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MONTE CARLO OPEN


April 22, 1997


Boris Becker


MONTE CARLO, MONACO

Q. Boris, considering that this is only your sixth match of the year, is that a good reason or a bad reason for the result?

BORIS BECKER: After going in the court, I didn't expect to much - two days on clay. I had a good opponent who had played many weeks already. I haven't played many matches. But, then how it went after playing so good the first set, basically playing good the whole match, I thought I had a good chance of winning, after being up 4-2 in the third, even in the tiebreaker I had a chance. I didn't make it. It's disappointing because I was just so close of winning. You know, I have to see the whole perspective. I have to see where I'm coming from. My body is very good, a hundred percent. My back is fine, so I cannot really say that I have a problem one way or another. It's just a question of continuing to play tournaments, get match-tough; get maybe a little bit lucky, to.

Q. You played nearly perfect tennis in the first set and after you gave the impression of staying a little bit back.

BORIS BECKER: Well, if everything would be so easy, like if Renzo would play short also in the second set, wouldn't be as many first serves in the second set, I play the same. He started to play much better. He served much better. He played longer, so I couldn't go in on the first one because I was two meters behind the baseline. Even though he played better, I had my chances. I had many breaks. I wasn't able to serve well today. My tensions were way to loose, playing the weekend, it was cold and rainy. We all went down with the tension. Today was a warm day. My tension was to loose. I was forcing it. I hit it long. My first serve percentage was 35 percent, so that's way to low.

Q. More a question of his changing his game and not your condition went down?

BORIS BECKER: I was trying to play the same, in my opinion. In the first set, he also didn't know how I was going to play. He didn't know what to expect either. He started very careful. I played short and he missed many first serves. Gave me the opportunity to take the game in my hands. The match went on and he started to play much longer, much better.

Q. Boris, 4-2 up in the third, the next game were you trying to force the first serve a bit to much? I don't think you got one first serve.

BORIS BECKER: That's my type of playing, forcing the game, forcing my serve. I wasn't serving well the whole match, you know, apart from maybe a few first games in the first set. I wasn't serving well at all. If I consider not serving very good my first serve and I still was able to win almost the match, I'm quite surprised, actually. I had periods when I just missed it six, seven, eight times in a row. I had to like work around a little bit my second serve. It's a bit harder to come to the net, I play a high volley. Yeah, I was trying to force it, but that's how I play.

Q. Boris, you have had probably a little more off time than you were hoping for the last couple of months. Did that give you --

BORIS BECKER: That's a fair statement.

Q. Did that give you a little time to get involved with the junior team? If yes or no, is anything planned in that respect?

BORIS BECKER: At this moment, I don't intend to talk about that. I'm involved and I like very much. We already have a few players.

Q. I know it's not the perfect time to ask, but it's probably the only time we're talking to you this week.

BORIS BECKER: That's true (laughter).

Q. Boris, does the fact that you're now in your late 20s, when you have kind of two months enforced rest or layoff, is it more frustrating because the sands of time are ebbing away, as it were?

BORIS BECKER: To tell you the truth, if you are away in your late 20s for longer, you do have a family, you do have other interests outside of tennis, the time goes by very quickly. It's a different thing when you're 19 and you want to go back the next week, as soon as possible. The only thing you have is tennis. Then the time may seem very long. When you're older, and you have a life apart from tennis, you know, life is not always on center court. Age-wise, I honestly don't think I have a problem yet - if you talk about endurance, if you talk about speed, if you talk about who knows what. I was injured a long time and I haven't played many matches, basically, the last nine months. But, you know, I had a very strong winter when I came back, but it was a different surface. It was easier for me to get into a rhythm when I play indoors. It's probably the hardest time for me to come back on the dirt. Even when I'm in great shape; even when I won a lot of tournaments before on a faster surface, clay is always going to give me trouble. I think that's just where I have to bite my tongue right now and work very hard, maybe the next 41 days over, then I'll be fine again.

Q. Boris, with three Finals here and three semifinals at Roland Garros, you never won a claycourt tournament. Is this something is in your mind or you really don't care?

BORIS BECKER: Well, I don't really think about it, no.

Q. Boris, considering you have an apartment here and you've lived here, is this tournament any more special for you? Is it a tournament you don't want to miss for that reason? Is Monte-Carlo special to you?

BORIS BECKER: Yeah, it is. It's a tournament I don't want to miss for a number of reasons. I've lived here for the better part of 15 years. I have many friends in the city, starting from the Prince to normal people. That's really the first big European tournament of the season. Everybody who ever won a tennis match or were involved in tennis is here. It's just a way I've done it now for 13, 14 years, always trying to be part of the tournament.

Q. What's your program going to be now, Boris?

BORIS BECKER: I would play Hamburg and Rome, then French Open and then we see, we go on.

Q. Boris, when you're having this time off --

BORIS BECKER: It was good.

Q. I'm sure. We'd all enjoy it. But was a lot of time actually spent in physical training or do you have times to go on holiday or work in the garden or something like that?

BORIS BECKER: No. I don't really have a garden, so -- Of the nine weeks I was going -- I did spend the first four weeks basically every day at the doctor, you know, trying to get rid of my tendonitis, so that wasn't much fun. I was going from one doctor to another doctor, from this treatment to that treatment. That was not a very nice time. The next four or five weeks, starting from Key Biscayne on, I was training, trying to get back physically, trying to get back with my form. That time was very enjoyable, where I could work four, five hours a day with different players. That's how the time was spent.

Q. In America?

BORIS BECKER: That was in America.

Q. Boris, when you said after Paris, "Then we'll see," was that --

BORIS BECKER: Then I will go to the grass (laughter).

Q. Still planning to play Halle and Wimbledon?

BORIS BECKER: Yeah.

Q. What do you think about the chances of the French players in this tournament and who could win?

BORIS BECKER: I think they all had a very good first round. Most of them, I think, survived. Pioline beat Thomas Muster last week. That's obviously an accomplishment on clay. I was supposed to play Boetsch now. That would have been nice, too. I think they're missing their Top-10 Player, one who is strong through the year who is going to bring his results all the time. They have a number of players who have a chance when they get going.

End of FastScripts....

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