for the president, public or whatever, to look good, I think we did so much in tennis, Steffi Boris, myself, that -- it just speaks for itself the success we have had. If they want the best Davis Cup team, they should have behave in a proper way and be honest to all the players.

Q. They must have a short memory because you were the hero of the team in '93.

MICHAEL STICH: I know that. That is the story that always has happened. We won the Davis Cup in '93 and, you know, half a year later, our president says we can't win the Davis Cup without Boris. No question about that. We are a much stronger team with Boris and myself on the team, but we won the Davis Cup without Boris and he won the Davis Cup without me. So I think some people don't really know what they are talking about. They don't know tennis so well, the whole system, the whole way the German Tennis Federation works just has nothing to do with tennis, really. A lot of those people don't understand tennis. They don't know what tennis is all about. They don't know that it is very important for the juniors that we are kind of, you know, the kind of persons they should look up to; they should follow and say this is what I want to do; those guys are great, and we are just hurting ourselves and the sport in general by having all those discussions in the press in the media over and over again.

Q. What do you feel your main feeling is sadness or anger.

MICHAEL STICH: It is disappointment. It is just very disappointing, you know, when I talked yesterday also to Mr. Sanders I said I have to think about if I am playing Davis Cup or not. He said to me, "don't always say this, that you have to think about it or not -" like in a kind of a little aggressive way. I said, listen, I have been there for the last six years; I have always been there. I have always been in the team; always tried to help and do the best I could for the German tennis, and for the Davis Cup team and now is the time where I don't have to take it anymore. Just disappoints me because as I said, I think I owe it to Karbacher, Braasch - Marcus - all these guys to be on the team and try to win it with those guys together, but it is not that I do it anyway. There has to be certain things that have to be, you know, dealt with and I am a guy who lives after certain -- lives a certain way and honest --- to being honest and always open is one of my principles in life, and the Federation hasn't done that.

Q. If it's not money you are looking for, is it an apology from the Federation?

MICHAEL STICH: As I said, now it is getting into a money issue because now it is at the point where I say, listen, for me, I want to play Davis Cup; I love to play Davis Cup, but I don't like the Federation telling me, listen, we talk about it in two months; we talk about it in four months, maybe we do something; maybe not. And the problem is that Mr. Sanders as the chief executive of the tennis Federation and the president don't have the power to make decisions. They always have to go through other people; through the procedure, like 18 people who have to make the decision together if they want to do it or not and they have a different council again who has to make the decision. They have to go through so many stages in the Federation that nobody can really tell you if it is going to happen or not. That is also a problem with Boris' contract with the German Federation. Once they started to have that negotiation with Boris, they should have come up and said, listen, that is what it is going to look like, the contract with Boris, we promise to give you the same deal; let us sit down and have a talk right away. Instead of finishing one deal and then hoping maybe I am playing anyway, and let's see what is going to happen. And I think they realize now that they have to start to think a little bit different way.

Q. Would you feel guilty if you didn't play Davis Cup?

MICHAEL STICH: Again, as I said, I would feel very guilty towards the other players. But not towards the Federation.

Q. How did the talk with Mr. Sanders go? Was it encouraging?

MICHAEL STICH: He promised me that they are going to do the same; that they are going to bring my contract up to the same level as Boris' contract is. But as I say, he doesn't have the power to do it. So I can't trust his word or believe in his word because he can't make the decision, so he has to go back to all the other people; to all the 18 other presidents of the Tennis Federation inside the German Tennis Federation, just bring them together, ask them, have them talk about it, make a decision. The problem is that Mr. Stouder (Phonetic) and Mr. Sanders weren't, you know, backed up by everyone once the thing with Boris was going on. So I think there is a big problem insides the Federation anyway and so I will see what is going to happen.

Q. You think it might be possible that Germany could play or would it be rather difficult without either you or Becker?

MICHAEL STICH: I just can speak for myself. I don't know about Boris, but there is a possibility that I am not going to play, yeah, for sure. But I hope it is not going to happen.

Q. This would be the first time you have refused to play?

MICHAEL STICH: It would be the first time.

