ATP TOUR WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP

November 15, 1993

Michael Stich

MICHAEL STICH: Yes, I'm looking forward to the match here. There is some pressure, however not from the audience, but it's the pressure I put on myself because I want to be extremely good. For the past one and a half years I've been playing well in Germany, on German tournaments.

MICHAEL STICH: That's difficult to say. I'm much more confidence than twelve months ago and twelve months ago I wasn't here. That's a big difference. I'm the Number 3 of the world again, and that shows that I've worked hard and I'm quite confidence.

MICHAEL STICH: I don't think of next year now. I still have this tournament to play, then the Davis Cup finals, then the Grand Slam Cup. There are many more tournaments to come, so I've no time to think about next year.

MICHAEL STICH: That's always the same question. If you play well, you play a lot. If you play bad, you don't play a lot. However you make it, it's wrong. If I knew at the beginning of next year that I will win five tournaments, I could plan accordingly. But you never know. Look at Pete; he won eight tournaments, and he has played a lot. Concerning me, I prefer to play a lot and have success instead of playing less.

MICHAEL STICH: It's important to play the Davis Cup times. It's not important who's on the team. I think we have played three good Davis Cup matches, and everyone on the team contributed to it, to achieve this success.

MICHAEL STICH: If you're working for the press and you show interest for a person, it's mostly private in order to find out the personality of the person, and this leads to conflict. On one hand you want to find out how the person really is; on the other hand, you have the problem to put that into words in order to get through to the public. I think the public knows enough about the players and about support in general. I think if we don't maintain that little privacy we have, it would -- there would not be as much sports people.

MICHAEL STICH: I can only say for the past 25 years tennis has not changed a lot. The players have gotten stronger, faster, and the game is faster. The people who are interested in tennis come in order to watch tennis. You can call yourself lucky if you see one of those matches which go into the fifth set, like, for instance, in Wimbledon where 7-6 in the fifth set, but you can also be unlucky and have a match 6-2, 6-2, 6-2. However, the players cannot only satisfy the expectations of the public. When you pay 50 marks you don't have the right to see three and a half hours of a good tennis match. Everybody tries to win and play as good as he can, but I think with respect to changing the game it's just a sport, and it should be fun.

MICHAEL STICH: Neither. Like you say, I'm not playing for my country; I'm playing for myself as good as I can. The fact that this tournament is taking place in Germany is a big advantage for me. And concerning Boris, if he would have qualified, it would have been good for the German tennis and for him, and surely for the spectators. If we had not been in one group, I would not have had anything against it. But if the same thing had happened as two years ago, and the people start to compare us, who's the better player; to compare our game, that destroys the real tennis. We try to do our best; it is not important who's the better player.

MICHAEL STICH: I've no problem with that. We just have different opinions on certain things, and I could name 15 other players which are of another opinion, but that has nothing to do with it, that I don't want to be on the court with him, that I don't want to see him or don't want to practice with him. The more the press puts into it, the more difficult it gets.

MICHAEL STICH: I don't care. If he decides to play, great, because we'll have a stronger team then, especially on fast surfaces. But if he decides against, that's okay with me. I, too, want to have the opportunity to decide for myself. So I don't have the right to tell him what he's got to do. If he wants to play, he's welcome.

MICHAEL STICH: It's very important to me. I have proved to myself and to the public that I can play well on every surface. That shows that I can adopt my game to any surface, and that I have the opportunity to win every Grand Slam. Doesn't matter, whether the U.S. Open, Paris, or Wimbledon.

MICHAEL STICH: I won tournaments before, so I had this feeling before. However, Grand Slams are different. For me, it is a good feeling which shows that I'm doing the right thing.

MICHAEL STICH: It can be a great month, but it also can be a disappointment. The fact that I'm here and that I'm in the Davis Cup final is relevant, and it's going to be a successful, exciting, end of the year.

