U.S. OPEN

September 5, 1995

Michael Tebbutt

MICHAEL TEBBUTT: He doesn't -- I mean, it is more, it is the pressure he puts on you knowing that he gets to a lot of balls and he has good concentration. He usually plays the big points well. And he has been around for a long time. He knows what shots to play and in what situations. He doesn't really give you too much.

MICHAEL TEBBUTT: Yeah, first one.

MICHAEL TEBBUTT: I didn't enjoy the first two sets too much. Especially the first, I just -- I was nervous and this one is the hardest one to play of all of the four because there is so much going on and a lot of noise; if you haven't done it before to keep focus and concentrate well and I wasn't able to do that. I did all right the third and fourth sets. I just didn't serve well enough.

MICHAEL TEBBUTT: It has been my best Grand Slam ever, so, hopefully, I can go up from here and I mean, this is a good experience. I needed to play on center court one day, I hope. I played him pretty tough. I don't know, the games got broken; I am sure I served a doublefault on 90% of those games, at least. So I gave him -- didn't make him play enough and that is my fault; did the same thing when I played him last time.

MICHAEL TEBBUTT: Well, I don't know what was happen with him. I mean, he kind of, I guess because he won the first two sets so easy, he might have had -- it is was a bit of a let-down, maybe. His game went down a bit maybe. As far as I am concerned, I just didn't have the focus I did the other nights; especially on my serve. I just -- the other three matches, especially the last two, I just stepped up and I was confident about where I was going to hit the serve; whereas, today, I just kind of -- it was more like an afterthought. I stepped up there and I -- it wasn't like I -- I hit so many serves into the net and when I was hitting them over the net, they were missing by a long way, just wasn't much consistency.

MICHAEL TEBBUTT: Yeah, obviously they are able to focus more. They have done it before. The hardest thing for me was playing on the Center Court and trying to not think about other things and to focus on what I was doing and it is hard, especially with all that noise going on. For seven matches, it is tough, yeah, to be able to stay up for seven matches - not many people do it. I mean, tells you how tough it is.

MICHAEL TEBBUTT: He serves a lot better. I mean, his serve is definitely a lot better. I don't know, other than that-- I mean, I am sure he has improved in most areas. I mean, I have noticed two years that I have been doing it or two and a half that everyone has gotten so much better and the level has gone up. So, he has improved all his shots and he volleys a little better, but the most noticeable thing is his serve.

MICHAEL TEBBUTT: No, I mean, I really -- coming in, I thought I could win. I really did. And I just didn't have it today. I have got -- my game relies on my serve and I just didn't serve well. I just didn't -- I don't know what the statistics were, but my percentage, I am sure, was down from the rest of the tournament and my doublefaults was just a joke, way up - I don't know how many. In the previous matches on my second serve I just went up there and stepped ahead; no doubt it was going in and I hit it, but I don't know if it was the nervousness of playing such a big match, but I was pulling off of my second serve and missing a lot.

MICHAEL TEBBUTT: Well, yeah, I am sure, a few more inches wouldn't hurt. He probably wouldn't have the speed if he was, you know, say my height. That is pretty obvious, but, yeah, definitely, I don't know exactly how tall he is, but, you know, the serve is such a big thing in tennis today, and that is the thing that is going to hurt him the most because of his height is his serve, but he has improved a bit. It is still not the same as a lot of the other top players.

MICHAEL TEBBUTT: Yeah, probably I would say it couldn't hurt and I don't know what it would take for him to be No. 1 because Agassi, I mean, he is not short, but he is not like most of the other players. And it hasn't stopped him. He doesn't have Agassi's groundstrokes, but -- you know, he would need, I think, better groundstrokes. But I am sure it is -- had to have stopped him from you know, maybe winning a Grand Slam here or there.