RCA TENNIS CHAMPIONSHIPS

August 15, 1996

Stefan Edberg

STEFAN EDBERG: Well, if you saw, it wasn't so pretty, but I did lose. It is one of these days. I don't know, I didn't play very well out there. He surprised me a little bit. I think he played a very, very good first set and second set was going back and forth. I couldn't quite do it today. I didn't time the ball well enough. I think the serve let me down a little bit too.

STEFAN EDBERG: It was almost a miracle that it didn't rain. It was going all the way around. You were almost expecting it to come, but it never did.

STEFAN EDBERG: Sometimes -- yeah, when you feel like you are not playing well, sometimes a break can help you, but like I said, it didn't happen today and it probably would have been good, a little bit after break for me, but that is the way it goes.

STEFAN EDBERG: Yes, yes, I have seen him play. He came along some years ago and he plays some great tennis. Then he sort of disappeared for a while, but he was hitting the ball very well today, I thought. Obviously, I was not on top of my game. This court suits him quite well. It is quite slow and the ball jumps on the court.

STEFAN EDBERG: Unfortunately, I wasn't here yesterday, so I did not see what happened. I have just heard through other people and it surprised me like everybody else out there. I am not sure about the background. But I know Andre, he has sort of been pushing the limit a few times before. It is obviously unfortunate for the tournament that it did happen. That is the way it goes.

STEFAN EDBERG: I don't know. They have rules and -- I mean, it is very hard to judge. Sometimes it is hard to hear what they say and, you know, it is not the easiest thing being up in that umpire's chair, but, you know, something -- he must have said something for him to get defaulted, that is for sure. And they had a discussion and it is the referee's decision. The supervisor, too, to make the decision. I sort of think it shocked everybody yesterday.

STEFAN EDBERG: I am not sure. Sometimes bad press is good press. That is the way it works, but, I don't know, we just have to wait and see what happens. I am sure it is going to be an issue for some days to come, what is going to happen, whose fault it is. According to the rules, there was nothing wrong done, I don't think, because, you know, if you get a warning, you can go to the next step and default. That is according to the rules, so -- I don't think there is anything wrong with that. It is whether it was bad enough; that, I don't know, because I wasn't here yesterday.

STEFAN EDBERG: Maybe it has been inconsistent. That is where Andre is coming from. I can understand him too because there is many versions of this story, who is right. I am not sure in the end, but like I said, it is unfortunate that it does have to happen here. It doesn't help the tournament and it doesn't help Andre. It helps Nestor because he gets through to the next round, but apart from that, it is a very unfortunate thing. It doesn't happen very often that somebody gets defaulted. It happened to McEnroe once at the Australian Open. That was like a huge shock too. Hopefully, it won't happen again for a long period to come because that is not the way that anybody wants to see a match end, but, you know, you have rules and if you have the rules, you should stick to them. Maybe that hasn't been done in the past.

STEFAN EDBERG: Getting defaulted?

STEFAN EDBERG: Well, I am not sure I want to go through an experience like that. (AUDIENCE LAUGHTER)

STEFAN EDBERG: I think it is important and like I said, I think it has come quite natural to me because that is the way I was brought up. That is the way I was taught, you know, how to behave myself on the court. That is how I play my best tennis is by keeping calm and so for me, it has never been a problem. It is nothing that I have really been working on. I have just stuck to playing tennis and letting the umpires do the work and you are going to have bad calls; you are going to have good calls. By the end of the day, it will be pretty even, I think.

STEFAN EDBERG: No. I have played a lot of weeks this summer, so I will probably take some time off here- come into the Open fresh.

STEFAN EDBERG: I will stay here tomorrow and probably leave on the weekend.

STEFAN EDBERG: Well, you never know, but it is probably unlikely that I will come back here, but, you know, sometimes you don't know where the future is going to be and what you are going to going to do in the future. Maybe some day; maybe not tennis, but business will take you there. At least you have been here; you know what is going on here and you know your way around a little bit. So I really don't think about it when I leave it. Some places, it is probably more special, like leaving the Wimbledon court for the last time. That is a lot more special, because that is where I have been every year since I was playing and that is a special place.