COMPAQ GRAND SLAM CUP

December 3, 1996

Jason Stoltenberg

JASON STOLTENBERG: Yeah. I've had a bit of a strain in my wrist the last few weeks. I had a week off after Stockholm. For some reason, I did hurt my wrist that following week. I've been struggling to get the pain away. It was a bit tough with that today, but my opponent was pretty tough. If I was a hundred percent today, my hands still would have had a handful. I feel it's bad luck for me today to have that, but still bad luck of the draw, a tough draw, the guy was too good.

JASON STOLTENBERG: Yeah, I saw a lot of it. It was just a great thing. I believe you can have a lot of your best and worst experiences in your career probably in Davis Cup. That was a great example of what could happen in Davis Cup. It was great to see. I thought Nicklas Kulti did a fantastic effort in the last match. It's tough to be called in to play the fifth match in a final. It was good tennis. It's going to be different - we're on grass in a couple of months. We know it's going to be a very tough match. They're a very talented team. We're very much looking forward to the match. It's going to be close.

JASON STOLTENBERG: No. I've seen a lot of doctors and I've seen a lot of experts. I think it may be more of an overuse injury, that's what I seem to be told. It's kind of frustrating because I take a few days off; play a day, it's sore. I take another three days off, try again. It's been like that for three weeks. My preparation has been terrible. That's a shame because I've been looking forward to this. I was supposed to stay in Europe the last few weeks to play for it, but, unfortunately, it wasn't the way I liked. Like I said, playing Boris on a good day, it's going to be a tough match. I'm disappointed, but I'm glad it's over and I can rest my wrist.

JASON STOLTENBERG: I've been taking some strong antiinflammatories to keep the inflammation down, keep the pain away. It's not enough. I need to rest my wrist. That's what most of the doctors have been saying - I need to rest. Even though I have been resting, I've been trying to hit every few days. It hasn't been a complete rest; whereas, now, I can take 10, 14 days, not pick up a racquet. I think that's what it needs. It really needs to rest. Without resting, it's just going to keep coming back.

JASON STOLTENBERG: No, never had it before. I may have done it picking up a bag or something - I really don't know. I don't think it's that serious. It's very easy to find. People have a spot where it hurts. It's not coming from the shoulder. It needs to rest. I need to let it settle down. That's the only form of treatment that I've been told that, you know, can get rid of the problem. I need to rest it, whether it's two weeks, three weeks, so I can continue to prepare for the Australian.

JASON STOLTENBERG: Not really. You know, I think it's the same old story. It's really the pressure you put on yourself. You've got to learn to handle it. I think the Australians all had a pretty good year. There's a few of us there, I think, within 15 spots of each other, four or five players. The pressure is evenly spread amongst the players; not just one player is standing out at the moment. For me, personally, I'm thrilled with the year I've had. I do want to get better next year. I feel like I can improve. Obviously the Wimbledon result this year was great for me, to do well in a Grand Slam. I really wanted to play in this tournament. Wimbledon obviously was the tournament that got me in. I'm just happy to be here, to be able to play, try to come back again next year. It's been a good year.

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