U.S. OPEN

September 5, 1992

Pete Sampras

Q. Can we now say that you have been tested?

PETE SAMPRAS: More than enough. Yeah, you know, I knew, you know, one day throughout this summer I was just going to be a little off. And today I was up against somebody who had nothing to lose. It came out at a time I was a little bit nervous, extremely tentative. This is the match where I found a way to win. I was not playing all that great throughout the whole match. It was to a point, down 6-2, 5-0, came back, played a bad game; lost my serve 5-4. This was a match you just -- you have to find a way to win. And I did tonight. It wasn't pretty. But it was, you know, a little bit luck. But I see myself pretty fortunate to be in this tournament, being down a break in the fifth set, 2-0, and you know, just-- you know, just an off-night for me. But it was a match where I had to pull it through.

Q. When you came back to 5-4, back on serve in the third set, did you think that you were back in gear; that you were--

PETE SAMPRAS: That point-- at that point, yeah. I won the first, 7-6, then immediately down to 6-2, 5-0, and I wasn't serving real well. I think my body language was very, very down at that point, and, you know, he got a little bit tight there serving at, I think, 5-1 and 5-3, but 5-4, I hit a couple of bad doublefaults. I got tight on my serves and then that was it.

Q. Being tested like that, what does that do for you for the rest of the tournament?

PETE SAMPRAS: Well, you know, I feel myself pretty fortunate just to be in this tournament. It was a match I definitely could have lost. I play Forget, a player that has given me trouble in the past. I see myself pretty fortunate to still be here.

Q. Ivanisevic lost earlier today. So you two are the only seeded players left in your quarter. Get by Guy--

PETE SAMPRAS: I am not looking that far ahead in the quarters, got a tough match against Forget. He beat me, obviously, in the finals of Davis Cup, so, you know, a player that I have had trouble with in the past. Hopefully, I will have a nice day off tomorrow; I will get prepared for Monday.

Q. Thank you.

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