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US OPEN


September 12, 1998


Doug Spreen


Flushing Meadows, New York

Q. Why don't you run down what happened out there for us, Doug? You probably know what questions we're going to ask.

DOUG SPREEN: Yeah. Well, Pete has a strain - remember, that's strain with a "T" - of his left quad, which is the -- the muscle is the erectus muscle of his left quad. It's up higher on the leg, closer to the hip. Obviously, I think everybody saw where he probably aggravated the injury to a great deal, was on that play where he was going to the net.

Q. Did he have the injury coming in?

DOUG SPREEN: No. He was fine before.

Q. May we have your name?

DOUG SPREEN: It's Doug Spreen, S-p-r-e-e-n.

Q. What's the history on this injury, Doug?

DOUG SPREEN: No history.

Q. You say "aggravated." Did it happen twice?

DOUG SPREEN: No. We don't really know if the muscle had an injury starting before that. But that play at the net was definitely where the injury occurred.

Q. What play at the net are we talking about?

DOUG SPREEN: There was a volley where kind of the leg gave way.

Q. In the third set?

DOUG SPREEN: Yes.

Q. I apologize if you've answered this. What did you do? You wrapped it and then what, just stretched it?

DOUG SPREEN: We did some massage, we wrapped it, did some massage with some heat cream, wrapped it, took a little Aleve, did some stretching, and later on in the match we reapplied some more ointment and did some icing, too, to try and cut down on the spasm in the muscle.

Q. What would this injury have affected most in his game? Was it the serve? What movement?

DOUG SPREEN: Anytime he really had to push off with that left leg. Pete will be much better at answering that question.

Q. When he came in here for that original break, I guess you had three minutes. Were you very conscious of that time? Was there a rush in here?

DOUG SPREEN: It's a normal injury time-out. I'm used to the three minutes. I'm used to counting three minutes off in my head. It pretty much ran like any normal injury time-out, except we didn't do it on court because of where the injury was located.

Q. Was there ever any thought that he might have to retire?

ART CAMPBELL: That would be the player's decision.

Q. He never said to you that he might?

DOUG SPREEN: No, that would be up to the player.

Q. Did you encourage him not to sit for a long period of time?

DOUG SPREEN: Encouraged him to try and ice it on changeovers and stretch it out and keep moving, yeah. If you sit there for a long period of time, that muscle has a tendency to tighten up on you.

Q. He was essentially robbed of some extra time sitting in the chair and resting?

DOUG SPREEN: Because he was up moving around?

Q. Yes.

DOUG SPREEN: (No response.)

Q. Is this indicative of a preexisting condition?

DOUG SPREEN: No.

Q. No?

DOUG SPREEN: No.

Q. You worked on his back. Was that separate and apart?

DOUG SPREEN: On his back? I was just stretching the leg out.

Q. Unrelated to this?

DOUG SPREEN: No, we were stretching that muscle out.

Q. Can an injury like this, is it possible for it to loosen up over the course of play?

DOUG SPREEN: That's hard to say. It's possible, but that all depends on the extent of the injury, that you can't tell right away. It's something that you look at over 24 to 48 hours to really see how the injury plays itself out.

Q. Could you say whether he was at 50 percent after the injury, 75 percent? Would you be able to make that judgment?

DOUG SPREEN: No. Pete would be able to tell you that.

Q. Is this a common tennis injury?

DOUG SPREEN: We see quad strains.

Q. Like this?

DOUG SPREEN: Yeah. We see quite a few upper leg muscle strains.

Q. In that three minutes, you take him into the treatment room, you massage, wrap, Aleve, and back out? Is that basically it?

DOUG SPREEN: Uh-huh, yup.

Q. Did he have pain before the third set in the leg, did he tell you?

DOUG SPREEN: No.

Q. I assume he's getting iced right now?

DOUG SPREEN: Yeah. He just finished seeing the doctors. He's just in the locker room.

Q. So this is typically an injury that limits your lateral movement mostly, right, rather than up-and-down?

DOUG SPREEN: No. For him, it was limiting anytime he put a lot of weight and pressure on that left leg. You could see at times, he seemed to be okay moving different directions. But once again, I'd ask Pete that. He'd be able to tell you much better what was bothering him, what he could and couldn't do.

Q. Did he take an antiinflams?

DOUG SPREEN: He just took some Aleve. He did not take --

Q. Over-the-counter?

DOUG SPREEN: Over-the-counter.

Q. How long does that usually take to have some effect?

DOUG SPREEN: Usually I think 20 to 30 minutes.

End of FastScripts….

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