THE LIPTON CHAMPIONSHIPS

March 18, 1995

Michael Stich

Q. Michael, was there any physical reason why you couldn't give your best tennis today?

MICHAEL STICH: Physical and mental. I would say physical, I had a little problems with my back. It was very sore. I couldn't really serve the way I wanted to and like move sideway balls that I had to get and mentally, I am just not in a good frame of mind where I just can concentrate and everything, so, you know, you look at excuses for the wind and everything and I was just not on the court today.

Q. Is it the wind that is affecting your frame of mind or something else?

MICHAEL STICH: It is a lot of other things, but the wind puts it to the end - let us put it that way. It is just the last piece that is missing.

Q. And final follow-up: What are those things, the Davis Cup, for example?

MICHAEL STICH: Yeah, things that just things you keep thinking about all the time trying to figure things out and make it tough to concentrate on tennis.

Q. Why did you decide to play this year? You haven't played here in three years and clearly do not like this tournament too much?

MICHAEL STICH: Actually, I cannot tell you because I have to play. It is a designation week. I have to play those kind of tournaments. It is a great tournament. It is a great site. The stadium is really well done and I think they do a lot for the players. It is just not my tournament. I just don't like playing here at all. I just don't like being here in Miami, Florida. I just don't like the place, so it is not for me -- I don't think it is worth probably coming back again. But nothing against the tournament. I think they do a great job with the tournament that they achieved after last few years.

Q. Is it possible now that you are talking yourself into about how bad this place? A lot of players come here and they enjoy the environment and enjoy the tournament; possibly you are talking yourself into how bad it is.

MICHAEL STICH: I think I know what I am thinking; know what I am feeling. I think that I don't like this place. I am not saying it is a bad place. I am just saying I don't like this place. If you go to Tokyo, you don't like Tokyo; you are not talking yourself into it. I just don't like it. Ask the Americans, they don't like to go to Europe too much. They don't like to stay six weeks in Europe play Stockholm and Paris maybe. That is the way it is.

Q. Is it that it is not a city or, I mean, --

MICHAEL STICH: It is just the place. I can't explain it. I think you know, you probably go to places that you just don't like. That is it.

Q. Are you embarrassed?

MICHAEL STICH: I can't be embarrassed because I still -- I try to win my points and it just was not good, at all, what I did out there today.

Q. The second thing, I mean, through your career you have had difficulty when you are mentally not feeling good, putting it aside like some players can, has that been something you have been struggling with?

MICHAEL STICH: I would say some -- I am thinking too much about a lot of things, and sometimes, it just hurts my tennis, and, but, you know, that is the way it happens, sometimes with me and my game, and maybe I have try to find a way out of it or accept it. It is one of those two things I am still working on that it is not going to happen, but so far, it is still happening.

Q. Is it possible that you are so preoccupied with this Davis Cup problem that you will forego your commitment and not play Davis Cup for the rest of the year?

MICHAEL STICH: No.

Q. Michael, what is your schedule from here on up to Wimbledon, for example?

MICHAEL STICH: Davis Cup. And then Monte Carlo, Munich, Hamburg, World Team Cup, French Open, and then Halle, then Wimbledon.

End of FastScripts....