US OPEN

August 26, 1997

Justin Gimelstob

Q. How much family have you got here today?

JUSTIN GIMELSTOB: Not too much family. I mean, my mom and dad, my brother. Not too much family. But just friends, friends of friends, just kids I went to high school with, a few I went to college with. So a lot. This is as close as I ever get to play at home. A lot of people follow me. It's an opportunity for them to come watch. It works out well for all involved.

JUSTIN GIMELSTOB: How many did I get? How many do they allot me?

JUSTIN GIMELSTOB: Procure, that's a very good word. Procured, how do you say it?

JUSTIN GIMELSTOB: That wasn't one of the words on my list. I procured probably about the high 20s, mid 20s.

JUSTIN GIMELSTOB: Just a lot of favors. I mean, I worked up to a lot of favors. I don't think I had to dish out too much cash today. Some people did me favors. Early on in the tournament, a lot of guys don't play. I'm so unbelievably friendly, it's tough to say no.

JUSTIN GIMELSTOB: No, I didn't. At UCLA how was it? Great, in front of my family, friends and all the girls at UCLA that dogged me there. And they still dog me. No, I do all right. My ability to be social and my personality far outweigh my looks.

JUSTIN GIMELSTOB: No.

JUSTIN GIMELSTOB: I think we play doubles tomorrow. That didn't really dawn on us.

JUSTIN GIMELSTOB: I mean, it was a good feeling. They definitely give you energy when you're tired, they give you a little bit more speed. They give you a little more energy. They stick with you. The support really helps. I mean, the support really helps, to have that many people behind you. You just kind of feed off it.

JUSTIN GIMELSTOB: Well, I mean, I had a good lob to break at 7-6, 6-5. Then I didn't play that bad of a game. He had a couple good shots. Probably a little down in the beginning of the tiebreaker. He got ahead of me. Never really caught up. He just wasn't missing any first serves for a while until the beginning to the middle part of the third. I think he got tired, started missing a lot of first serves. For two sets, two sets in the beginning of the third; he just didn't miss any first serves. I'd love to see his statistics in the beginning, first serve, how it trailed off. I think that was the biggest thing.

JUSTIN GIMELSTOB: You were out there. You tell me.

JUSTIN GIMELSTOB: Oh, yeah, you could hear them. Sometimes it all kind of blends together. You don't hear individuals. They're very loud and boisterous. That's why this tournament is an advantage to me. If the crowd is very supportive of me. If I played in Canada, it would be very supportive of Danny. If I played in Brazil, you play Kuerten, or those guys in Brazil, they're going to be going nuts. It's actually something I don't think America does enough. I mean, they do it for me here because it's my hometown. But you go out to any court, you go watch Joyce he is Escude on stadium court, and there is no way they're going nuts out there for Joyce. I think they should be. Not to the point where it's disrespectful, but they should be going pretty favorably for Joyce. If Joyce played Escude in France, they'd be going for Escude. It happens to me that I get the advantage because I'm really local. I should be able to play in San Antonio, Texas, play a European and have strong fan support. We don't.

JUSTIN GIMELSTOB: Yeah. I just think you should support your team. People really get involved. It's kind of like they live vicariously through your accomplishments. It's like, you know, when the New York Mets won the '86 World Series, even though I was ten years old, I was the happiest guy ever.

JUSTIN GIMELSTOB: No. I was watching at home. When the Giants won the Super Bowl, you know, I was watching the game with the San Francisco 49er fans. Semifinals, NFC Championship game, I almost got in a fistfight we were so much into it. That's the way I am. That's the way you should be with sports. It's an attachment emotionally. You should be attached to your team, your player, your country, that kind of thing.

JUSTIN GIMELSTOB: I know that's a rhetorical question. Sure. That's the classic. In college, a lot of times in college, that's where you really see it. When UCLA plays SC, it's brutal. You're called the ugliest, stupidest, slowest, funniest looking, clothes wearing, gangly. You name it, I was called it with the worst language. You grow immune to it. You enjoy when it's for you kind of thing.

JUSTIN GIMELSTOB: Yeah. As I've said before, yeah, there's definitely pressure for me to do well. There aren't that many young guys. Also, you know, in sports, in anything, anything you're trying to be great at, better than the norm, exceptional at, you're going to experience pressure. There's nothing that's hard, the rewards are great, that isn't going to be tough, or everyone would do it. Everyone would love to be a professional tennis player. That's why it's difficult and there's pressure and there's expectations. I have to learn to deal with that stuff. When you learn to deal with it, you become a better player. So there's always going to be pressure; always going to be expectations. I think it's a great experience for me to have this at this young of an age. The more you're thrown into that situation, the easier it is to deal with that.

JUSTIN GIMELSTOB: There's no new what?

JUSTIN GIMELSTOB: I think it's premature. I've said that all along. Doesn't seem to be the numbers like there were. We're writing these guys off like they're done with tennis. We still have the No. 1 player in the world. They're going to be playing for years more, hopefully, God willing. It's going to give us time to develop and match them. We'll just be doing well. It's just going to give us time to keep improving. I wouldn't be surprised if people develop and improve and -- I just think it's premature.

