US OPEN

August 31, 1998

Thomas Muster

Q. Happy with your play today?

THOMAS MUSTER: Yeah, not too bad. All right.

THOMAS MUSTER: I don't know, probably, yes. But I was a set up there and then he really played well and I don't think -- can't turnaround as quickly there as he probably would like here because balls are faster and the balls are bouncing more flat so don't have much, much time to set up the shots. So if you just keep moving the balls around it is probably more difficult because he tries to cover his backhand corner, you know, almost on every shot.

THOMAS MUSTER: Well, that doesn't matter too much. I think maybe because my forehand crosscourt is quite a good -- quite a strong shot that it gives me an opportunity to open the court fairly good and then can set up my shots and open the court.

THOMAS MUSTER: I tell you. I haven't seen the draw. I can't even tell you who is playing who, but obviously it is very difficult to see clearly who is probably the favorite here or who is going to be in the semifinals. It is very competitive. We have seen so many different results this year, I mean, it is getting tougher and tougher every year and hard to say.

THOMAS MUSTER: Well, I have had several matches coming into this tournament which was pretty good. I have had several weeks in the States and it is good.

THOMAS MUSTER: I think I play better every week and I had -- the last two weeks I really played well, even maybe at the end of the day they weren't the results I would have liked to achieve, but it is good preparation.

THOMAS MUSTER: Well, I was up 4-1, I was controlling the match and I dropped a little bit and -- but I think I played a good tiebreak and I was always ahead, so, I mean, if you play someone like Berasategui, it is always important to win the first set and because it is always physical. When you play someone who moves the ball around, pretty well, but then I think that he probably got a little bit upset with himself and tired and he had a lot of unforced errors in set 2 and 3, so --

THOMAS MUSTER: Probably comes down to endurance, maybe, yeah. I think the longer the match goes the better the chances are for me, that is right.

THOMAS MUSTER: I don't know, what is the odds? I don't know. 1 to 1000, I don't know.

THOMAS MUSTER: I don't know.

THOMAS MUSTER: Well, I think I could beat anybody on a particularly good day, but it is always difficult who -- depends who you play against, but it is always difficult to come out and play well everyday and it depends how you adjust to your opponents. But I cannot really say that I am afraid going out against anyone.

THOMAS MUSTER: Myself.

THOMAS MUSTER: Sometimes. I try to. It is not easy though.

THOMAS MUSTER: Well, I mean, I definitely think that Pete is the player of the last probably, I don't know, six, seven years, but I think, I don't know, there hasn't been anyone maybe beside Borg or Emerson, very few guys that reached that level. I mean, Pete has won on clay. Becker never did. He has never won the French, but that is -- and I think comparison to Becker he still has a chance to do so, so -- just the weeks of being No. 1 and the pressure he has handled the last years, there is -- I think there is not much to say against Pete there.