IBM/ATP TOUR WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP

November 17, 1995

Michael Chang

MICHAEL CHANG: Well, I think it was. I think part of it is just wanting to get off to a good start. I think that against Jim, you just can't afford to get off to a slow start. I think once Jim starts taking command of the match, I think it is very difficult to get it away from him. So for me, it was just trying to get it off to a really good start.

MICHAEL CHANG: It feels pretty good. I think that I have been, I think, over the past few years, it is frustrating not being able to do better, but my thinking is always is to try to -- if at first you don't succeed, try, try again, and that is pretty much what I have been trying to do and, you know, just hopefully, my time would come.

MICHAEL CHANG: Well, I think that it was -- obviously, for me, it was very important to be able to play good all-around tennis, you know, against Jim, period. I think I need every aspect of my game in order to beat him. I need to be able to serve well. I need to be able to hit well from the ground. I need to be able to volley well. And, you know, I think that for me, that is very important against Jim. Jim is just a very solid player and, you know, if he always kind of knows what you are going to do, it is very easy for him to set up for his shots and stuff. So it is important for me to be able to just play good all-around tennis.

MICHAEL CHANG: Well, I am hoping that it will be something that will be more and more common as the years go on because I have worked pretty hard on my serve and I know that Jim has a very good serve and I returned serves well today. I was able to get a lot of his first serves back today, and turned them into good shots -- yeah... That is just part of trying to hold my service games, getting a good percentage of good solid first serves in.

MICHAEL CHANG: I am hoping it will get better. I think that that is what I am trying to accomplish, try to get things better and better and, you know, I look at my game now and I think it is a good game, but I think it can continue to get better. I still feel like everything can be improved. Everything can be refined more and more and, you know, hopefully those things will come in time.

MICHAEL CHANG: Well, obviously Pete has been playing some very solid tennis lately and, you know, I think that over the past couple of years, I haven't been able to do quite as well against him as in the years past. But, you know, I think that it is going to be a tough match. I know Pete's game quite well and Pete knows my game quite well and, hopefully, I am able to go out and accomplish what I want to. Hopefully, the shots will be there, you know, as they were today and, you know, hopefully be able to pull out a victory. But, you know, against Pete, it is always a tough match, as is the same with Jim.

MICHAEL CHANG: My dad pretty much does a lot of the financial things, yeah.

MICHAEL CHANG: Yeah. Yeah, I have a pretty good idea, so my dad keeps me pretty well informed because that is basically, you know, it is my business and yeah, everything for us is very much a family thing. I think that whether it has to do with taxes or just, you know, where we are going to go for Christmas and that type of thing, it is something that we always sit down as a family and take the time to discuss things so that everybody has their voice of opinion and we can draw what we think is the best conclusion from there.

MICHAEL CHANG: I really don't know. I would have thought that if Tom had any kind of question whether Andre would play or not, I think he would have contacted me already. Tom is a very organized person and the Davis Cup is not that far away, so I kind of think that he would have notified me already, but honestly, I think that Andre would have sufficient amount of time to prepare, so it is something that we will just have to kind and wait and see. But it is something that I really don't expect.

MICHAEL CHANG: Actually Pete got it from me. No, I am kidding. Sometimes you got to do what you got to do. I think it is pretty clear-cut that Pete is, more or less, the inventor of that shot. Pete is probably the best at it. Because I can recall a few occasions where I have actually gone up and, you know, hit the shot and it wasn't -- didn't go where it was supposed to go, so it is not a very easy shot. So yeah, but that was kinds of a semi thing. I really didn't get up that high for it, so, yeah...

MICHAEL CHANG: I think that is something for me, maybe I invented, but I didn't try to, so just going out and trying to do my best; hit the best possible shot -- yeah... So, I don't see Pete hitting that shot. Maybe that is a good thing.

MICHAEL CHANG: Well, I like to think that each year I get a little bit better, so, you know, hopefully that is part of the reason and, you know, I think that a lot of it is, you know, learning -- learning from the past and what you got to do and getting used to being in kind of the Elite 8, so to speak, and I think a lot of it is just the Lord's blessing that I am there, so you just keep working at it; keep working at it and if things don't go the way that you want, you need to persevere at it. Hopefully those opportunities will come.

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