JUSTIN GIMELSTOB: No. I mean, I have guys -- there aren't that many guys my age. I find other people to be competitive with, you know. I'm just competitive. Age doesn't really play into it. You have great players internationally, great American guys. You know, I always shoot high. I'll be competitive with guys that are ranked much higher than me, like try and look for Woodruff or Courier, Sampras, any of those guys. There's so much room to shoot for, so many people -- so much room to improve until you hit the ceiling. You know, I just keep pushing myself. Doesn't really matter if the kid is my age or what.

JUSTIN GIMELSTOB: Yeah. I think that's part of the experience factor that I have to deal with wins and recover, deal with losses and recover, back-to-back weeks together, physically be strong enough to put matches together. That's all part of it.

JUSTIN GIMELSTOB: I'm serving better; I'm moving better; I'm getting more experience.

JUSTIN GIMELSTOB: Not as tangibly as Becker with Kiefer and that group. They've been helpful in their own way. I mean, I'm very friendly with Jim Courier, I practice with him all the time. We live close to each other in Florida. Todd Martin has always been nothing but a gentleman and a great role model. Even Pete has been supportive. All those guys have been supportive, maybe not quite in the manner that Becker has with Kiefer, really taking him under his wing. But they've been supportive in their own way.

JUSTIN GIMELSTOB: Sure. Sure.

JUSTIN GIMELSTOB: I mean, it's nice. It would be nice. It would be nice for one of those guys to really take an extended interest. But this is an individualistic sport; this is a very individual sport. That's why we have coaches. That's why you don't rely and depend on other people. You become self -- you rely on yourself and your core group of friends to support you. That's how you get better. You can't depend or rely on other people.

JUSTIN GIMELSTOB: SC is a greater rival. In my years, Stanford had a better program. When we played Stanford, it was serious, you know, intensity. It was great. It prepared me for other situations where you want to win really badly, there are things against you. You know, it's been good.

JUSTIN GIMELSTOB: Oh, sure. I mean, we were always battling for the top spot. You know, it was great. It was great to play such -- as I said, it's why college was a great experience for me, to play that many matches in those kinds of circumstances. There was a different pressure than playing out here for money and points. It's the pressure of, you know, not wanting to look bad in front of your girlfriend or having the fraternity brothers, your fraternity friends come down and watch you play, they think you should never lose, or the pressure of not wanting to let your teammates down, something you very rarely experience in tennis. Different kind of pressure, good experience.

JUSTIN GIMELSTOB: Well, it's tough to say. When you beat one of the best players of all time, it's different, that's the kind of win it was. When you beat one of the best players of all time in a big arena at home, I mean, one of my homes, I got a lot of times, at night in a big circumstance, that's something you build on. I don't know that you could really compare it to other situations.

JUSTIN GIMELSTOB: Yeah. I mean, Andre is wearing a pink shirt. Yeah, I dream. I always dream. You dream for the pinnacle. That's what I dream about, trying to play well, feel great out there, win tournaments, play in great arenas, big circumstances. That's what you dream about.

JUSTIN GIMELSTOB: My greatest dream is winning the US Open, yeah, because in front of all my friends and family. My greatest dream has always been to win here. I've been coming here since I was eight years old. I was saying to my friend the other day how bizarre it was. We would come here when we were so young. We'd be trying to sneak in. I see kids trying to sneak in here and get close to the players. It's like, okay, I don't have to do that now. I'm on the other side of it.

JUSTIN GIMELSTOB: My little brother and I used to buy and sell, scalp tickets out there when we were young, just to mess around. Me and my friends, if we were short tickets, one would go in and get stamped, run out, rub the stamp on, look, we were in. Try to get us in. Just great memories of the I remember seeing Brad Gilbert come back from two sets to love down and beat Becker on the grandstand. I was down there going nuts rooting for Gilbert. Now I practice with Gilbert and those guys. I remember getting out of school, first day of grade school, Lendl played Wilander in the Finals. I remember going to the Finals. So many memories here.

JUSTIN GIMELSTOB: No. This is great. The changes they've done are phenomenal. I was practicing with Krajicek the other day, walking out, we were astounded how from the facilities went from the worst to the best in one year. I don't know if that's true or not, but it's pretty darn close.

JUSTIN GIMELSTOB: No. Inflation and everything. Who knows. But I was always trying to turn a profit.

JUSTIN GIMELSTOB: Brad and I never discussed techniques. Sure, it worked sometimes. We were pretty creative young fellows.

JUSTIN GIMELSTOB: It's not about the money. It's it was never about the money. I don't play tennis for the money. It's a different topic. We didn't sell for the money. We sold it for the rush, to try and turn a profit, trying to do something that wasn't allowed.

JUSTIN GIMELSTOB: Yeah. I don't play tennis really for anything other than a feeling of being out there and competing, trying to overcome your emotions, trying to play as well as you can. The other stuff is great. I mean, to be famous or try and be famous, try and make money, just travel and all that stuff is great. It doesn't compare to the rush of competing.