US OPEN

August 31, 1997

Cedric Pioline

Q. The last two sets, what sort of turned it in your favor, Cedric?

CEDRIC PIOLINE: Sorry?

CEDRIC PIOLINE: I think, you know, for the third set, he won like 6-1. I let it go a little bit, to be ready for the fourth set. I was dealing with my serve, so was no break, but he was running after me. So I did just one break. It was 40-15 on his serve. I won his serve, I break him. After, maybe he was a little tired at the beginning of the fifth. It was good for me. I could break him two times. So, I mean, I was almost safe.

CEDRIC PIOLINE: Almost. Because he was fighting until the last point.

CEDRIC PIOLINE: Yeah. He could come back, sure. Could come back. You never know. A guy like this, you know, he looks like he's playing his life out there. He's diving like crazy. I mean, why not? Why not? He can dive on my serve and make a winner return. Everything can happen against him.

CEDRIC PIOLINE: The new stadium? I didn't see it. I didn't have the great honor to play on the new stadium. Maybe I come back for next match.

CEDRIC PIOLINE: It's not me who --

CEDRIC PIOLINE: No problem. I'm ready for everything. I know it's tough tournament. I'm ready.

CEDRIC PIOLINE: I tell you, I'm ready for everything.

CEDRIC PIOLINE: Don't make me say what I'm not saying, okay?

CEDRIC PIOLINE: Yeah, yeah, yeah. I play good tennis. Today was a very close match. Not so much rallies because he's playing a lot of serve and volley. But at one moment you have to win the key point, you know, during the match. Doesn't matter if you play good or not. I think I did it today, and that's very important for me.

CEDRIC PIOLINE: Doesn't matter for me. I mean, I play outside court. I'm going to play maybe central court if Chang wins, center or stadium one, two, they say stadium two. It's good. It's good. I'm fourth round now. I'm looking forward.

CEDRIC PIOLINE: Yeah. I knew it's going to be a difficult match against him because he is like very pump. So it's always difficult to play against him because is going to the net like crazy, is jumping, is like doing everything. I mean, I saw, I think it was last year against Agassi, he played unbelievable for one set, almost two sets. I know a lot of player can play very well for one match or one set or two sets, so just have to be patient.

CEDRIC PIOLINE: If you miss easy balls, yeah, you can worry because you can say, "Oh, maybe I'm not going to have a next opportunity." But the way he played, it was on his serve, two ace, big second serve and good volley, first serve volley. I mean, what can I do? Only hit a winner return, okay. But I didn't do it, so I was waiting for a good one.

CEDRIC PIOLINE: I don't know. Next round.

CEDRIC PIOLINE: He's very solid player from the baseline. Now he's serving well also. So it's going to be a tough match. I think just play my game from baseline and try to maybe go to the net, you know, not waiting for his errors.

CEDRIC PIOLINE: I don't know. Something Love, something for him and Love for me.

CEDRIC PIOLINE: Compared to now?

CEDRIC PIOLINE: You know tennis, things come and go. I play good here. I'm not thinking about what I did at Wimbledon or here at the US Open. I think I could play good tennis. I think Chang is going to win, so it's a big match. I'm going to start this match with thinking I have good chances, you know. That's it.