MICHAEL STICH: Except for the fact that I did not win a Grand Slam, and did not play that extremely well in the Grand Slams, I think it has been a fairly good year, and I can be satisfied.

MICHAEL STICH: It would be a lie to say that I showed sympathy. I didn't care. I concentrated on my own game and tried to play well. It is a shame for him that he didn't make it, especially as the defending champion. It is a shame for German tennis and for the spectators. As he said yesterday, I think there are eight other players who have been better than him and who deserve to be here.

MICHAEL STICH: I must say I've already forgotten that. It wasn't pleasant. But maybe I exaggerated a bit two years ago. The spectators stood behind Boris, and now I can understand a bit better. However, I don't appreciate it. But time changes. I have changed in the past two years. I think the spectators accept me now more as a player; they know I always try to give my best. I have matured and all that is of importance. Even if we both had played this year, it would not have been as in 1991.

MICHAEL STICH: I think I had a very big chance in the winter. If I had won another three tournaments, I would have had the chance to become Number 1. With the Davis Cup, it just got too much. If I had gotten to the finals in Paris, it would have been an optimal schedule.

MICHAEL STICH: It is not an aim. My aim is to get better and this year I saw the chance to get to the top. Of course in the U.S. Open I got out very early; that wasn't a very good start, and it had diminished my chances a bit. But now afterward I must say that Pete just played too well.

MICHAEL STICH: It is always said that we are put together for reasons of convenience. I think that is wrong. And there are four players who are put together for two weeks and try to give their best. Each of them tries to adapt to the group and take back his own interests that he would pursue as a single player. That does not mean that they necessarily have to be the best friends; you don't find that in a soccer team; you don't find that in any sport, that you go and eat every evening or have coffee together.

MICHAEL STICH: Both. I could not choose one. The victory in the Davis Cup is team work, and one of the most important titles, but the victory in the Masters is the world championship. I would not swap one for the other.

MICHAEL STICH: Until Paris where he had been in the final, Andre had had a bad indoor season. He's a talented player, as you know. And here I think there will be no easy matches. Each match is hard. The mental side and the daily fitness are of importance. It may sound funny, but the chances are 50/50, even if it's indoors on a fast surface.

MICHAEL STICH: No. You got that wrong. I was asked that there is an idea that the press should get to know the players more personally in order to explain them to the public. I said that doesn't make any sense because the little bit of privacy we have, we have to keep. There is always a conflict among the press to separate what they are allowed to write and what they shouldn't write.

MICHAEL STICH: No. If you ask me what I'm doing Sunday afternoon, I will always say that's none of your business.

MICHAEL STICH: I'll tell you that on Sunday.

MICHAEL STICH: At the moment, I'm not looking for a trainer. Nicky helps me at the moment in his function as DTB-team chef, and there are far too many things to be considered, so I don't have time to look for another trainer.

MICHAEL STICH: Yes, he'll do that, what every coach does. He talks to me. We talk about tactical details. That's all.

MICHAEL STICH: All seven. Pete has shown that he's the best player this year. Goran plays very well, if he serves well. Stefan is a very difficult competitor. I think you should not underestimate any of them. Neither Bruguera nor Chang.

MICHAEL STICH: No. Every match is important. I don't have a minor aim.

MICHAEL STICH: No, I don't think so. I did not play that well in the Grand Slams. Only at the US Open. I played Wimbledon in the quarter finals. The Australian Open in the semi-file. That's not that bad, but the final is better. Next year I will try to get into the finals.

MICHAEL STICH: I have played some semi-finals and quarter finals at the Grand Slams, so two weeks in a row, that's no problem, neither mentally nor physically. But you also need a bit of luck, the right competitors, on the right surface. And then you might get right to the top.

MICHAEL STICH: That doesn't make any sense. For me it is not important that the coach understands all that much about tennis. He must match the character of the player. If that isn't so, it won't work.

MICHAEL STICH: Two years ago, I beat Boris in Wimbledon. That is the first time somebody tried to get at his thrown throne and he was the best player then. And he had performed much more in tennis than I had in the past years. That's why the fans were on his side after Wimbledon.

