THE LIPTON CHAMPIONSHIPS

March 14, 1994

Boris Becker

Q. Boris, would you have preferred it if you could have forgotten the first set and started again after that? It took a second, it seemed --

BORIS BECKER: It was more because he was playing so well. Thanks God I did what I did with the ball girl at 2-6, Love-2, because he was really in his zone and he couldn't miss a ball. He was hitting as hard as possible and I served 115 miles serves and he just put them back like nothing and I guess if he hears the name Becker, it just makes him play much better.

Q. Why do you think that is, Boris?

BORIS BECKER: Well, I have been trying to figure it out now many times, and I haven't come to a conclusion yet. It is hard to say. I guess he likes my game. I am the type of player who comes in and he likes to have a target. I don't think he likes so much to play somebody who plays slow, high from the back and has to work for every point. That is one of the reasons, I guess, and I guess he likes me as a person too and he enjoys playing people he likes. Maybe I have to think that he starts hating me for something, because I am having trouble beating him the last couple of matches.

Q. The little thing with the ball girl, did that help you? He mentioned that might have helped you refocus your concentration and get back into the match a little bit.

BORIS BECKER: I mean, I was even concentrated the first set, but it put him off a little bit, I thought, that he made a doublefault after and I broke him right away.

Q. Was that your goal?

BORIS BECKER: No. Honestly, I mean, at 2-6, Love-2, I had no clue how I can manage to stay, maybe another half an hour on the court. And then I just took a couple of minutes to breathe and that put him off a little bit.

Q. Did the umpire give you a problem with that at all when the girl went out there and played a point?

BORIS BECKER: No, well, no. The umpire didn't say anything, and Andre was kind enough to play with her and she even made a point, so I told her, "Let's play another one. Maybe you are going to get a game now," but she was too embarrassed and she went back.

Q. It entertained the crowd; did that kind of please you a little bit too?

BORIS BECKER: It pleased me because I had some rest.

Q. Andre -- excuse me, Boris?

BORIS BECKER: Missing some hair.

Q. Excuse me, could you sense there was some emotion from Andre's point of view regarding Nick before he went out on the court?

BORIS BECKER: Tell you the truth, he has beaten me now 7 times in a row or six or seven times in a row, and he played as good as ever against me and I don't think he tried more because Nick is now with me, or anything. He just played an excellent game of tennis today and you know, I don't think he mind too much who my coach is. I mean, that was my opinion. I didn't see anything different.

Q. Boris, Andre also said that he could easily predict what you were going to do based on what Nick was going to tell you should do; can you tell us exactly what Nick told you to do against Andre?

BORIS BECKER: He told me to win the last point of the match. He told me a few other things too, which I wouldn't discuss here, but the problem is really with Andre that when he is hot and a court suits him very much, it is a very slow hardcourt. It doesn't suit me very much. When I am serving the ball, it sits up a little bit. When he -- when he is in a zone on a slow hardcourt very, very few people can beat him and it wasn't me today and if he continues the way he has been playing today he has a good chance of going a long way. He is the kind of player who doesn't get up as good against players you know, who are -- who are not as high and that was his problem in the past. He wasn't steady all the time. He came up with -- he wasn't very steady all the time. And that was it.

Q. Boris, do you feel if you had won that second set and got into a third set, do you feel you were in control and had a good shot at him?

BORIS BECKER: I was starting to feel much more comfortable at 3-All. I felt that he was pulling off a little bit. He didn't -- did everything on the rise and I started to get some points and some games, and-- but then again, he had me Love-30 couple of times too when I won the service games. So it was really hard for me to beat him today.

Q. Does anyone pressure you as much on your serve as Andre does, could you think of any other player that does that to you?

BORIS BECKER: No, usually I win my service games quite easily, but with him I am the opposite.

Q. Is this at all a setback for you?

BORIS BECKER: Honestly not. I expected a tough match today with Andre on a court like here, and for some reason, I haven't passed this round in nine tries in Key Biscayne even though I prepared well this year and I worked hard, and no, it is my first outdoor tournament in six months, and I am on my way up. I feel like I am playing pretty good. I have room obviously for improvement, obviously, but my attitude is very positive and I go on to play two tournaments in Japan in two weeks, and you know, so I see it from a good side.

Q. Boris, Andre said he had very little respect for Nick's strategy helping him with strategy the last two years they were together. Is Nick your strategist or is he working with you on other things? Is he working with you on conditioning? Is he working with you on motivational things? What do you have him there for?

BORIS BECKER: No, my opinion, Nick Bollettieri is a complete coach for all aspects of the game and that is, I think, the perfect answer for me. Plus, I think if I look back over Andre's career in ten years, I mean they both did pretty good, he must have known one or two things about the game, you know, to be able to have so much success.

Q. Where are you playing in Europe going into Paris, Boris?

BORIS BECKER: I am entered in Monte Carlo and Rome and I am thinking about Hamburg. It depends how the weeks before in the tournaments go.

Q. Will that depend on how much extra matchplay you will think you need then?

BORIS BECKER: Yeah.

Q. German press.

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