RCA TENNIS CHAMPIONSHIPS

August 14, 1996

Stefan Edberg

STEFAN EDBERG: Not too bad. I actually felt good compared to last week. It was cool at least. It was a little bit of a breeze out there and the humidity wasn't as bad as it was last week, so I felt okay. There was no problem. But I guess it is pretty warm out there.

STEFAN EDBERG: I feel a lot better this week because last week I really felt bad all week from where I got there 'til the end and I don't know why it was like that because normally that doesn't happen, but I guess that is the first week I really felt out of it for a couple of months, but the good thing, I am feeling fresh now and there is some spring in my legs, so I feel a lot better. I played a good match on Monday night. I didn't necessarily feel great out there today, but at least I served pretty well, at least, the second serves were really good today. It wasn't the best of matches that I played, but I came through and I am sure I will be playing better tomorrow.

STEFAN EDBERG: Jason, I played a lot of times. I haven't played Roux before. He is a gutsy player. He played two matches. He is the guy that you have to watch the points for and really take charge and that is really what I will have to do. I am not really sure what to expect from tomorrow's match.

STEFAN EDBERG: They did a nice thing yesterday because you want to keep it short, not too long because other player wants to get on and it was pretty late yesterday and they did all the things that is really necessary. Doesn't have to be long. I thought it was nice.

STEFAN EDBERG: I haven't looked at the draw this week. I don't know. It is -- okay, it does sometimes open up for you, but there is still another guy on the other side of the net that you have to beat. So you don't know whether it is necessarily better or not. But there is a chance here this week, if I can keep serving well and I feel good, see what can happen.

STEFAN EDBERG: Well, I think I have seen it grow in ten years time and the facilities that you have around the tennis here is just as good as anywhere else. I think all the volunteers are so nice. They really take good care of you. They organize anything that you want basically and plus it is a nice court to play on here and all the people come out to watch and there is a lot of spectators which makes it special too. But apart from the tennis, they do so many things for the players it is incredible.

STEFAN EDBERG: You can eat breakfast, lunch, dinner. Movies. Go to museums. You tell them anything, they will organize it for you in one way or another, which is a quite incredible when you think about it.

STEFAN EDBERG: No, not like this. But that is their specialty, but overall the improvement of tournaments over the last ten years, is astronomical. I think pretty much every tournament that you come to, everything is well organized and basically what you need is practice courts and transportation and decent hotel; then you are pretty much set to play, but they do so many other things for you as well, which is a bonus.

STEFAN EDBERG: No, it did not. I -- okay, I had to wait around a little bit yesterday, but as you know, they have a lot of games in that room, so I was driving the IndyCar, so it is wasn't too bad and I had some dinner here, so it was a nice evening. I saw some good tennis too on top of that.

STEFAN EDBERG: That is a little bit farfetched, but the bowl I got yesterday was beautiful. You can have that in your home and go look at it and remember and that is a nice thing. Surfboard is a little bit more farfetched, but it was a fun thing, though.

STEFAN EDBERG: No, never surfed.

STEFAN EDBERG: Will do it one day. I will probably break my neck or something.

STEFAN EDBERG: A little bit, I think, not a whole lot it. I am a quiet guy. I need -- I feel like I want to be in the background and don't get hassled too much, but I take it very well and I think fans are really nice to me. At least I feel, because it is positive and all they really want is to say a few words or get an autograph, get a picture, but it is sort of nice when you are back in London, for instance, you can walk around without getting noticed too much, but I am sure, you possibly will miss it a little bit, but I don't think it will hold a lot, no.

STEFAN EDBERG: That is always a lot of kids, a lot of people around you when you are at the tennis, you just have to take your time sometimes. You have to tell them I don't have the time; I need to go prepare and so it works both ways, but once you are out of the tennis complex, it is a different world, then it is not that bad any longer.

STEFAN EDBERG: I will stay in London. I will be there next year. That, I know. I am not looking further ahead than that. I am basically going to take next year and see how that goes and we will see what we end up doing -- we will see. I will be there.

STEFAN EDBERG: The Foundation is not going to take 365 days a year. I will go bananas. You can still do a lot of things. You can sit down and think and do a lot of things, paper work. All you have to do is spend sometime, because I will go back to Sweden; go back to support the Foundation, so, you know, just one of those things that I will do next year apart from other things, but it is not an every day thing.

STEFAN EDBERG: I have got used to living in London. I always will be what I call a Swede. That is never going to leave me wherever I am in the world, but I really like living in London. It is comfortable. You got most of the things that you need. You speak the language and it has been a great base to be for me over the last 10, 15 years and, you know, it is no need to panicking to think you stay where you are, think about the future a little bit and time will take care of itself, I am sure about that.

STEFAN EDBERG: Probably be a while, you never know. I will probably play some tennis because it is great exercise. You want to stay in some sort of shape when you get a little bit older, so I will play some tennis.

STEFAN EDBERG: Thank you.