NEWSWEEK CHAMPIONS CUP

March 15, 1997

Thomas Muster

THOMAS MUSTER: It was probably the worst tiebreak I've played in a long time. I made like six unforced errors. Can't expect to win a breaker like this. All the match, sort of went through like this. I sort of came close, I had a breakpoint, I went down again. I never really was ahead of him, could get on top of him. Maybe if there would have been a third set or something. That's all theoretic. The fact is that I didn't move that well. Michael played more inside the court than I did. He played very well in the first set. I just didn't move my legs as I used to. I gave him just too many chances to place his balls, to set up his game.

THOMAS MUSTER: No, not really. I just didn't move that well. I didn't feel the ball as I did in the past days. I guess I framed too many balls today. That's because of bad footwork. That's the reason for not playing so well. I almost had a chance. Always just come to the edge, I went down again. The tiebreak showed just that I was unable to play, concentrate for a certain period of time, to take my chances.

THOMAS MUSTER: No, that wasn't. Michael is a good player. He always played well here. Win many, many matches. I don't even know what is the head-to-head standings. Did you do your homework?

THOMAS MUSTER: 5-2. So it's just one of the these days I didn't play that well. Michael obviously has to play well because he has to defend his points. He was really hot playing today. I didn't move my legs as good as I could. That was the reason. It's not pressure really. Being in the semifinals here is not a bad result for me. I'm just looking forward to the next tournament.

THOMAS MUSTER: Well, but then I had my chances in the second. One set is one set. Many times somebody comes out and plays a good set. That doesn't worry me. I broke back and had a good period going even up 5-3, had two breakpoints, going ahead 5-3. We would be still out there playing probably. As I said, that's all theoretic. The fact is that Michael played a good match today and I didn't play as well as I can. That's it. I said before the match I have to play good tennis to win. If I don't, he's going to take his chances. That happens. There's not so much space (indicating).

THOMAS MUSTER: Not really. There was a chance there to come back, but I should have played well earlier, then maybe I would have never been down. The problem just starts exactly at the beginning of the match when, as I said, Michael played inside and I played too much back, back court. I wasn't aggressive enough for my footwork. I timed the balls badly. It reflected in the tiebreaker in the.

THOMAS MUSTER: Linesman didn't see the ball. He was waiting for the linesman's call. The chair umpire looked at the linesman. He was sort of -- showed him he couldn't see (indicating). Then he made his call. That happens. I think there were bad calls on both sides. It doesn't change much in the match, I would say.

THOMAS MUSTER: One more tournament. I'd like to play well at the Lipton. Since '89 I really have struggled there. I would like to go and play well there again, before I go back and get dirty socks again.

THOMAS MUSTER: That's definitely true.

THOMAS MUSTER: I haven't decided on Estoril. It's going to be Barcelona, Monte-Carlo, Hamburg, Rome, then St. Polten before the French, French Open.

THOMAS MUSTER: I'll go and practice my golf swing (laughter). I go and practice, but there's still some time now. I will go and work a little bit on my physical shape again. I'm looking forward to going on clay with Davis Cup on clay, get my endurance going. It will be a little bit of practice, I would say, but more in physical terms than technical terms on court.

THOMAS MUSTER: California changed basically all the claycourt tournaments into hardcourt, if you look back. They wanted to have it started with straight mountain, I think Stratton Mountain, they went to playing hardcourt. Was the tournament before on clay? There was a tournament before they moved it to Stratton Mountain. I can't remember. Doesn't matter. I think California really started the hardcourt battle against clay when they wanted to have Connors and McEnroe playing in their tournaments, then all those tournaments like Washington and Boston, Indianapolis, all this was played on hard. I think they were great events. Before even the US Open was played on clay. I think it was great. People, maybe they don't want to wash their laundry. It's just a bit disappointing that we don't see more claycourt tennis in the States, just a few small tournaments, like Coral Springs. I would really like to see more claycourt tournaments, bigger tournaments here in the States. I don't know why people just refusing, because I think it's good tennis.

THOMAS MUSTER: What do I like? Because there's more tennis. I mean, I think if we look at the match, people like long rallies, dropshots. Of course, they like aces, but I think claycourt tennis gives you more options to see good tennis, what we know as tennis: forehand, backhand, serves, people coming in, dropshots, physical game. Sometimes that's what we missing on faster services. I think the ATP tried a lot of things to slow down the game, indoors. We have seen good rallies here. It's the sort of direction to get slower hardcourt tournaments. That was a big improvement the Tour did in the past years now. As I said, I would like to see more claycourt events in the States, but obviously the policy more or less, the federation, the clubs, is to play on hardcourt. Not much we can do. It's the tournament's option.

THOMAS MUSTER: I think Michael has a very good chance to defend his title here. He sees his chances against an unseeded player here. I think Ulihrach showed he could win against Pete, even played solid through all the way, that he's capable to even win this tournament. As I said, I would put my money on Michael there. That could go either way. Never know.

THOMAS MUSTER: I was too far back. My footwork wasn't good enough to be as close as I could be at the ball. I just never could move forward. I would have always been really late. As I said, it starts with the footwork. If the footwork is not good enough, you start miss-timing balls, you're not getting the balls as close to the line as you want to, so you're always struggling a bit to get in position. If you're not in position, you can't attack.

THOMAS MUSTER: Just knock him off the court. I've beat him five times overpowering him, being inside the court. I like his game, actually. His serve is not as big. It really doesn't hurt you. You just got to be on top of him. If you make unforced errors, you're not beating many guys. That's the problem. I think I have the possibility with my groundstrokes, as I said, to knock him off the court and overpower him. It's not a question of coming in and playing dropshots, really approaching. That's not my natural game. I don't think I've beaten him before with chip and charging. I guess I just rallied better than him.

THOMAS MUSTER: Well, he always was physically strong. His serve improved a bit. It wasn't a factor today really that decided the match. He's coming in. I mean, he's taking the ball early. That's what he's done most of the time, all his life. That's it. He's not only playing topspin, he really takes the ball on the rise, playing flat shots which makes the ball fast on a hardcourt. That's a good part. His mental game is good. I guess over the years, he's really put his game together, his mental game. Just look at his ranking. No real problem.

THOMAS MUSTER: Losing to Rafter?

THOMAS MUSTER: Well, looking back to that match, he played a great serve and volley game that day. I just didn't return well at that stage. He actually had a great day. That happens sometimes. It's like playing Michael Stich. I think Stich has a better back game than Rafter has. At that day, I was off and he was really playing well. That happens.

THOMAS MUSTER: Excuse me?

THOMAS MUSTER: No. I had a long match there, but there's no reason. You have a day off. It was a pretty hard against Andre, five-setter.

THOMAS MUSTER: I don't know, maybe. If you can recommend a good restaurant, doesn't matter. Nothing to do with Michael. I guess he's not cooking, so I can still eat it (laughter).