NEWSWEEK CHAMPIONS CUP

March 13, 1996

Thomas Muster

Q. What was the reason you lost the match?

THOMAS MUSTER: The reason is he played a really good match and I kept my balls really short and wasn't playing really sharp enough and I mean, it is one factor when you come from altitude that you have to move the ball twice as much, that is true, and he obviously had a match already which gives him an advantage which is always a difficult part when you have a "bye" in the first round that you play somebody who had a match. And so, I mean, you serve -- he served well and good forehand shots and I didn't do much for the game myself and I had a few chances to come back in the second set, and had a set point, and so I just couldn't close out the match, and/or even change it.

Q. What kind of a future does he have as a player?

THOMAS MUSTER: That is difficult to say. He is obviously very young and talented. He served lot of aces this year, so when I am following the statistics, and I think he is probably better hard court player and indoor player because he likes to play flat, so that might be his future, but you probably have to ask him this question himself whatever he thinks, but I think he is very talented.

Q. Thomas, in talking with your coach, he explained that part of your training was something called "talk therapy." Could you talk about that a little bit?

THOMAS MUSTER: What therapy?

Q. Talk therapy.

THOMAS MUSTER: Oh, talk therapy, yeah, I never talk, so that is probably it -- (laughter) sometimes it is hard when you travel by yourself or just through your coach and it -- sometimes it is very hard to talk because they are asking questions to yourself; you have to answer it yourself. I mean, and somehow you get stuck and I am not a very outgoing person in terms of, you know, speaking and communication, so I am more introverted and as well, I swallow a lot of things down which is not good, and his father is a psychologist, which I use sometimes, and I have been with his father and we talked a lot and that helped me a little bit this year.

Q. Thomas, let us talk about when you have gone down to Mexico you have won that tournament four years in the four years that they have had it. How have you been able to win it and what are the things that you like about that tournament?

THOMAS MUSTER: Well, every year to come there and to defend your title; especially in the altitude, is very difficult and every year I come back and say it is pretty difficult to defend it, but so far be able to do it -- I don't no, there is no real reason. I mean, there is nothing I had do specially; just seems to be the altitude which something that fits pretty good to my game.

Q. What did you do during the rain delay and do you normally come back better during those delays or do they bother you?

THOMAS MUSTER: No, it was actually good for me because I slept about three hours which was good. I was really tired, I don't know why, but I had like three hours sleep on the massage table.

Q. Are you at the point that you might consider the No. 1 ranking a jinx?

THOMAS MUSTER: What is jinx? Sorry.

Q. It means bad luck.

THOMAS MUSTER: I don't think so. It is not really bad luck. It is just -- I think it is something very difficult to hold and I think I have heard Pete saying that to be No. 1, it is at the end of the year and I have to admit that is basically true because if you can keep the No. 1 at the end of the year like he did for three years, that means that you are No. 1. You see I also have to say that for me reaching No. 1 is maybe the same than for Pete winning, I don't know, Wimbledon, six times in a row or something, so....

Q. Paris once.

THOMAS MUSTER: Whatever. But for me being No. 1 is an achievement I have dreamed off and this came true, so that is something personal which is very important for myself. But whatever the public says or whatever media says, whatever other people say, it is none of my interest and I don't care. It is just for me personal and -- yeah, that is it. But I don't think being No. 1 is bad luck in anyway. I think it is very nice.

Q. Andre Agassi said that he is not critical of you or the way that you became the No. 1 player. He said that what he is critical of is the ranking system, the rating system; that he feels that players should be judged on all of their tournaments; not just the top 14 results. Would you favor that kind of a system where players -- all their tournaments count?

THOMAS MUSTER: I agree that first round players should be more punished if they lose in the first round. You should feel it in your rankings. And -- yeah, but the only people who can change it is the players itself. But obviously to get 100 selfish people together is pretty difficult.

Q. The last three French Opens have been won by you and Sergi who base their seasons around the French. Do you think that players who don't do that, who don't, you know, spend most of their time on clay could ever win the French again?