MICHAEL STICH: No, I just play my game and don't think about the game of the others. Chang and Courier have adapted their game to the fast surfaces. So we will see them at the net.

MICHAEL STICH: Yes, a bit.

MICHAEL STICH: I can't tell everything, but I have friends here in Frankfurt. I've been here several times.

MICHAEL STICH: Very good. However, this would be the wrong week not to feel good.

MICHAEL STICH: It's always nice to be accepted by the public, but from a thousand people, you will have 500 that like Boris and you'll have 500 who don't. It's only in the past he has played more tennis than I have. This does not concern the personality or the character, but the sporting successes.

MICHAEL STICH: To put it hard: this question is stupid. This is not of importance. The fact is that we have got to the finals.

MICHAEL STICH: I wouldn't say anything to this. It seems somebody has had a bad day.

MICHAEL STICH: Okay, it's not easy to find the right size for Michael. And Jim, he just forgot it. But that makes everything a bit more interesting; not so stiff.

MICHAEL STICH: There are some things which are not -- which are not so good, but it would take too long to name them. Besides, I don't need to do that in public.

MICHAEL STICH: The fact that we are told which tournaments we have to play and that we have to play a lot of tournaments. But I don't want to say anything more to that.

MICHAEL STICH: We don't have any influence.

MICHAEL STICH: The ATP is our union. The ATP is supposed to support our interests. That's the problem.

MICHAEL STICH: I have been on the ATP Players' Counsel, and tried to change something. But you don't get any feedback from the top ten players. There is no time, but maybe there is no interest. Anyhow, there should be time to read two sides of information.

MICHAEL STICH: Yes. But you would have to prepare everything.

MICHAEL STICH: Yes, I'm looking forward to it.

MICHAEL STICH: No.

MICHAEL STICH: Soon it's over. No, that's part of it.

MICHAEL STICH: I don't know.

MICHAEL STICH: Yes.

MICHAEL STICH: I'm tired, too. However, I feel physically fit. The exhaustion is also mental. However, I feel good.

MICHAEL STICH: I think the great difference is that I started with tennis after having finished school at the age of 19 and had my first successes at the age of 22. Boris had his success when he was 16, and you're too young to copy with the pressure of the public. That's normal. Everything is taken away from you, like the family.

MICHAEL STICH: I don't know whether he coped with it all right; I don't know him that personally. But he will never get back the time he has lost. Everybody just has to learn to copy with it. I don't belong with the people who are friendly to everyone. I want to live my own life.

MICHAEL STICH: No. I had an idea when the first successes came in, and I just followed my idea.

MICHAEL STICH: Yes, it's nobody's business what I do at home. And also in 20 years I will think the same.

MICHAEL STICH: No, because it's a nice environment. And grass is one of my best surfaces. Why shouldn't I play that tournament?

MICHAEL STICH: I don't think it makes any sense for grass. When it gets humid, you can't play on grass. The air stays humid in spite of the roof.

MICHAEL STICH: I don't know.

MICHAEL STICH: He didn't need to give himself that title. To sit on the bench is not my preference. Anyhow, it's only a term of the Austrian's.

MICHAEL STICH: Yes. Maybe I've the better group, but you should not underestimate anything.

MICHAEL STICH: I don't need to say anything about him -- he always gives 110 percent-- not regarding the time or the score.

MICHAEL STICH: Yes, Rothenbaum.

MICHAEL STICH: Maybe at the end of the year when I think about 1993.

MICHAEL STICH: You are outside in nature. Nobody looks at you. There are no spectators, if no camera team is nearby. It's just relaxing.

MICHAEL STICH: The most important was my marriage. And then some sport successes.

MICHAEL STICH: Yes. I've gained balance by my marriage.

MICHAEL STICH: I think I'm mentally as strong as Jim; however, not 24 hours. Because Jim is strong always; 24 hours.