U.S. OPEN

August 31, 1996

Thomas Muster

THOMAS MUSTER: Well, I think I play very well against Sergi. His game suits me pretty well. I'm confident when I play against him. Every time we play, he had match points. We always had good matches, tough matches. Even though the result today looks very easy, I had to play it really well to play like this and to play a result like this. Anytime you lose your timing or you don't make the shots, I mean, he's going to beat you.

THOMAS MUSTER: Well, I have a good strategy, but I'm not going to tell you (laughter).

THOMAS MUSTER: No, not really. A few things change always, but it depends how I feel myself. Anyway, I think his game suits perfectly to mine.

THOMAS MUSTER: I've played all right on hardcourt all my life. It's just that, as I said a million times, I can't play more than a few weeks on it because my body can't take it. I think if I could have played the same amount of matches on hardcourt that I play on clay, I think I could be a similar player on both surfaces. That's the problem I have to deal with. I'm trying the best, to play as well as possible every time I step on this court.

THOMAS MUSTER: No, hardcourt is more similar to clay. A different technique, which I adjusted now. Definitely playing on grass, like four or five weeks this year, gave me, you know, a different feeling for the all-around game, I think. I think it was good for me to play on grass this year, even winning matches. It gave me confidence to do other things in my tennis. I think when I watch myself playing today, take matches from last year, I think I'm still improving, even at the age of 29, which is tremendous for me. That's what I'm looking for.

THOMAS MUSTER: That's the way I play. I have to be focused, I have to concentrate, I have to be in the game mentally. That's the way I play. That's the way I train. I've competed all my life. Any competition, I'm like that. That's what I'm trying to do. That's not the way I'm usually outside the court, it's just when I go on court, I have to be intense.

THOMAS MUSTER: Not so much my knee. I think this year the way I've sought out the schedule with my coach is pretty good, because we had good preparation, playing in Cincinnati, taking a week off, playing in Toronto, coming here earlier, just taking it easy in the practice. I've practiced less than the years before, because the years before I practiced a lot, four or five hours a day, too much. Now I'm going once a day, intense. It keeps my motivation up. I'm trying to keep my timing, put everything into the match. Clay is a bit different. You have to play a lot on clay. Here you get slow when you play too much. It's a different strategy.

THOMAS MUSTER: Just look. I don't know. You should know that better than I. Just check it. Go get the record book out.

THOMAS MUSTER: Yeah, I played him a few times. In 13 years I've played a thousand matches. I'm not a computer. I know most of them. I know I've beaten him three years ago or something. He wasn't the player he is now.