THE LIPTON CHAMPIONSHIPS

March 19, 1994

Jacco Eltingh

Paul Haarhuis

Q. Do you feel like the No. 1 team in the world now, you keep on winning these big titles?

P. HAARHUIS: Well, we feel more like that we are definitely one of the top teams, but I don't know, we just -- we just told each other, hey, we just won another big one again and just seems to be like today one of the players said, yeah, you know, you guys are -- we are taking you guys serious these days. I was a joke, but he was like-- in the back of his mind he was serious. It is definitely true that we feel like that.

Q. When did you first play together, your first match?

P. HAARHUIS: That was five years ago.

J. ELTINGH: When we started our first challenger.

P. HAARHUIS: Five years. '89.

Q. Nigeria?

P. HAARHUIS: Yeah.

J. ELTINGH: Then we played two more times, one in Brazil, we won the tournament, one in Schenectady on the tour, an event we won as well. We didn't play for a while. We started about a year and a half ago.

P. HAARHUIS: August, 92.

Q. When you got back together, did you make a real commitment to try and become one of the best doubles teams; was it a sort of serious commitment?

J. ELTINGH: Not really to become like the top team, we were committed to play together as good as we could play because we got also - had the same coach at that time, we decided to just travel full-time together. That was the most important decision.

Q. Now do you work out your schedules to fit -- I mean, do you talk to each other about where you are going to play?

P. HAARHUIS: Basically, we play all of the same tournaments. There are some tournaments that we still might not play together, but there is only like three, four tournaments in the year, and for the rest, it is almost like 20 tournaments where we do play together.

Q. How realistic is a Grand Slam as a doubles team?

J. ELTINGH: Not realistic. We just won the Australian and we won the Lipton, but the chances that we win three more is pretty small. The way we are playing, we can beat everybody, but I mean, there are also some days where you don't play well.

P. HAARHUIS: We have never played on grass together. We have played on all surfaces together.

J. ELTINGH: Once on grass.

P. HAARHUIS: Yes. So, you know, from now on, we still have other things to look forward to, Davis Cup, then just the claycourt season and running up to the French. We are not worried about winning all the Grand Slams for now.

Q. Which Grand Slam is your favorite?

P. HAARHUIS: Right now the first one coming up is going to be the French, and that is -- French, that is our favorite. For me, I just think we have to -- right now it is the most important tournament for him. He likes Wimbledon, I think. I like French and U.S. Open. I don't like Wimbledon as much. I don't like --

J. ELTINGH: For doubles I would like to win the French, too.

Q. Why is that? Why is it the most important?

J. ELTINGH: We have never played really well there. Maybe the round of 16.

P. HAARHUIS: We have only played there once.

J. ELTINGH: Yes, and Australia Open, obviously, we won, and we played well in the U.S. Open already. We like to also -- we played well on claycourts once. We won Rome two weeks before and we were in very good shape and we thought we could do a little bit better in Paris, and if you look towards the tournament after we lost to Edberg and Korda, there-- it was a very strange draw. I mean, the quarterfinals at the French Open, if you would have -- if we would have been there, I think we would have had a good chance to win it as well.

Q. It is a lot different to play doubles on clay courts. Do you have to change your strategy quite a bit because out here both you guys are playing a lot of a power game and on clay, it is a little different?

P. HAARHUIS: Yeah, we are relying still a lot heavier on our returns; we both have good returns, and our basics is that we are very good from the baseline. I think that is what you need on the claycourts, so that comes in really handy, that you know, on the second shot or the third shot, we can hit some heavy groundstrokes, so that --

J. ELTINGH: On hardcourts it is nice because then also when you have good serves, make the service games a little easier, takes the pressure off a little bit. So you can go more a little bit on the returns.

Q. What type of team is more difficult to play, one that plays together all the time like you guys, or a pairing like Jared and Mark who don't play together all the time so you really don't know how?

P. HAARHUIS: We haven't seen them play. We are wondering how are they going to play. We haven't seen Mark play that much, but we know how Jared plays, so we can talk about that before like strategy. But, yeah, it is always tougher to see if you are like the new guy or a new team comes home. So it is tougher, I guess, than to play the regular teams.

J. ELTINGH: Sometimes it is difficult to play two good singles players, because they play as individuals, they don't really play doubles; just play individuals. Sometimes you get a very strange situation tactic- wise on the court you have to get used to, and that is also sometimes difficult to play.

Q. What do you think of the Jensen factor, do you think it is good for doubles?

P. HAARHUIS: Yeah, I think it is good for doubles.

J. ELTINGH: Publicity-wise it is very good.

P. HAARHUIS: It is a lot their way, not necessarily doubles way. I mean, it is towards their doubles. I see a lot of people attending their doubles matches, but --

Q. Do you think that will eventually spread, I mean, can that --

P. HAARHUIS: I don't know, I mean --

J. ELTINGH: I am not going to be like that.

P. HAARHUIS: Like today, it is a good match, a great match for a final and, you know, I think you just need to have for the crowds, they still want names to be in the doubles final. They want to have names. They want to have Sampras, Agassi, or Edberg, Korda in that finals for them to really stay and half the guys are going to leave still then, because they have seen the women's final.

J. ELTINGH: People like to see it maybe once. If you don't really show good tennis, they probably --

P. HAARHUIS: It was bad for us.

J. ELTINGH: -- go through it very quickly.

P. HAARHUIS: It was bad for us that Graf lost a set today, because if she wins one and one, a lot of people say, hey, well, we have seen only 40 minutes of tennis, why don't we stick around, but, you know, they played a really good match and lasted almost, maybe hour and a half, I don't know how long, so maybe say, you know, we can do something else the rest of the Saturday.

