U.S. OPEN

September 7, 1995

Michael Chang

MICHAEL CHANG: Yeah, I think anything-- I don't think I saw anything particularly out there today. There are times that we have played this year; they have always been pretty close matches and, you know, I think that today was not freely kind of an exception to that. I have played Jim enough to know what to expect from him.

MICHAEL CHANG: I think it turned, you know, on, quite honestly, on a few points here and there. I mean, I was serving for all three sets. I had set points in the first and second sets and, you know, I think, you know, at the U.S. Open, you hope those things just don't happen. You hope that at least you are able to capitalize on at least one of those opportunities at the least. So, you know, it is just a little bit disappointing not being able to kind of come through that, and -- yeah.

MICHAEL CHANG: Well, he has only beaten Pete on a couple of occasions, so Pete has a pretty good record against Jim, but, you know, I think it just depends on how each person feels on that particular day.

MICHAEL CHANG: You know, I think it is hard to say because I had a few opportunities to hit my shots. I had one particular forehand, I remember, that I went for down the line and I hit into the net, so, you know, and I think on the last, when I was serving for it in the third set, I hit a couple of loose points. I had a backhand in the net and also had a doublefault. So, you know, it is kind of hard to say. You hit a few good shots, but normally when you have that many opportunities, you have to capitalize on them.

MICHAEL CHANG: To be honest with you, I don't remember the tiebreakers all that well. What sticks in my behind is the 5-3, 5-4 situations in the last sets. I was a little bit frustrated because I wasn't quite able to do what I wanted to do today. A lot of times I want to be able to go and be aggressive and take a few second serves and go in. I wasn't able to do that. I hit a lot of shank returns today and just for some reason wasn't able to quite, you know, connect with the ball as well as I would in other situations. And I think that made a big difference for Jim because not only am I not winning those points, but he isn't winning those in return. So I am not getting a good percentage of points coming in my way and takes a lot of pressure off when he is serving.

MICHAEL CHANG: No.

MICHAEL CHANG: I think it was a little bit difficult to serve today because it was a little bit windy out there, so I think both of us had a few more doublefaults than we normally would, and, you know, I think that my percentage wasn't very good throughout the match so, that doesn't really -- that doesn't really help out, but, you know, I think that you kind of have to expect that sometimes. If the wind is gusting around swirling around a little bit, you try to make adjustments where you can and you just try to just deal with it the best that you possibly can, so I don't think it was that much of a factor because we were both kind of affected by it.

MICHAEL CHANG: I have no comment. I prefer not to comment.

MICHAEL CHANG: Well...

MICHAEL CHANG: That is probably better not to say. I am surprised that Jim would make a comment like that. Because we have played each other for quite a number of years and I know when he is up and ready to return serve and, you know, he is not going to change that. He hasn't changed that over how many years that I have played him. And I think that that is kind of -- I am surprised that he would say something like that.

MICHAEL CHANG: Well, I mean, I think it is disappointing to, you know, a point that you know you have your opportunities and you are just not able to capitalize on them, and, you know, you hope that you get a few breaks here and there. I kind of felt the breaks didn't really come my way. I think that you are going to have some matches that they go like that so you just have to continue to persevere at it and try to take what is positive from it and come back a stronger player.

MICHAEL CHANG: No, I don't think so because I wasn't -- I wasn't doing anything different than I normally do. I wasn't thinking of anything that I would normally think of and I just going out and just trying to play aggressive tennis period; whether I was serving for the set or whether I wasn't. I think actually when I was serving for it I was trying to be even a little bit more aggressive. So, you know, I am not going to change anything. I am not going to change change anything because I feel like I am doing it the right way and sometimes they go your way and sometimes they don't. But today I was a little bit unfortunate.

MICHAEL CHANG: Thank you.

MICHAEL CHANG: Physically I was pretty good out there. I had no problems physically.