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NEWSWEEK CHAMPIONS CUP


March 15, 1997


Thomas Muster


INDIAN WELLS, CALIFORNIA

JOE LYNCH: Thomas and Michael both had eight-match winning streaks coming in to today. Both will be heading off to play the Lipton Championships in Key Biscayne. First question?

Q. Thomas, having come from a set and break down, how frustrating was it not to do so well in the tiebreak?

THOMAS MUSTER: It was probably the worst tiebreak I've played in a long time. I made like six unforced errors. Can't expect to win a breaker like this. All the match, sort of went through like this. I sort of came close, I had a breakpoint, I went down again. I never really was ahead of him, could get on top of him. Maybe if there would have been a third set or something. That's all theoretic. The fact is that I didn't move that well. Michael played more inside the court than I did. He played very well in the first set. I just didn't move my legs as I used to. I gave him just too many chances to place his balls, to set up his game.

Q. Was there a special reason for you not moving that well?

THOMAS MUSTER: No, not really. I just didn't move that well. I didn't feel the ball as I did in the past days. I guess I framed too many balls today. That's because of bad footwork. That's the reason for not playing so well. I almost had a chance. Always just come to the edge, I went down again. The tiebreak showed just that I was unable to play, concentrate for a certain period of time, to take my chances.

Q. Was there any pressure on you thinking that maybe if you could beat Chang, you would be the favorite in the final, and at last you could win a tournament on a hardcourt in America?

THOMAS MUSTER: No, that wasn't. Michael is a good player. He always played well here. Win many, many matches. I don't even know what is the head-to-head standings. Did you do your homework?

JOE LYNCH: 5-2 for you.

THOMAS MUSTER: 5-2. So it's just one of the these days I didn't play that well. Michael obviously has to play well because he has to defend his points. He was really hot playing today. I didn't move my legs as good as I could. That was the reason. It's not pressure really. Being in the semifinals here is not a bad result for me. I'm just looking forward to the next tournament.

Q. Do you think maybe the fact that he came out so well at the beginning was the important part of the match, that you were always kind of trying to catch up?

THOMAS MUSTER: Well, but then I had my chances in the second. One set is one set. Many times somebody comes out and plays a good set. That doesn't worry me. I broke back and had a good period going even up 5-3, had two breakpoints, going ahead 5-3. We would be still out there playing probably. As I said, that's all theoretic. The fact is that Michael played a good match today and I didn't play as well as I can. That's it. I said before the match I have to play good tennis to win. If I don't, he's going to take his chances. That happens. There's not so much space (indicating).

Q. Was that the key to the match, where you had those two breakpoints and didn't take advantage, were unable to?

THOMAS MUSTER: Not really. There was a chance there to come back, but I should have played well earlier, then maybe I would have never been down. The problem just starts exactly at the beginning of the match when, as I said, Michael played inside and I played too much back, back court. I wasn't aggressive enough for my footwork. I timed the balls badly. It reflected in the tiebreaker in the.

Q. What happened on that one ball that you didn't swing at? Did the chair overrule? Did Chang give the point back? The ball that Michael hit, it was long, you didn't swing, there was no call.

THOMAS MUSTER: Linesman didn't see the ball. He was waiting for the linesman's call. The chair umpire looked at the linesman. He was sort of -- showed him he couldn't see (indicating). Then he made his call. That happens. I think there were bad calls on both sides. It doesn't change much in the match, I would say.

Q. With one hardcourt tournament left for you before you get onto clay, you must be delighted with the season?

THOMAS MUSTER: One more tournament. I'd like to play well at the Lipton. Since '89 I really have struggled there. I would like to go and play well there again, before I go back and get dirty socks again.

JOE LYNCH: Cheaper laundry bills.

THOMAS MUSTER: That's definitely true.

Q. What is your claycourt schedule?

THOMAS MUSTER: I haven't decided on Estoril. It's going to be Barcelona, Monte-Carlo, Hamburg, Rome, then St. Polten before the French, French Open.

Q. Will you take some time off, the problems with your knees, before Lipton starting, will you take days before you don't practice?

THOMAS MUSTER: I'll go and practice my golf swing (laughter). I go and practice, but there's still some time now. I will go and work a little bit on my physical shape again. I'm looking forward to going on clay with Davis Cup on clay, get my endurance going. It will be a little bit of practice, I would say, but more in physical terms than technical terms on court.

Q. Try as we will here in California to get a lot of claycourts built and constructed, it's a very hard battle, very uphill. Very few Californians want to get dirty socks and try claycourt. If you had to say one or two things about what makes claycourt tennis so great?

