THE LIPTON CHAMPIONSHIPS

March 23, 1996

Bernd Karbacher

BERND KARBACHER: I wasn't shocked. He played several very, very good points in the tiebreaker especially. I mean, I know that he has a great return, and I think if you want to beat a top player, you have to make the first serve. At that time, I didn't. He was at 6-4, 5-4. He was guessing that I'm hitting the second serve on his backhand. He was running around, hit a perfect shot. If you have 6-4, you know you have your own serve, then you can go for the next shot. That's what he did. He's one of the best return players in the world, so you know that.

BERND KARBACHER: No.

BERND KARBACHER: I would have won.

BERND KARBACHER: I thought the second set was not normal for Andre because he had, I think, from 2-1, I made the next 12 points -- from the next 15 points, I made 12, so he had a lack of concentration. I knew the third set would be much harder to win it. That's what it was. He was a break up. I came back. He played well. He played much better in the third set than he played in the second set.

BERND KARBACHER: It doesn't help you if you play a good match, but you lose. The fact is that I was, last year, in the fourth round and I'm losing points. That's a fact. I think in one week nobody cares whether Agassi is going to win the tournament. Nobody cares if I play a good match against him in the second round.

BERND KARBACHER: That was the third time.

BERND KARBACHER: I think he's not as good as he was last year at that time. Last year there was only one player in the world who could beat him on hard court, on hard court. I think it's just a question of the confidence against the top players maybe, that he's -- when you win so many matches, like the Australian, further on, further on, you make the big points. He just didn't make it this year. He lost a couple of close matches, so he's not as confident as last year. I think that's just it. He's playing, the shots are the same.

BERND KARBACHER: What?

BERND KARBACHER: I think you could see it in the second set. There was a lack of concentration. Usually if he wins the first set, or last year he was 6-4 and he started off and played like the first two or three games perfect tennis, then the match was almost over not maybe for Pete or for Chang, but for the other guys. This match he had like two really bad games for him. You could see that, I think, just a bit. You couldn't see it in the tiebreaker.

BERND KARBACHER: I don't know. That's not my -- I think I played good tennis at the moment. I played good today, I played good two days ago or yesterday. Was it yesterday?

BERND KARBACHER: I think I'm in pretty good form. I think it helps, but maybe it depends if Boris is playing Davis Cup. Nobody knows at the moment. It's just a question of Nikki has to nominate the team, and that's it.

GREG SHARKO: Any more questions for Bernd? All right. Can we get questions in German?