U.S. OPEN

August 29, 1994

Boris Becker

BECKER BORIS: Well, I had a hard time with the circumstances here. It was extremely slow. They made the court extremely slow this year; especially Center Court and the Grandstand, and they changed the balls. They made them very heavy and very soft and that is very bad for my game. It took me an hour to get used to all that. But by the time the first hour passed, it was two sets to Love down. He, on the other hand, he really started in full gear and hardly missed a ball for the first hour and a half. All those combinations made it hard for me to play good tennis at the beginning.

BECKER BORIS: Well, I am very disappointed. I thought I had a very good chance, but on the other hand, that tournament is playing completely different than all the other tournaments I have played over the summer. Usually the hard court tennis is very quick and you can really serve and volley; you don't have to rally so much from the baseline, but with these slow conditions here it makes it very difficult and it is almost like I didn't need to play all the hard court tournaments to prepare for this because it is two completely different circuits.

BECKER BORIS: Extremely. But the main difference is the balls, from the normal ball usually played here or the whole summer, which is very, very, you know, much smaller, much quicker, and this one, they made it heavier and softer. So you have to hit always a couple of more shots than normally to finish the point and that suits his game very much. He is a counter-puncher and he loves to run on the court and all that suits his game very much.

BECKER BORIS: Well, I definitely thought I had a chance. I was fighting very hard, just to somehow win the games, and by the fourth set I was actually playing good tennis. But then he slowed down, actually in the fourth set, and he saved his energy for the fifth set, and there he played like at the beginning, hitting all out, just going for all his shots and it was an excellent fifth set.

BECKER BORIS: I tell you the truth, I have saved many matchpoints over my career even this tournament. I cannot find it hard to think about all these matches when I am matchpoint down. I am just trying to concentrate on the next point and do the best I can.

BECKER BORIS: Not really at 10:30 at night, usually. . .

BECKER BORIS: You don't play tennis at that hour. But sure, I practice a little bit, but match and practice are two different stories, and I knew beforehand that my opponent is in excellent form right now and with slow conditions like that, I know it is going to suit his game very much and I am going in there full battle. I knew it beforehand.

BECKER BORIS: That I have played him many times before and he has never beaten me and he lost most of the time by not hitting all out, not going for all his shots and I think today he decided doesn't matter what the score is, I have to risk it all the time. I have to really hit my serves; I have to hit my groundstrokes, you know, to be able to have a chance and that is how we played in the fifth set. When I was down game Love-40, he had three passing shots in the tiebreak out of those seven points he made seven winners basically, so he -- I think he decided if I am going to lose tonight, has to-- it has to be with swinging shots and his shots went in.

BECKER BORIS: The tournament hasn't really started, you know, it is very tough to predict at that early stage. Before the match today I thought I had a very good chance. That is no more the case obviously. You know, with a slow surface like that, it favors usually the guy who is playing more from the backcourt, and Agassi looked pretty good today, he looked pretty good today, I thought, but you have many others, Chang played good, and Sampras hasn't even played yet. Courier hasn't played yet. Stich hasn't played yet. So it is really early to say something.

BECKER BORIS: Extremely disappointed. I played one of the best summers of my life. I felt good. I was winning a tournament without losing a set. I really thought I had a very good chance, but when I first came here and played with the balls and on the surface I knew I was in trouble. I knew that for some reason they were really trying to slow it down this year and everybody knows I am not the best on the slow surface.

BECKER BORIS: I have a few weeks off, I guess and the next end of tournament is Sidney which is in about five weeks, so I have a few weeks off now.