Q. But not the first time you have had a run-in with the German Federation over --

MICHAEL STICH: Run-in -- I mean, I think the Federation does a couple of good things, but a lot of things they do is not very good and not good for tennis. As I said, like I mean, I think someone should really explain to you how the Federation works. I am not the right guy to do it. Someone should. No one can make decisions without the other person. There is not one man who really is in charge saying that is going to happen or that is not going to happen and just about everyone wants money for his own little Federation inside the German Tennis Federation and everyone just wants to do it and, you know, bring up and build a new facility and things like that instead of really trying to bring the kids in playing tennis; having us as leading tennis players of the country; saying, listen, look at those guys; they are great tennis players, they try to do the best they can. That is what you got to try to do. That is what you got to achieve if you want to be a good tennis player, a good example. We are not a good example right now; Federation is not.

Q. You are giving them suggestions; they are not listening?

MICHAEL STICH: Problem is I am giving suggestions, but I know the suggestions I make they cannot work because of the system of the Federation. It is useless to give any input because probably they listen, but they can't do anything.

Q. There was a communication out of Munich this morning on behalf of your manager saying he was threatening to pull you from Davis Cup?

MICHAEL STICH: He can't pull me from Davis Cup.

Q. Question is, has he talked to you about this or is he making decision on his own?

MICHAEL STICH: We talked about it. He didn't say that he was going to pull me out of Davis Cup. He just said -- no. That is what the Federation probably says, but he just said -- if certain things are not talked over and certain things are not going to be certain -- if certain things are not going to be made up until we have to announce our Davis Cup team, there might be a possibility that I am not going to play Davis Cup. That is what the situation is. And I don't know how the tennis Federation acted, but I just had a little paper; what they do is they don't understand. They just don't understand what it is all about.

Q. Have you given them a deadline?

MICHAEL STICH: Yeah, we did. Actually I have to know before we have to announce Davis Cup team.

Q. Which is when?

MICHAEL STICH: The 16th.

Q. Is it true that you said you now wouldn't play, all other things being equal, if you don't get the same amount as Boris?

MICHAEL STICH: The contract was not even made yet. So I can't even say what is the same amount, because he doesn't even have a contract.

Q. 2.5 million to him; 1.5 million to you; is that roughly correct?

MICHAEL STICH: Roughly probably correct. You should go probably to the Federation; ask one of the presidents in the Federation and they will tell you right away. That is what is going to happen. At the Federation, someone goes there -- the contract is something between the player and the Federation; no one should talk about it. Always some people in the Federation say, listen, I know something, can I talk to you; can I be in the paper; I want to tell you something. That is the way it goes.

Q. How would you describe the action of the Federation?

MICHAEL STICH: What actions?

Q. That they are not getting the stuff put together with you.

MICHAEL STICH: It's amazing that they don't learn from the mistakes that they have done in the past. It is just very, very -- yeah, funny. It is getting funny, actually. It is just for me not -- I can't understand how you can make the same mistake over and over again and not learning by, you know, everyone makes faults, but you learn by doing -- by making mistakes, but you do it once; maybe do it twice, but you don't do it three or four times.

Q. Michael, you said a little while ago you can't speak for Boris, but is there the possibility that with the political problems, the problems in the past with the Federation and Boris and problems you are having right now that the two you of you guys can say cut the crap?

MICHAEL STICH: No, because his problems are basically totally different than mine. He does his thing. He has his own manager who does all the things for him. I just do what I do and what is right for me even if I might be mistaken if I would not play Davis Cup, but in that situation, I still think it is the right thing for me to do. If it would happen that way. And what he does is just what he thinks is right for him. We can't come together and say listen, we have the same interests; it is not about interest. It is about tennis in general. It is about giving a very bad example to a lot of people; just me having -- being sitting here and talking to you guys about 20 minutes about the German Tennis Federation, just about the most disgusting thing that has happened. You should call those guys; go to Key Biscayne get Mr. Sanders and talk to him; listen what he says. I think it is just as you said, pathetic.

Q. He doesn't return my phone calls.

MICHAEL STICH: He didn't call my manager, so why should he call you?

Q. Exactly.

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