RCA TENNIS CHAMPIONSHIPS

August 13, 1996

Don Johnson

DON JOHNSON: I played Pete, Kalamazoo when he was 16 and I was 18 and there was a different result in that match. But then again he was two years younger.

DON JOHNSON: For me, I don't get to play at night very much. I don't get to get to play in front of crowds like that, tell you the truth. I just had a great time out there tonight and I wish I could do it more in the future.

DON JOHNSON: Could be. I played several doubles finals and, but I don't know, three, four thousand might be the most I have ever played.

DON JOHNSON: Well, tell you the truth, I have been playing really terrible singles up until about four days ago, so it is a joy for me to go out there and actually see my first serve has been coming in. I have been in North Carolina, Head coach at the University of North Carolina Sam Paul (ph). He has been helping me with my serve. It is nice to see it turn around and come out tonight, come out yesterday, and day before.

DON JOHNSON: Of course I had nothing to lose. I had everything to gain and it was a great opportunity for me and like Sandy (HARWITT) said today at the courts, she didn't give me much praise, but I came out there and just gave everything I had.

DON JOHNSON: Not necessarily. I have been playing all summer on clay courts and it is a different style of tennis, when you serve, your first serve tends to come back more than you like to see it come back and when you play on a hard court, if you hit a good serve, you can feel confident that you will get a chance to either knock an easy volley off or it would be a service winner.

DON JOHNSON: You mean the Sandy article.

DON JOHNSON: I got a good kick out of it. It was a good little piece and I actually took it around and showed it to about ten guys, players because we never get things like that or -- and they don't really mix those things up and read them because those are more for the fans and Sandy did a good job of making that fan-friendly and she struck a little nerve in me to get me pumped up for tonight. So I have to thank her for that.

SANDY HARWITT: You're welcome.

DON JOHNSON: Oh, hi, Sandy. I will talk to you later.

SANDY HARWITT: Oh, okay.

DON JOHNSON: Sure. It is a great opportunity. I talk to Chris Woodruff the other day, it is not every day that you get to go out and face the No. 1 in the world and see how you stack up and those were his words and that is the way I looked at it.

DON JOHNSON: No, this would be the first time.

DON JOHNSON: I won one round in the French Open two years ago.

DON JOHNSON: No. Probably French Open two years ago; it is tough to -- too bad there is only four tournaments a year, Grand Slam-wise - those are nice tournaments.

DON JOHNSON: Pete does?

DON JOHNSON: It is a great weapon. I saw it go by me, one too many times tonight.

DON JOHNSON: Yeah, I think Pete has a tough time maybe playing against lefthanders, because it is easier to get the ball to his backhand. He had a tough time last week against Woodforde and I knew that if I came out and served well, that I would have plenty of chances to hold serve and I knew he was going to have plenty of chances to hold serve. I don't know how many points I won on his serve, but I do not think it was too many. I won three points on his first serve.

DON JOHNSON: Well, I have been told that my second serve -- I have been told that in the past that my second serve is pretty good and I knew when I played Pete that I'd much rather get first serves in because you are playing the No. 1 guy in the world; you don't want to give him too many chances at cracking at your second serve. And second serves, you know, I just kind of went for a couple and got a little confidence early on. I think that helped me out.

DON JOHNSON: I volleyed pretty well. I don't think I made too many mistakes. I put a lot pressure on him with my first volley; kept him off balance. It was nice to see that Pete didn't make one running forehand tonight, which was really nice, so I guess I hit some good volleys to his forehand side.