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U.S. OPEN


September 5, 1995


Michael Tebbutt


NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK

Q. What makes him so tough, Michael; what makes Chang so tough out there?

MICHAEL TEBBUTT: He doesn't -- I mean, it is more, it is the pressure he puts on you knowing that he gets to a lot of balls and he has good concentration. He usually plays the big points well. And he has been around for a long time. He knows what shots to play and in what situations. He doesn't really give you too much.

Q. Was that first career Center Court Grand Slam appearance?

MICHAEL TEBBUTT: Yeah, first one.

Q. How did you find it?

MICHAEL TEBBUTT: I didn't enjoy the first two sets too much. Especially the first, I just -- I was nervous and this one is the hardest one to play of all of the four because there is so much going on and a lot of noise; if you haven't done it before to keep focus and concentrate well and I wasn't able to do that. I did all right the third and fourth sets. I just didn't serve well enough.

Q. How would you assess this performance for yourself, the whole experience of this Grand Slam?

MICHAEL TEBBUTT: It has been my best Grand Slam ever, so, hopefully, I can go up from here and I mean, this is a good experience. I needed to play on center court one day, I hope. I played him pretty tough. I don't know, the games got broken; I am sure I served a doublefault on 90% of those games, at least. So I gave him -- didn't make him play enough and that is my fault; did the same thing when I played him last time.

Q. Michael, what was going on in that fourth set, I mean, it was a fairly weird set, three consecutive breaks. Were both of you getting a bit tired, a bit tense? What was happening?

MICHAEL TEBBUTT: Well, I don't know what was happen with him. I mean, he kind of, I guess because he won the first two sets so easy, he might have had -- it is was a bit of a let-down, maybe. His game went down a bit maybe. As far as I am concerned, I just didn't have the focus I did the other nights; especially on my serve. I just -- the other three matches, especially the last two, I just stepped up and I was confident about where I was going to hit the serve; whereas, today, I just kind of -- it was more like an afterthought. I stepped up there and I -- it wasn't like I -- I hit so many serves into the net and when I was hitting them over the net, they were missing by a long way, just wasn't much consistency.

Q. If focus is part of the problem today, what does that say about a seven-match tournament like this where you have to win seven matches to win; what does it say about the people who win these?

MICHAEL TEBBUTT: Yeah, obviously they are able to focus more. They have done it before. The hardest thing for me was playing on the Center Court and trying to not think about other things and to focus on what I was doing and it is hard, especially with all that noise going on. For seven matches, it is tough, yeah, to be able to stay up for seven matches - not many people do it. I mean, tells you how tough it is.

Q. How has Chang changed from the past matches you have had with him last year?

MICHAEL TEBBUTT: He serves a lot better. I mean, his serve is definitely a lot better. I don't know, other than that-- I mean, I am sure he has improved in most areas. I mean, I have noticed two years that I have been doing it or two and a half that everyone has gotten so much better and the level has gone up. So, he has improved all his shots and he volleys a little better, but the most noticeable thing is his serve.

Q. What mental attitude do you have when you play him as opposed to if you were going to face an Agassi or a Sampras? Is there more of a sense of hope against him?

MICHAEL TEBBUTT: No, I mean, I really -- coming in, I thought I could win. I really did. And I just didn't have it today. I have got -- my game relies on my serve and I just didn't serve well. I just didn't -- I don't know what the statistics were, but my percentage, I am sure, was down from the rest of the tournament and my doublefaults was just a joke, way up - I don't know how many. In the previous matches on my second serve I just went up there and stepped ahead; no doubt it was going in and I hit it, but I don't know if it was the nervousness of playing such a big match, but I was pulling off of my second serve and missing a lot.

Q. Obviously he is not a big -- physically, he is not a big guy. Has that held him back at all, do you think?

MICHAEL TEBBUTT: Well, yeah, I am sure, a few more inches wouldn't hurt. He probably wouldn't have the speed if he was, you know, say my height. That is pretty obvious, but, yeah, definitely, I don't know exactly how tall he is, but, you know, the serve is such a big thing in tennis today, and that is the thing that is going to hurt him the most because of his height is his serve, but he has improved a bit. It is still not the same as a lot of the other top players.

Q. Do you think that has sort of held him -- prevented him from making that one more big leap?

MICHAEL TEBBUTT: Yeah, probably I would say it couldn't hurt and I don't know what it would take for him to be No. 1 because Agassi, I mean, he is not short, but he is not like most of the other players. And it hasn't stopped him. He doesn't have Agassi's groundstrokes, but -- you know, he would need, I think, better groundstrokes. But I am sure it is -- had to have stopped him from you know, maybe winning a Grand Slam here or there.

End of FastScripts...

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