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COMPAQ GRAND SLAM CUP

December 11, 1994

Pete Sampras

MUNICH, GERMANY

Q. Pete, start of the fourth set you put your foot on the gas and the tank was dry a little?

PETE SAMPRAS: I think the difference was he felt a lot better this morning than I did. I felt a little sore, and I just felt like I was sluggish out there. What killed me was the fourth set; he hit four unbelievable shots in a row, and he broke me, then he just went from there. The way he was serving and playing, it was tough to break and, you know, third set tiebreak considering he didn't miss a first serve the whole one, I didn't really have a chance. Just played a couple of tight points in the tiebreaker, that was really the difference. But I just felt like I wasn't recovering that well, and the match took quite a bit out of me yesterday. And, you know, he obviously didn't have a long day at the office like I did, but, you know, I would have loved to have had a day off to play him.

Q. Was it simply a question of being tired; there were no other problems or anything like that?

PETE SAMPRAS: No, I felt no aches or pains, just soreness all around my body. I really didn't have time to recover, so. . . But you got to give him credit like I said before, he outplayed me. Sure, I didn't feel like I was moving that well, but, you know, it is tough to get the serving back. He has improved a lot; he is a very underrated player, and is someone that is going to be a force next year.

Q. Pete, you played two five set matches in a row. It needs a special preparation maybe, but don't you think that at the end, very end of the season like this, that they should play the whole tournament, best of three sets because it is quite impossible for this preparation?

PETE SAMPRAS: Yeah, I think they -- I have told them I think for the final you can put it three out of five because you are going to have an hour final because the court is so quick. Semifinals, to have three out of five, is unfair and in my mind, you know, you play second match; play a three, four-hour match, you have to come back the next day, I think it is just -- it would be better tennis for the final if it was 2 out of 3 in the semifinal. But that is -- I have told them what I felt and obviously they are going to make their own decision, but, you know, after Frankfurt I took a week off, so I wasn't really in great shape coming here and playing a long match yesterday, definitely didn't help me out today.

Q. For most of the players it is the same, any players who is going to prepare specially to play two matches in five sets for this tournament --

PETE SAMPRAS: Only other tournament that has that is the U.S. Open where the Saturday/Sunday semifinal and final which is -- which is not -- it is bad scheduling and so I don't think too many players are preparing to play back-to-back five set matches. It is something that is just tough on the body, tough on the mind and it basically took its told on me today.

Q. He has never beaten you before. Has he suddenly become a much better player or is he just on a real high after the Davis Cup?

PETE SAMPRAS: I think a little bit of both. I think his confidence is huge right now. And he is a much better player than he was a couple of years ago. I first played him in Australia and he was just starting out. Now he has got one of the bigger serves in the game. He moves quite well. I just think he is very underrated because he doesn't look kind of that natural, but end result is that he hits some good shots and he beats a lot of good players so like I said, he is going to definitely be a force to deal with next year.

Q. Do you think he surprised everyone with the consistency of his ground strokes, his attacking groundstrokes; particularly the crosscourt one?

PETE SAMPRAS: Yeah, he was -- I don't think he surprised a lot of people. I knew what he was capable of and to beat Todd martin 4, 1 and 1 you got to be a hell of a player and he proved that again today. He does everything-- he has a huge first serve and second serve and he backs it up with some big groundies. The times that I have beaten him in the past is when his serve isn't there and he served. I don't know what his percentage was, but it felt like I wasn't getting a lot of chances to get into his second serve points and when I did, he was coming up with good groundies, so I just got outplayed today.

Q. How much is Tim's condition being in the hospital affected you this week?

PETE SAMPRAS: None at all.

Q. How is he?

PETE SAMPRAS: Fine.

Q. He is coming home Wednesday?

PETE SAMPRAS: Yeah.

Q. Pete, do you think despite -- it's obviously been a fantastic year and even though you have been out for three and a half months, whatever, with an injury, do you think perhaps your physical durability is maybe a little bit of an Achilles heal?

PETE SAMPRAS: I think that was definitely evident at the U.S. Open when -- just goes to show that you need to play and I basically didn't play any tennis for about four, five weeks, and you can do all the biking and lifting that you want, but it is not the same as playing tennis, and it took its toll on me, but. I feel like I am pretty fit. I think over the next three, four weeks before Australia, I need to do some more running. With my ankle injury, I didn't do a lot of running. I think kind of building that base early in the year that I lost over the summer, so I need that. Obviously if I want to play well in Australia.

Q. Do you think you can get fitter?

PETE SAMPRAS: Oh, yeah, yeah.

Q. You will still just play in that one tournament in Melbourne before the Open?

PETE SAMPRAS: Right.

End of FastScripts....

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