RCA CHAMPIONSHIPS

August 15, 1995

Pete Sampras

Q. To play in the evening, it is cooler?

PETE SAMPRAS: Yeah, I have learned to deal with the heart the hard way in Cincinnati and today, you know, I hit it about noon; it was very, very hot. I mean, this summer has been excruciating. It felt good to play at night - a little bit cooler; still humid, so I was sweating quite a bit. You know, wouldn't mind playing again at night.

PETE SAMPRAS: I thought -- surprisingly, I played him three years ago and he really improved his serve. I was surprised. He was acing me and I was kind of just standing there waiting for it to, you know, miss them and he was holding his serve pretty easily and I thought I served pretty well and hit my groundies pretty clean. It is always tough playing your first match out there against someone that has already played a match, so it just took me a little while to get used to the surroundings, but overall, I thought I hit the ball pretty well and I am pretty pleased.

PETE SAMPRAS: You do whatever you can as far as getting enough fluids in you and eating the proper foods. I had a tough match before I had played Stich and just ran out of gas, but, you know, I have a couple of more weeks in the humidity down in Tampa after this week and really get used to the humidity because it can really change the course of a match, the heat. Not only you are battling the tournament, you are battling the conditions. You really need to be in good a shape as you can, three out of five sets in New York is going to be a good fight.

PETE SAMPRAS: I think, you know, just takes one -- there is no rule right now, but it is takes one example of a player going out and seriously jeopardizing his health. I think once that happens there might be a rule where if it gets to a certain degree on the court they might not play, but up until now, there is no rule on the ATP Tour, and, you know, it is a tough call. It is a tough call. I mean, 4 o'clock sounds a lot better than playing at 1 o'clock - that is for sure.

PETE SAMPRAS: He is lying through his teeth. He says I have longer arms than he does, so that is why I got him at the end.

PETE SAMPRAS: That is right.

PETE SAMPRAS: Well, unfortunately was hoping to come here to Indy or Cincinnati and hopefully the Open, but as of right now, he is not going to be able to do anymore travelling for the rest of the year, unfortunately, but, you know, Paul is just trying to make this whole situation for Tim and I as easy as possible; just trying to fill in for Tim until Tim gets back to his normal health, so it has been a good transition. Paul is a good friend of mine; good friend of Tim's and he knows the game he has played this game for twelve years, so he knows how to play and he has seen me play a number of times. It has been a pretty smooth transition.

PETE SAMPRAS: Pretty good. I think the summer has been good, but hasn't been great. I would have loved to have won Montreal, but considering after Wimbledon I was pretty pleased and Cincinnati, really just ran out of gas. I am just going to have to play -- I feel like I am hitting the ball pretty well. I am I acclimated to the heat, so going into the Open you really have to -- when you are feeling tired and you just need to dig deep; that is the bottom line, you have to do whatever you can to win that tough match in the fourth or fifth set because it is the last major of the year. And you do whatever you can to try to win those matches.