NEWSWEEK CHAMPIONS CUP

March 14, 1997

Mark Philippoussis

MARK PHILIPPOUSSIS: All right then.

MARK PHILIPPOUSSIS: I'm not sure. I think Muster played well today. I think he served well. His groundstrokes were extremely heavy today, I think.

MARK PHILIPPOUSSIS: I'm a little bit disappointed. You know, I had my chances. Sort of felt like I got the rhythm of the play a bit more in the second set, had a chance in the tiebreak to take it to a third. If that happened, who know what could happen in a third set. I'm disappointed. But, you know, it's been a good two weeks. Hopefully just recover, looking forward to a good tournament next week.

MARK PHILIPPOUSSIS: Maybe I did start a bit slow. He looked like he was pretty pumped as soon as he got in there. To tell the truth, I felt pretty good out there. I felt I was really ready to go to a third set. I felt pretty good physically, mentally, too. One or two points here and there.

MARK PHILIPPOUSSIS: Well, it just means that you're going to -- obviously he's not going to give you any free points; you're to have to work for every point. I mean, I was rallying pretty good. He kept the ball so deep, with so much spin, it was hard to come in or try anything. Instead of when I was serving, I could serve and volley, do stuff like that. When he was serving, I mean, using his groundstrokes really good today.

MARK PHILIPPOUSSIS: I mean, because of his groundstrokes, he moves the ball around so well, he uses the whole court, angle, then deep, cross-court, down the line. I mean, he moves the ball so well, you know. People say that he's obviously one of the best claycourters. But, gee, looks like he plays pretty good on hardcourt as well, you know.

MARK PHILIPPOUSSIS: I think that's very wrong. I mean, the guy won German indoors last year.

MARK PHILIPPOUSSIS: '95. Everyone was there. Pete was there, Goran was there. He won the indoors. What do you want to say to him? I think -- I don't know, if he lost in the final of Queen's last year.

MARK PHILIPPOUSSIS: The guy can play. Doesn't matter what surface he's on. Extremely tough no matter where he plays.

MARK PHILIPPOUSSIS: Sure. It will help a lot for my confidence. But now playing solid tennis, too. I mean, I'm expecting a lot from myself every week, week in and week out. Besides like last year, I played a great week or two weeks, then did nothing for three or four weeks, then had another good week. I don't feel like I'm that kind of person anymore. I'm expecting to play good tennis week in and week out. There's no reason why, you know, I can't do that.

MARK PHILIPPOUSSIS: Well, I mean, I'm feeling pretty confident with an all-around game. Maybe today I was a bit -- went for too much sometimes. I felt like I rallied out there, you know, pretty good. The ones that I missed, I didn't go for anything ridiculous, I just missed them long. I mean, I feel like I'm hitting my groundstrokes good, feel like I volleyed okay. Maybe I could have served a bit better. I pretty much worked on my mental side more than anything.