THOMAS MUSTER: California changed basically all the claycourt tournaments into hardcourt, if you look back. They wanted to have it started with straight mountain, I think Stratton Mountain, they went to playing hardcourt. Was the tournament before on clay? There was a tournament before they moved it to Stratton Mountain. I can't remember. Doesn't matter. I think California really started the hardcourt battle against clay when they wanted to have Connors and McEnroe playing in their tournaments, then all those tournaments like Washington and Boston, Indianapolis, all this was played on hard. I think they were great events. Before even the US Open was played on clay. I think it was great. People, maybe they don't want to wash their laundry. It's just a bit disappointing that we don't see more claycourt tennis in the States, just a few small tournaments, like Coral Springs. I would really like to see more claycourt tournaments, bigger tournaments here in the States. I don't know why people just refusing, because I think it's good tennis.

Q. But what do you like particularly about claycourt tennis?

THOMAS MUSTER: What do I like? Because there's more tennis. I mean, I think if we look at the match, people like long rallies, dropshots. Of course, they like aces, but I think claycourt tennis gives you more options to see good tennis, what we know as tennis: forehand, backhand, serves, people coming in, dropshots, physical game. Sometimes that's what we missing on faster services. I think the ATP tried a lot of things to slow down the game, indoors. We have seen good rallies here. It's the sort of direction to get slower hardcourt tournaments. That was a big improvement the Tour did in the past years now. As I said, I would like to see more claycourt events in the States, but obviously the policy more or less, the federation, the clubs, is to play on hardcourt. Not much we can do. It's the tournament's option.

Q. How do you see Bohdan matching up against Michael tomorrow?

THOMAS MUSTER: I think Michael has a very good chance to defend his title here. He sees his chances against an unseeded player here. I think Ulihrach showed he could win against Pete, even played solid through all the way, that he's capable to even win this tournament. As I said, I would put my money on Michael there. That could go either way. Never know.

JOE LYNCH: Anything else for Thomas?

Q. How did you try to attack Michael today? What was your theory going in?

THOMAS MUSTER: I was too far back. My footwork wasn't good enough to be as close as I could be at the ball. I just never could move forward. I would have always been really late. As I said, it starts with the footwork. If the footwork is not good enough, you start miss-timing balls, you're not getting the balls as close to the line as you want to, so you're always struggling a bit to get in position. If you're not in position, you can't attack.

Q. I guess what I'm trying to ask is, how do you beat Michael Chang?

THOMAS MUSTER: Just knock him off the court. I've beat him five times overpowering him, being inside the court. I like his game, actually. His serve is not as big. It really doesn't hurt you. You just got to be on top of him. If you make unforced errors, you're not beating many guys. That's the problem. I think I have the possibility with my groundstrokes, as I said, to knock him off the court and overpower him. It's not a question of coming in and playing dropshots, really approaching. That's not my natural game. I don't think I've beaten him before with chip and charging. I guess I just rallied better than him.

Q. Is he stronger than he used to be?

THOMAS MUSTER: Well, he always was physically strong. His serve improved a bit. It wasn't a factor today really that decided the match. He's coming in. I mean, he's taking the ball early. That's what he's done most of the time, all his life. That's it. He's not only playing topspin, he really takes the ball on the rise, playing flat shots which makes the ball fast on a hardcourt. That's a good part. His mental game is good. I guess over the years, he's really put his game together, his mental game. Just look at his ranking. No real problem.

Q. Thomas, this is a crazy question, talking today, before last year you lost to Stich at the French Open, you won the year before that, then you lost to Rafter, I think you'd beaten Andre the day before. How do you explain that result?

THOMAS MUSTER: Losing to Rafter?

Q. Yes. Seems kind of strange.

THOMAS MUSTER: Well, looking back to that match, he played a great serve and volley game that day. I just didn't return well at that stage. He actually had a great day. That happens sometimes. It's like playing Michael Stich. I think Stich has a better back game than Rafter has. At that day, I was off and he was really playing well. That happens.

Q. Was it a letdown after Andre, as well?

THOMAS MUSTER: Excuse me?

Q. Was it a letdown after beating Andre?

THOMAS MUSTER: No. I had a long match there, but there's no reason. You have a day off. It was a pretty hard against Andre, five-setter.

JOE LYNCH: Anything else for Thomas.

Q. I take it you're not going to have Chinese food tonight?

THOMAS MUSTER: I don't know, maybe. If you can recommend a good restaurant, doesn't matter. Nothing to do with Michael. I guess he's not cooking, so I can still eat it (laughter).

JOE LYNCH: Thank you.

End of FastScripts....

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