THOMAS MUSTER: It doesn't matter. I can graze somewhere; I can put grass in my living room; I can do whatever I want, I can play around grass and I don't think I am going to win Wimbledon. It is a matter of, I can hold cattle whatever, it is never going to work out. It is a question of your game and if you have the ability like maybe Andre has or Jim has or Pete has, I mean, or even Boris why shouldn't they win the French Open. And everybody has to figure out for himself what is the most important thing how can win or how I can win the French Open, but we are clay court -- not clay court players, but we grown up or we grew up in Europe, we played on clay, and our technique is supposed to be like for clay court players, and that is why we like to play there. It is Bruguera or the Spanish or whatever, so it is the kind of tactic. It is not only preparation and -- it is not so easy. You come from hard courts or whatever and suddenly you have dirty socks and all this; you have to get used to all this. It is not easy.

Q. If you played Voinea on clay you certainly would not have had that much trouble today. Why is it that if there is a chink in Thomas Muster's armor, it is on this surface?

THOMAS MUSTER: That is not true. Since years I couldn't play as much as I wanted to on that surface and it started in 1989 when I had -- when I tried to kick that car in Key Biscayne, you see, then the trouble starts there because if you can't play on it, you can't practice on it; then you have trouble, and I was forced to play more on clay and that is where I build up my game and my strengths and hard court is something I have to play on, but it is not enjoyable for me because it is painful for me and that -- even people say I like pain. It is not something I am looking forward to, but it is part of the game and part of the game is playing indoors and that is it. You see I am trying my best on the surfaces, but it is not that I can't play on it. Because I think I had pretty good results, I mean, if I haven't won maybe a Slam or even a Super 9 on that surface, but --

Q. Even if you do well again in Roland Garros this year, even win it again, would you commit yourself to playing Wimbledon this year?

THOMAS MUSTER: I do. I play Queens, Halle, and Wimbledon, so I am playing three tournaments before -- actually two tournaments, sorry, and give myself a chance to win a couple of rounds in Wimbledon, maybe, and we will see.

Q. As opposed to last year somehow you didn't change your schedule because you feel that is important to your--

THOMAS MUSTER: No it is not because it is important but it fits into my schedule. It is not that I change it or I do anything. It is that the tournaments which used to be after Paris, they used to be also on clay, and now this tournaments are moved a week earlier that means before the French, so that gives me the chance to play Queens right after and they always used to be a clay court in the week of Queens, so --

Q. Thomas, you said criticism from fans or criticism from the media about you being No. 1 doesn't bother you because it means so much to you. What about criticism from your fellow players?

THOMAS MUSTER: I don't give a shit. I don't give a shit, honestly. Yeah, I don't care because I think I have been taking a lot in the last years and I don't care, you see, if I get injured tomorrow and I have to stop, for whatever reason, I have to say to myself I tried my best, and I did the best I could do and I was No. 1; I won the French. They were my main goals in my career, and whatever, put me in the grave and put the cap on; that is it, whatever. I will be happy, so that is the way it is. That is why I don't care.

Q. Whose tennis shoes are you wearing?

THOMAS MUSTER: My mother's.

Q. Where are they from?

THOMAS MUSTER: They are from 1942. She said bring them, they are good luck for you. Seriously. Why? Whose the company?

Q. Yes.

THOMAS MUSTER: That is Lotto. Put it in the camera

(lifting up foot and showing label).

Q. Are they helpful?

THOMAS MUSTER: Are you from Nike? (LAUGHTER).

Q. Are they comfortable and helpful to you in running around?

THOMAS MUSTER: I wear them day and night, great.

Q. Are you having as much fun now or when you were growing up playing or is there a lot of pressure now that takes the fun out of it?

THOMAS MUSTER: It is less pressure because when I started playing I mean, it is a lot of pressure because it is financially a problem; you have to pay your bills and it is sort of more difficult, but now I think I am enjoying it more, even if I lose, there is no reason to hang myself in the locker room or something. So it is just the way it is and it is going to be a tournament I won last week; I lost here; maybe it is going to be a great next week again, but I enjoy being out there and playing, and sometimes it is even good to lose, you know, it makes you think, and gives you a reason to do better next time, so it is fun still, yeah.

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