Q. Would you like to see another doubles tournament on the circuit apart from the finals?

J. ELTINGH: No.

P. HAARHUIS: No, because for us, we are also singles players, that is where our priority is.

J. ELTINGH: It is perfect as it is right now. We don't like to change anything.

Q. One more thing on rock and roll tennis. Suppose you two step out on the court which would be like a rock and roll stage with blaring music. Would you like that?

P. HAARHUIS: If we were the ones that were --

Q. Suppose you were in the shoes of the Jensen brothers?

P. HAARHUIS: Then I'd start working harder on our game because we haven't won many matches if we were the Jensens. No, I mean it is good for them. They are getting a lot of attention. It all boils down to if they don't make any rut in the next couple of months, they are not-- they lose the points from the French, and they are going down and if it has to go together, success has to come with the credibility of what they are trying to get, it has to come with their success. If they are not having success; then it is tough to implement a new thing in the game.

Q. That is true. What I meant, though, suppose you would be on a rock and roll stage just the two of you in that scenery with music--

J. ELTINGH: I would start to sing; not play tennis.

P. HAARHUIS: It could happen if things were fine, I mean, you have to get used to it. It would suddenly be different. We would come out with lights and like indoors you have like a spotlight coming on you --

J. ELTINGH: I would like that actually.

P. HAARHUIS: It would be nice for a change. It is just different. Maybe the first couple of games we were like, gee, that was great; then we are down 3-Love, you know, you never know.

Q. But if what the Jensens do isn't the answer to bring more attention on doubles, what do you guys think would be the right thing to do?

P. HAARHUIS: I am saying it is good, but also I mean what they are doing is great that they bring --

J. ELTINGH: It is not tough.

Q. What would you add to it?

J. ELTINGH: I mean, it is tough to ask, because --

P. HAARHUIS: I with - -.

J. ELTINGH: You need some more names; more good players. If you are a player-- if you get a long way in the draw every time in singles, it is so tough to play singles and doubles with the same intensity all the time. Especially doubles, needs a lot of intensity. If you are not sharp or eager to go, you are not going to win the doubles match. You see here in the draw also, a lot of still some singles players like Ivanisevic Rosset, they are playing doubles, but they don't make it far in the draw because they lose their intensity towards the end of the draw.

P. HAARHUIS: If they are on singles --

J. ELTINGH: Yeah, that is what is the most important. They have to stick around and if they want to, either they play or they don't play and they go for it. I think that is more important.

Q. If there is no conflict in scheduling, not playing singles and doubles the same day, do you think --

P. HAARHUIS: So many tournaments, except for this week and the French Open, I mean, the Grand Slam tournaments, you have a day off between matches, but normally you have almost everyday match, so you have play singles and doubles. Physically, you have to be in pretty good shape to do that and mentally to get yourself geared up after you lose now to say, well, I lost the singles. You got to be very psyched up for that. But you know, I don't know what the answer, is, but definitely what we did twice is that we played the final doubles match before the singles final and, you know, in the beginning, of course, it is not such a big crowd, but then towards like the end of the first set and the rest of the match, I mean, it was a huge crowd and they loved it. It was a great match and they all loved it. I mean, but sometimes it is very tough for TV time. If you have a set time for TV coverage at 1:00, you know, they say okay, we can play before, but we don't want to interfere; that is why we put you 48 hours before the singles finals and you don't want to start at nine o'clock.

J. ELTINGH: It is still the publicity in the time of TV which decides people wanting to come and watch doubles; they say it is not interesting enough to show it, but the way they do it right now, nobody is ever going to show it. It is not going to change. They would also need to help out and maybe change, you know, the broadcasting a little bit. Always you see the singles in first; then the doubles. But some tournaments, some people stay. For instance, we played in Rotterdam after the singles finals. It was a full house, people-- not in the first three, four games, but after that, it was like 8, 9,000 people, they stayed.

P. HAARHUIS: Maybe it had to do with the fact that we are Dutch too, but -- no, but I don't know -- I don't necessarily know the answers. Sometimes the scheduling would help if you have like a day match, you know, have it like a good singles match and then a good doubles match on center court; then another good singles match just to give the doubles match some publicity also and maybe towards scheduling, that would be very good, just let the people see that the doubles, because half the people who play tennis always play at the club level, that is basically on doubles.

J. ELTINGH: The people who would have seen a good doubles once then they get interested and follow it all the time, I think people have to be in touch with it. They have to see one or two good doubles matches and they will come back. They would like to see it again.

Q. Comments on the match?

P HAARHUIS: I felt the whole first set we were much better and we were in control and like in the 5-6, we have two set points and, you know, in the second set the same thing, we were, I felt, like we were better. We got-- we were holding our serves much easier. We had chances on their serve but we just couldn't break them. It is very frustrating and then if you don't play well in the tiebreaker, there goes the set. We were down 5-1. I was-- this is not the way it is supposed to end, the set.

Q. What do you guys think of the move of the end of the years doubles finals to Indonesia as a venue for doubles? Is that the type of place where you want to be showcasing doubles?

P. HAARHUIS: I think it is a good reason, first of all, to-- for I don't know how many million, 700 million people in southeast Asia if they are going to have good coverage in that region, I mean, they are going to be, you know, we are going to be seen by so many people in so many countries there, so I think it is great for promotion for the doubles and not necessarily only doubles but also just tennis. So I think it is a good place to have it. But you know, doubles, I think if doubles world championship is anywhere-- it would also be good to have it in the states if the coverage is well. I mean, people are going to watch it and you are going to have a good promotion, so it is not necessary that-- I think it is going to be great if the coverage is well.

J. ELTINGH: We have played their twice. The crowds are always very into it; especially in the doubles and only thing that was difficult, you have to make sure you don't get sick. Sometimes not doing anything and still taking care, you might get sick. That is the only thing I am worrying about.

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