April 26, 1995
MONTE CARLO, MONACO
Q. Michael, you served very strongly down the stretch. I wonder if you think those two
slice backhands you hit in the 8th game might have been the key to win the match?
MICHAEL STICH: Something must have been the difference, let us put it that way. But I
think I played three normal sets, three regular sets, and two terrible sets. So I played
from playing aggressive; I went to playing so defensive in the second and the fourth set
and just let him back into the match, instead of hanging in there. And in the fifth set I
picked up my serve really well. It helped me out a lot to win my service games easily and
I tried to come in much more than I did the first set. It worked. He was getting tired. He
was getting cramps, I think, a little bit. I started to come up with some goods shots to
win that game, but for sure, those two balls made the difference.
Q. What were you so angry about when you were throwing your racket?
MICHAEL STICH: I was pissed off about myself. That was, I think, pretty obvious. I
wasn't very happy with my performance and I didn't play as well as I wanted to, but I went
through and sometimes you are playing bad; it is very important to win those matches.
Q. Does it help you when you do that?
MICHAEL STICH: We will see next time.
Q. The way you are progressing through this tournament, this season, how does it
compare to last year when you made it to the finals? Is it similar or is it better? Is it
harder?
MICHAEL STICH: I couldn't even recall how I went through this tournament last year, so
I can't compare those two. I don't think about it. I mean, I am happy I am in the third
round and I hope I can go further and that is all I care about and last year I played
really well through to the finals and, you know, so far I am still in, but, you know, I
couldn't tell. I couldn't remember.
Q. Has there been some pattern for your career in winning regularly; too many ups and
downs; losing regularly?
MICHAEL STICH: If I would have won the four finals I would have played in I think
everybody would have said it was a good year. I lost three out of four finals; it wasn't a
great year, no, I wasn't happy the way I played in the big tournaments, especially, and
the Slams, and the Super 9 events, but overall, it is an average year. I wouldn't complain
about having a bad year and I wouldn't say I had a good year. It is somewhere in the
middle of somewhere. But I am happy the way I played this summer, the hard courts and the
way I approached those tournaments, so that is a little bit of a change than the first six
months.
Q. Do you think your career has tipped off or the increase on your productivity has
gotten a little less than it has in your earlier years where you did see yourself on that
mountain that you climb before you start going down?
MICHAEL STICH: I hope I am still not going to reach the top when I am 80 so that
mountain is still going to be very high.
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