U.S. OPEN

September 2, 1996

Thomas Muster

THOMAS MUSTER: It's better today. Definitely wasted a lot of energy yesterday playing with it. But I think it's going to be all right tomorrow.

THOMAS MUSTER: Well, usually during a Grand Slam you lose a lot of weight because temperature, especially the humidity, you lose a lot of fluid. Yeah, being sick is taking a lot out of you, sure.

THOMAS MUSTER: Well, I felt terrible in the morning, but it got better during the day. Played pretty late, so I still could take some medication which took the pain down a little bit. And I felt all right when I walked on the court, just a little tired. Once I started the match, because you're drinking a lot, stress and everything, it comes back. There's not much I could do. I just tried to play as good as I can under these circumstances and that's it.

THOMAS MUSTER: I had stomach cramps, yes.

THOMAS MUSTER: You have an upset stomach, everything, you feel cold, hot. Stomach cramps, everything, sometimes you feel tired, you get better. You've just got to deal with it somehow.

THOMAS MUSTER: It was fish poisoning.

THOMAS MUSTER: Yes.

THOMAS MUSTER: Yes.

THOMAS MUSTER: Yeah.

THOMAS MUSTER: I ate there before and never had any problems.

THOMAS MUSTER: I tell you, I haven't spoken to the doctor. I mean, once you eat something wrong, you feel you know what it is.

THOMAS MUSTER: Swordfish.

THOMAS MUSTER: Swordfish.

THOMAS MUSTER: An hour, easy. I was all right.

THOMAS MUSTER: I played doubles with him there, but I just wanted to practice. He asked me if I wanted to play doubles, so we played doubles. I didn't want to play at all doubles, so I went on to Toronto and had an early exit there, gave me more time to prepare here.

THOMAS MUSTER: It's not a problem. Still a day to go. It's not really in my mind too much yet.

THOMAS MUSTER: 50/50 because it's zero-zero when we walk on the court.

THOMAS MUSTER: Excuse me?

THOMAS MUSTER: No. I think there's not any problem. Andre is a very good player. He's facing somebody who doesn't know how to play on this surface, that's it. We'll see how it goes. With his expertise, he should beat me easy.

THOMAS MUSTER: So, maybe he should play him. I don't know. I don't care.

THOMAS MUSTER: I think I played all right the first three matches. Yesterday I tried to survive somehow. Hopefully my strengths will be good enough tomorrow. Let's put it that way. I should be fit enough to play tomorrow. I hope that I'm a hundred percent fit so I can give it a hundred percent to be as good as possible. Whatever is the outcoming, that's another story.

THOMAS MUSTER: I never felt uncomfortable playing on hardcourt. It's just the people watching me felt uncomfortable for me. (Laughter)

THOMAS MUSTER: Yeah, I'm eating again, perfect.

THOMAS MUSTER: I think maybe Enqvist was a bit affected by it. Maybe he felt that I'm not a hundred percent. It's always difficult to finish a match if you know your opponent doesn't feel well, you just got to put the ball in. Sometimes that's the most difficult thing. I think that I focused well on the points I had to make, played quite dangerous for him. Even though I wasn't a hundred percent, I think I played tactically a good game.

THOMAS MUSTER: Obviously at night, I'm pretty sure.

THOMAS MUSTER: It's going to be dark. Hopefully the lights are going to be on. (Laughter)

THOMAS MUSTER: "Muster go back on court 16." "Muster No. 1." Some are going to say, "Agassi is great." "All go home." I don't know, whatever. Normally, as long as you get your popcorn and hamburgers, it's going to be fine.

THOMAS MUSTER: A match against Andre?

THOMAS MUSTER: I think for me to reach the quarters is quite an effort, four years being in the quarters three times here. There's no pressure on me playing against Andre because, I mean, nobody is going to expect him to fail. That's it. I mean, it's not really emotional for me. It's a normal tennis match. We're going to go out there and play our match, and that's it. I mean, it's not a war; it's just a tennis match. That's it.

THOMAS MUSTER: Gilbert, that went wrong.

THOMAS MUSTER: For him, I mean.

THOMAS MUSTER: What?

THOMAS MUSTER: Gilbert doesn't like anybody. That's not a secret. That's it. I mean, I think Andre is the same. Gilbert never liked me, so that's not a secret either. That's always been his problem. If you have somebody talking to you like a radio all day, you must get nuts.

THOMAS MUSTER: We did. We spoke to each other at Monte-Carlo. We had a talk about 45 minutes. I have a lot of respect for the game Andre is playing, what he did in the past. I mean, that's all right. That's what I'm saying, there's no emotions when I go out there and play him, you know, like enemies or something; it's just a tennis match. Everybody's trying to win the match and go into the semifinals.

THOMAS MUSTER: Yeah. I mean, he respects what I do on clay, but his opinion would be probably eight tournaments a year and all played on hardcourts. It cannot only go one way. I mean, you have to respect the others, too. I think, as I said, I respect him as a player and what he did. And he made clear that some things he said in the press, some things which came up in the press, that that wasn't what he said. I mean, it's really hard to believe that every journalist is pulling stories out of their fingers. But, I mean, he apologized for it and that's okay for me.