ATP TOUR WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP

November 11, 1997

Thomas Muster

THOMAS MUSTER: No, I'm not sad. One has to be the No. 9, and that's me. I do not hope that I will have to play, but that all the players can play their best tennis here. In the end, it was my own fault. I would have had to win the match, for example, in Stockholm. You should never rely on the others. I didn't do it myself. It's justified. The points which I did not make over the summer, I cannot make all of them in the last moments. No, it's not bitter for me. I have to stay here till Friday. I hope that nobody gets hurt. I hope that all who have qualified will do their best. I'm quite relaxed. I will watch tennis this week and will eat at my friend's Do & Co.

I cannot compare Hannover 1996 to Hannover 1997 since I just arrived one hour ago and came straight here. Tennis is a very competitive profession. Everybody who is a pro had a dream when he started as a junior. It is surely one of the jobs in which you can fulfill your dreams. And from an economic standpoint, it is also okay. The worst with this job is traveling and the hotels. Every week, you are in another place, and then the time change, it is physically tiring. I don't know when Boris is leaving tennis, but when he leaves, it will mean that we will lose a great champion, but that is reality. New players will come up. Becker will be one of the players like Borg and Connors. He will never be forgotten.

That's reality. In general, I think that the change to a slower court, with a higher bounce, is better. The spectators are going to see a lot of tennis and longer rallies. I have fought for this for a very long time. It's only positive for the spectators. I still think that Sampras is the favorite, but Chang's tennis is not to be underestimated on this court. Everybody has a chance to win. For Boris' 30th birthday, Dear Boris, as you can hear, I don't even have a voice since you're turning 30 now. Even if we had some disagreements in the past years, I have something ahead of you, which is the 30th birthday. I wish you all the best for yourself and your family. I hope that you will still be a part of us in tennis for quite some time. All the best.

I thank you for all your support in the past years in tennis. You have always been a fighter and have always supported tennis. No, I have not thought of retiring. At the moment I'm feeling fine. I hope that next year I'm going to be better on clay. I have made my hobby a profession. I like to play tennis. I like the challenges to play matches. Then it is also an economic factor. All those components together motivate me. Even if I would not play tennis as a pro, I would do something else in sports. Other people sit in the office; they don't have daylight; they smoke and drink coffee all day. Maybe they do that for 40 years. I've been playing tennis for 14 years now. In the end, I might have less injuries than they will have.

Everybody has to motivate themselves in order to be competitive. Even if you are in a management career, you can try and keep your contacts. But family? If you work 18 hours a day? These are jobs which are very extreme. They always bring problems with them. Everybody has to work hard. Even Pete Sampras, who maybe has more talent than average, has to work on his game as all the others. The new generation is okay. They have access to the media. They take a step towards the spectators. They are not just players who think the people have to be happy that they can watch them play tennis; they give a part of their personality. There are players here who are attending the Championship for the first time and who have a lot of charisma and have started on the right track.

We will see a week of very good tennis. I have fought for this surface for a long time. Now it's the others who have the advantage of it, but that's okay. We will see a lot of rallies, and I hope that I will be part of it next year. Overall, my season has been okay. I finished No. 9. Every year it's one of the aims to be part of this event. I have been No. 9 here -- I have always been No. 9 here, so I have gone through this already. If so much money is invested into such an event, it is completely irrelevant if you invest $100,000, $200,000 or 300,000 Deutschmarks for such a court.

I know in the end, everyone wants to earn good money. But the most important thing here is the court and the conditions for the players. Everything else must be secondary. And if it adds to that, you can see good tennis, that there are longer rallies, and even a Michael Chang and Sergi Bruguera have a chance to win, it is okay. It's better than seeing a thousand aces and only two or three players having a chance to win.

There is a strong discussion at the moment, but I don't think that tennis is in a crisis, as is always said. I think with slight modifications in this sport, we can achieve a lot. I think that the changes will be put into reality with the ATP Tour 2000. Until then, there is a lot of time. Maybe the format will be changed. I think that the World Championship should be given to a place for several years in a row instead of changing every year. It doesn't matter where it takes place. It could be Asia, New York, Paris or Vienna. I think the tennis market in Europe is one of the leading markets. I don't have any plans how long I will still play. My hotel is fine. Everything works. Hannover is not that bad. It is little, but a fine town. Due to the surface, I would say that there are six players who have a chance to win here.