U.S. OPEN

September 1, 1995

Mark Philippoussis

MARK PHILIPPOUSSIS: You know, it is my first time in playing the U.S. Open. I played qualies last year. First time I am in the main draw. Just I -- just love being out there, the feeling, the crowd cheering, and it is just a great atmosphere compared to the other Grand Slams, I think.

MARK PHILIPPOUSSIS: I am from Australia Melbourne. I do have a lot of people there behind me, but, you know, people here are very fair. They respond just as good with a good shot of mine as if an American hits a good shot. The crowd has been really good.

MARK PHILIPPOUSSIS: U.N. Plaza.

MARK PHILIPPOUSSIS: Just as soon as you walk out there, you can -- the people are everywhere; rushing here, rushing there, can't hardly get through to get to your practice court. And, you know, airplanes aren't coming over like they did last year, but they are still pretty noisy.

MARK PHILIPPOUSSIS: No, I enjoy it. It doesn't worry me.

MARK PHILIPPOUSSIS: I am very pleased the way I have been playing. Most important thing is that I haven't lost a service game, and that is what I like. If I am holding my serve easy, then I am naturally going to get into -- my returning can be better. I am not going to have as much pressure on me because I am holding so easily and I can try different things on his serve, that is really good.

MARK PHILIPPOUSSIS: I saw my draw. I saw that Sampras was third round. My goal for this was try to get to the third round and play him. And for me, the reason playing is to play guys like that, just to see how you do and just to -- point out to myself -- to prove something to myself that I am capable of playing people like him. I am just happy. I hope he wins for me to play him. I will give it my best shot and see what happens.

MARK PHILIPPOUSSIS: No.

MARK PHILIPPOUSSIS: Probably would have been Chang.

MARK PHILIPPOUSSIS: Well, no, because in myself, I do believe that if I play well, it doesn't matter who I play. If I play well, then I think I am capable of beating the top players. You know, it is just a different thing if I play someone like that, I just get to a different level myself, and I enjoy it much more being out there playing against someone like that who is on the other side. Like I said, there is no pressure on me. Maybe a bit more on him.

MARK PHILIPPOUSSIS: Well, I haven't been to Australia for a while. I mean, Sampras -- Melbourne is like the second greatest in Greek population in the world besides Athens and having the Greek background, he is pretty huge; a lot of great fans come over to watch him. He is pretty big, but then again, Agassi, all the girls know him pretty well.

MARK PHILIPPOUSSIS: You know, I can't say why they haven't. That is hard to say because, you know, we have had some good players. Pat Cash was a great player; unfortunately, he tore his Achilles and tried to make a comeback, but I think it is too late. He was a great player; definitely probably one of the best on grass you will see since Laver and, you know, all those, Roche and Newcombe. You know, we have got Patrick Rafter. He is doing well at the moment. He has gone down the rankings, but he is moving up again and if he plays well, then he is very hard to beat. Definitely one of the top players on his day, you know, like Jason Stoltenberg, he had a great summer last year, a lot of pressure on him to come back and have another good summer like that, but his ranking has dropped, but he beat Krickstein five sets which was-- he was very happy to beat a player like that. All it is is confidence with the Australia players, I think. Just having a good win and naturally will roll on to the next round.

MARK PHILIPPOUSSIS: Yeah, the good thing is about Australians, we are pretty much very close between -- we are very close on and off the court too. We do a lot of things off the court. Guys like that, like Laver, do get pretty close even with the older guys. They give a lot of tips and even hit with them; get on the court and work out with them; do drills with them; just go out and hit with them. Everything is very close.

MARK PHILIPPOUSSIS: Growing up it would be Boris Becker. Just he has big power game, serve and volley, staying back, and, you know,, but, you know, seeing Sampras come along and his background just his game, the way he plays, I admire him too.

MARK PHILIPPOUSSIS: I do think about that. At the start of the year, this being my first full year on the Tour, at the start of the year just trying to get confidence, that is the most important thing and all of a sudden, you know, I was losing first rounds in qualies in a lot of tournaments then I qualied and made the final in Scottsdale and, you know, after a tournament like that, everything just started rolling. I think would have started -- playing Edberg at the Australian Open first round, that gave me a lot of confidence and a bit of experience too playing on that Center Court in front of the crowd and a great champion against Stefan. At the start, I thought it was just about experience, but as I get on now, I think I got a bit of experience behind me; not as much as the other players, but I am really trying to win some matches and give it my best in the tournaments.

MARK PHILIPPOUSSIS: 18.

MARK PHILIPPOUSSIS: Well, you definitely take an example like that. I mean, he won the U.S. Open when he was 19. Becker won Wimbledon when he was 17. Chang won the French when he was 17. All those guys, just the champions made it from 17 and I mean, those guys, you know, are maybe one in a million, someone is going to win a Grand Slam from that age, you know, that just shows that they are going to become champions and they are still up there now, but, you know, it is hard to say, you know, like I said, I'd like to think that I do have a good game on my day, but, you know, I wasn't too sure. I didn't watch -- I wasn't really that much interested.

MARK PHILIPPOUSSIS: I started from the U.S. Open, Nick Bollettieri. My dad has all been with me travelling and Tony Roche and John Newcombe are with me. They have always had something to do with me and still now even though I have Nick with me, always like to go to Tony and John and get advice from them.

MARK PHILIPPOUSSIS: This U.S. Open. I have always -- we always kept in touch, but Nick told me nothing could be done now that I am with Boris. Now he stopped with Boris; he has got more time.