THE LIPTON CHAMPIONSHIPS

March 18, 1995

Derrick Rostagno

Q. What did this internship entail?

DERRICK ROSTAGNO: Just a lot of different things.

Q. Could you tell us about this internship?

DERRICK ROSTAGNO: I did all sorts of random things. I learned a lot. Exposed to a lot of things. That is about it. So I stayed at school at U.C.L.A. for a while I was rehabbing my arm. Just -- I don't know, it was really interesting.

Q. What were the three of the most interesting things that you did?

DERRICK ROSTAGNO: Some meetings that I would go to and I don't know, it is all long behind me.

Q. What did you learn about --

DERRICK ROSTAGNO: Just kind of the way of life of working behind a desk as opposed to working on the tennis court. Always having meetings and having everybody watching the mayor trying to run the city of L.A. - really interesting; a lot of good things. Never saw that side of the world.

Q. Can you hardly wait to get back to it?

DERRICK ROSTAGNO: Well, to put it that way makes it difficult, but I think it could be a lot of fun. I think there are a lot of things out there that await me in the future.

Q. Are you completely healed now?

DERRICK ROSTAGNO: Yeah, feels really good; feels strong. But while I am young, I will play some tennis. I enjoy it here. Eventually I can do other things.

Q. Have you been playing a lot lately?

DERRICK ROSTAGNO: A lot lately, for three months full-time. Maybe three and a half months now. Before that, I took a few months. I just tried to get physically fit before hitting the ball. It feels altogether pretty good right now.

Q. What were you doing in school at U.C.L.A. and subsequently at Stanford?

DERRICK ROSTAGNO: I stayed at U.C.L.A. because of the opportunity of having to work at the mayor's office.

Q. What were you studying?

DERRICK ROSTAGNO: Economics is my major, so I am still getting my first degree.

Q. How far did you get?

DERRICK ROSTAGNO: One full year; then three months at Stanford; then hit the road now.

Q. How far short of you --

DERRICK ROSTAGNO: I have one academic year left. Three-quarters.

Q. Other than that, the fact that economics is your major, what specifically were you studying?

DERRICK ROSTAGNO: Did all sorts of things, physics, design class; spent all the weekends painting pictures, making little architectural things. It was pretty fun. I felt like I was in kindergarten, in a sense; took some creative writing courses which were a lot of fun; not to mention the economics, all the numbers, graphs and things.

Q. What are you best at?

DERRICK ROSTAGNO: Nothing.

Q. I heard about your scores --

DERRICK ROSTAGNO: First I had my doubts how academically sound I would be. I made a good effort the first quarter and luckily it was rewarded, but I don't know, yeah, it went well for me. I had a lot of fun without having to spend much time -- when I was at college last time, I was playing on the team and practicing, that kind of thing, travel, so I couldn't give enough time really to the academics which I always wanted to give time to. This time, when I was purely academics and I spent an hour a day rehabbing and I could sleep less because I didn't have to be physically fit, all that sort of thing. It was really a lot of fun; different life altogether.

Q. Did you have any worries about coming back on the Tour or being off the Tour for so long?

DERRICK ROSTAGNO: Not really. Actually came around a lot quicker than I thought it would. First week it was better than I expected. The second week, it was a lot worse than expected. I figured it would -- learning curve would be like that. (indicating moving upward.) (cont'g) It had some hitches in it. Overall, I feel really good now. I feel ready to play some good tennis any time soon. I have had a couple of great days already, so I guess I need matches now.

Q. The potential match tomorrow?

JOE LYNCH: Pete, probably tomorrow.

DERRICK ROSTAGNO: Tomorrow or the next day?

JOE LYNCH: Yeah, it will be tomorrow.

Q. We got news for you; that is why we are here Derrick, because it is tomorrow.

DERRICK ROSTAGNO: It is tomorrow. Great.

Q. It looks --

DERRICK ROSTAGNO: That is good because I can't wait anyway. That is perfect.

Q. What about him -- have you seen him play lately?

DERRICK ROSTAGNO: Yeah, I did see. I glanced at the match Pete versus Agassi last week, I guess, in the final. He looks as beatable as ever. (moving eyes upward, kiddingly.)

Q. Can you just explain a little bit about the ranking? Were you right up against the deadline about to drop off the computer if you didn't play here?

DERRICK ROSTAGNO: I am long off the computer. I haven't played a tournament in a year and a half.

Q. Didn't you have a protective --

DERRICK ROSTAGNO: Because of injury, they average the first six months after the last tournament I play; I get to use that ranking for six tournaments over a six month period of time, so, beginning roughly this week --

JOE LYNCH: He could start that after six months or a year or two years or until you are on Social Security.

Q. There wasn't a deadline?

DERRICK ROSTAGNO: Right. I just had to petition the ATP. They had to accept all the medical excuses; all sorts of things, and so I will be playing here, Tokyo, French Open, U.S. Open, Wimbledon, and any wildcards I might get, so-- "wildcards! Wildcards!"

Q. Did you actually have surgery?

DERRICK ROSTAGNO: No, I didn't. I avoided it. I had it scheduled two weeks before I was going to do it and Johan Carlsson stayed at my house to play the L.A. event; he told me not to get the surgery yet; to try one more thing; had a lot of stretching and lifting and, you know, just working it, essentially, and it really helped that. I got the white (sic) machine, the electrical stimulation, all sorts of stuff. And the rest really worked. It feels really good right now.

Q. How do you approach Sampras; same way you would have approached him before? Is it just like you will see what happens; you don't expect to touch him? How do you go into it?

DERRICK ROSTAGNO: Well, I don't know. I don't know. I can't really answer that. I guess I will have to think about that in the next 20 hours or so. How much time do I have?

Q. I will hold my story until then.

JOE LYNCH: 21 and a half.

DERRICK ROSTAGNO: So I will think about that one and answer you after I play the match.

Q. That is fair enough. Where is your official residence these days and any new vans that we need to know about?

DERRICK ROSTAGNO: Still in L.A.

Q. What about the east coast van?

DERRICK ROSTAGNO: East coast van, Mike Conroy is driving it around. It is somewhere in Charlotte right now. They are both running well - having fun; camping; out all the time. Let us see - no, I was in L.A. for a year; then I moved up -- I was three months in Northern Cal; moved out of there and now I am kind of trying to decide where I want to locate. I am not minding being on the road at the moment. It is a pleasant change after a year and a half of living in one place. Although, I must say, I enjoyed living in one place. It was a lot of fun. I had never really had that. I mean, it has been a long time since I was at college before.

End of FastScripts....