GREAT AMERICAN INSURANCE ATP CHAMPIONSHIP

August 6, 1996

Stefan Edberg

STEFAN EDBERG: It was quite hot out there, but like even afterwards it was a short match, I got away with it pretty easy. I thought it was worse this morning when I was warming up about 10, 11 o'clock, and it was a little overcast, which helps, but it is hot. You can feel it when you come back in the air conditioning after the match. But it is the same for everybody. You just have to prepare for it the best that you can. Drink a lot of fluid and make sure you eat well.

STEFAN EDBERG: Both yes and know. I think the lights here are really good, though. I think under these circumstances it is a benefit playing at night, you know, you feel a bit cooler. The heat can get you as long as you are fit and you are healthy and you go out there with a good attitude, you are going to be all right.

STEFAN EDBERG: You just have to pace yourself a little bit and, you know, hopefully serve well because, that, I did today, I served pretty well. I got a lot of easy points and you just have to -- if you feel that you don't have a chance to win the point, don't have to chase every point out there. You have to let a few go at times. But that is the way I feel that you have to do because you feel when you have a long rally, you can find yourself sort of chipping for error.

STEFAN EDBERG: Definitely get back into the top 20. I think there is room for that. Hopefully go farther than that, but I really -- I need to win a tournament; that is really what I am looking for right now. And I think it is possible because the consistency is there right now and I just need to put everything together for one week and so that is really what I am looking for.

STEFAN EDBERG: I don't know. You never know what to expect out there. Sometimes you got it a lot easier than you think and sometimes you have got to work harder for it. The quicker you can get out there the better it is because you have got to come back tomorrow, but at the same time, you need to be out there in these conditions because it is a long summer. You need to sort of get used to the heat. Normally if you can get through first day, you feel better when you come back the second day. So it is just a matter of being there and wanting to be out there, so you don't go out with the attitude like, oh, God, it is hot today; I am not sure whether I can do that because then it is tougher.

STEFAN EDBERG: I think when you first come out, the heat hits you, so you have to pace yourself. That is taking the time because you do need a little bit more time in between points when it is hot like that. I tend to take a little bit more time in between serves and he took sometime too because otherwise it is tough.

STEFAN EDBERG: Well, I think as a tennis player, I mean, if you had a choice, I think I would rather win a Wimbledon title than winning the Olympics. I think winning the Olympics is a great achievement, no question about it. You are playing for your country and it is a little bit like winning Davis Cup, I feel. I think it is a tremendous thing if you can do that. Hopefully Olympics will grow in the future to a status where everybody is playing in it and it is a huge thing, but I think this could be a good turnaround for the Olympics by having a top player to win it and having a top player to say "this is the best thing that has ever happened to me." That is really what we need in order to have the importance of tennis in the Olympics.

STEFAN EDBERG: Yeah, I mean, you have to be realistic. I think that is -- it is harder to put everything together for two weeks, there is no question about it. Obviously I still have the hope of winning at the Open and it is nothing that is impossible, but, you know, I think it is a bigger chance that it will happen somewhere else.

STEFAN EDBERG: It was great playing doubles because it is such a different feeling playing doubles, playing in a team, and it is really the first time in my life that I was around just playing doubles the second week, that has never happened before, so it was sort of a nice -- played one day; you had a day off. You played another day and -- almost for me it was like semi-vacation at the same time as you -- there is a lot less pressure playing doubles too, I feel.

STEFAN EDBERG: Sure, it is nice. It is great when you think about it because those titles are not easy to achieve, and even if it is just the doubles or whatever you say, it is -- it was nice, you know, actually winning a title on that court because I lost a lot of finals there and I actually haven't won in singles there.

STEFAN EDBERG: Obviously, the Stockholm Open. Definitely.

STEFAN EDBERG: I had a lot of support playing in Bastad this year and I think especially in that -- playing at the old hall, it would be a great atmosphere and I think that could be a big help.

STEFAN EDBERG: First time in 15 years, first time in 15 years, that somebody has actually out-footfaulted me.

STEFAN EDBERG: 8 to 2.

STEFAN EDBERG: I quite enjoyed that because it has never happened before. I said, geez, imagine all these free points and they did it on the second serve once or twice too, so huge surprise.

STEFAN EDBERG: I am never worried about my footfaults. The only worry, I just have to make sure I stand back enough, so it is really a concentration thing; plus I think with the toss, if I was playing -- if I wasn't a serve and volleyer, I probably would never footfault, but since you are playing serve and volley, my philosophy is always getting in the quickest, the fastest I can, therefore, you toss the ball more than you normally would; that creates the footfault. I think it is because -- it is the way I serve too.

STEFAN EDBERG: Well, I can remember one match clearly where it was in 1983 when I played Krickstein at the Open first round I got footfaulted like 19, 20 times in that match and that really hurt me. I lost it 7-6 in the fifth set.

STEFAN EDBERG: No. I am sure it has happened, but I don't take too much notice, but, you know, it seldom happens at very important stages.

STEFAN EDBERG: It was.

STEFAN EDBERG: I took it pretty well. I just said to myself that I had a lot of great years at Wimbledon and they were not all going to be great. I did what I could and I did not perform well. So it is not the end of the world. You can do what you can and that is the end of the story. You can't bring back --

STEFAN EDBERG: It never came to that stage because I mean, it was a crucial, crucial point to that match. That was in the third set, 4-2 in the tiebreaker, missed an easy shot. He won the third set. I knew I would be able to play one more set. If I would won that third set, it would have been a huge difference. It was still light enough to finish that match. So there was no way out of that one.

STEFAN EDBERG: Yes, I am, yes.

STEFAN EDBERG: Good question. I am not sure whether I will go back next year. Maybe I will take a year off, but if I get invited, I will deal with that. I don't know what the outcome will be, but I am sure it will be nice being back there because you do get two tickets every year as a member and -- it sort of would be nice there to catch up with some old friends and see some tennis. We will see about the Royal box, I am not sure about that one. Do you want to come with me in case I get two tickets?

STEFAN EDBERG: I think it would be strange. I think you need to -- a little too soon, I think so. That is what I think right now. I think you can leave it a year or so, but you never know, I may surprise myself. Depending on what I am doing next year and, you know, what I have that part of the year.

STEFAN EDBERG: I have been asked, yes. I give the same answer. I don't think I have any talent for it. That is what I think. I am not sure that that I will fit into -- you are supposed to talk, aren't you? And I am not the best talker around. I will run out of steam after a set.

STEFAN EDBERG: I will stay in London.

STEFAN EDBERG: People -- a lot of people do say that they are going to miss me on the Tour and I just say thank you. I mean, I think I will miss the Tour as well; that, I am certain about and I am going into a very, very different year next year. I am not quite sure what to expect myself for next year. Maybe a fantastic year or maybe -- maybe a very different year where you sort of maybe looking for things to do. I am not sure yet, but at least you can approach it with a positive frame of mind. But I think it is better that you sort of prepare yourselves for an end which I have done. It would be a major change -- I think we are both looking forward to it. It will be a major change because tennis for the last 15 years has been -- everything has been around the tennis, around the schedule, around all the practice sessions that you have to do, so it will be very, very different. Where, this year, you know exactly what you are doing pretty much everyday. You know what you have to do in order to play and commit yourself to be out there and be in shape. Next year, don't have those commitments and it will be totally different. It won't be easy, I am sure about that.

STEFAN EDBERG: Possibly. Possibly. I may see them myself. Who knows, as you get older you put these videotapes in the drawers; you never watch it. But I might do that. Get bored with everything -- that is something to do.

STEFAN EDBERG: No, never.