U.S. OPEN

September 2, 1994

Jim Courier

JIM COURIER: I'm very satisfied. I came up and I worked hard last week and I put in the effort that I was looking for out there in my first match and today, and all I can ask is that I give myself the best chance to play well and today I didn't play particularly well, but I'm proud of the way I fought and hung in there all the way.

JIM COURIER: I think, you know, -- yeah, a lot different, you know, I'm very -- I'm not real happy going out in the second round, let's put it that way. But on the positive side, I think that, you know, I fought well, like I just said, and that's really what I needed to do to get back to playing the way that I want to play.

JIM COURIER: Not at all.

JIM COURIER: No, just say to myself, "Win the next point."

JIM COURIER: I've got to talk to Gulli and see what he thinks and see what I think I can do for the team and we're going to see. Indoor supreme is not my favorite surface to play on, so I would say my confidence is not particularly high after today, so, I'm going to talk to Gulli and see. Pete is a big question mark whether he's physically going to be able to do it and Todd it is a question mark, physically. So really, we basically don't know where we stand, so, we'll see.

JIM COURIER: Andrea played very well. I thought he moved real well and he played a real solid match, and he played well enough to win today for the way I was playing.

JIM COURIER: Yeah, I mean, he got a little bit stiff towards the end, but he got pretty far ahead and I wasn't able to get through there.

JIM COURIER: If I had gotten back on serve I thought he may crack, he was starting to crack a little, but two breaks up is a long road to come back from, and I was coming back, just made too many errors towards the end.

JIM COURIER: I said that I'm not going to stay back on the second serve return anymore. I was trying to stay back and get into the rallies and feeling like I was getting more and more defensive playing like that, so I went and stayed up.

JIM COURIER: Do you want to tell me?

It is a process, you have to work through it and I know I'm good enough, I'm smart enough, and gosh darn-it, people like me.

JIM COURIER: Do you want to go play a little bit?

JIM COURIER: I don't think there's a problem with my strokes at all. I've played good tennis in and out of the year and I think I just have to put it all together, one by one, and I know it is not far away. It's been there at times, so I just got to keep plugging along and keep working, things will work out.

JIM COURIER: Uh-hum. Absolutely. Felt very good after the Netherlands.

JIM COURIER: I think that every year I learn a little bit more about my schedule, about what my body needs to do and obviously every year is a little different. I think that I will take a look at my schedule and try to schedule a few more weeks during the year where I can take a little bit of a breather and step back and not keep punishing my body as much. It's hard for me to go home and not work. I feel like if I'm not working that I'm going backwards. But sometimes you have to let your body completely rest and it's just -- you have to keep learning year in and year out and make little adjustments, and that's what I try and do and I'll keep trying.

JIM COURIER: I think -- you know, I was just saying I don't think it's far away. I just need to keep thinking about what I'm doing on the court and, you know, talk to Jose and figure out if I'm playing the right way, which I think I have, like I said, at different times this year. And I don't think there's anything really serious to look at other than just being a little bit better prepared and being a little bit better rested.

JIM COURIER: Some days.

JIM COURIER: It's always been like that since I was 14, playing every day, some days you like it, some days you don't like it as much. But, today, I'm disappointed with the result but pleased with the effort, so...

JIM COURIER: I've had good luck with the traffic, so...