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U.S. OPEN

August 30, 1994

Jim Courier

NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK

Q. Any nervousness before the match about how you would be tonight?

JIM COURIER: Just about the normal amount of nervousness before a first round of a match of a Grand Slam, just about the right amount.

Q. Are you happy to be here?

JIM COURIER: Yeah, very happy. Very happy to be here and, yeah, I had a good week last week, practicing here, and I'm ready to play now and see how I do.

Q. Was there any question in your mind that you want to play this tournament?

JIM COURIER: Well, I was just saying just a minute ago when Mary asked me, I went away from Indianapolis not really thinking one way or another whether I was going to play. I knew that I needed to go home and then I had a couple days rest and slept on it a little bit and thought about what I wanted to do and decided this is what I wanted to do and came up here Monday and I've been into it ever since.

Q. Do you feel like you've got the passion back that you said at Indianapolis, the hunger for the moment was missing?

JIM COURIER: Yes, I do.

Q. Are you a little sorry that you made the statement in the first place; did you anticipate kind of the furor that it would create?

JIM COURIER: I said it would be one day, could be one week or one year or ten years and it was three days, actually, so, can't say that I wasn't honest.

Q. You had the break, when did you know, the first day away from it, the second day?

JIM COURIER: It was about the third day. Third day I woke up and said, God, it's hot. I don't know if I want to go play golf today. Maybe I'll go play tennis and that's when I knew I was ready to go play.

Q. Too hot for golf, but not too hot for tennis?

JIM COURIER: It works backwards.

Q. You said you figured this was a Grand Slam and you would be ready to play top guys; if this wasn't a grand Grand Slam, would you be out here, back here playing?

JIM COURIER: If it wasn't a Grand Slam I might have taken this week off, but the reason I play the game is to play in the big tournaments and, you know, if I can play here and if I'm hungry enough and if I'm healthy, I want to be here. I haven't won this tournament yet. I'd like to have it on my mantle one of these days.

Q. Is this something that couldn't have happened before you had reached number one? I mean, that it's almost hard to kind of reach the top?

JIM COURIER: Oh, no, I've had things like this happen before. Sure. It's just a little bit more in the spotlight now.

Q. Aaron has a history of playing long five set matches, even here; are you surprised taking him out in three?

JIM COURIER: Well, surprised? Not really. I mean, I figured I think it could go three for me, three for him, five sets. I don't know. Either way, but I think I was just ready to -- for whatever came, I knew I had to stay on top of him all the way through because he does like to play long matches here. He has a very good record in long matches in the Stadium, so I was ready.

Q. Which you saw the draw, did you have the attitude that you probably had to take him out in three, that if it got to four or five that he might have a mental edge from the way he does it and what's going on with you?

JIM COURIER: No, certainly I've played plenty of big matches here and other tournaments and I think I'm just as good in a four or five set match or better than him.

Q. You played very well the first two games of the match; is that your best tennis since, let's say, the French where you also played well?

JIM COURIER: No, my best tennis since the French was probably in Rotterdam, I guess, Holland in the Davis Cup. Two games is a short span to judge.

Q. That was an impressive start.

JIM COURIER: Well, thank you.

End of FastScripts...

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