ATP TOUR WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP

November 21, 1992

Jim Courier

JIM COURIER: Well --

JIM COURIER: I put myself in a bit of a hole there by getting upset. I should have just sucked it up and held out those first two serves instead of getting in a 3-0 hole. But I kind of just gathered myself a little bit and, said, well -- I mean, I am not going to give it away I, am at least going to make him earn it the rest of the way. He gave me a couple of points back, so I was able to get back in there, and anything happens when it gets 4-5 all in the tiebreaker; you never know what is going to happen.

JIM COURIER: How I played on this surface?

JIM COURIER: I just went out there and whacked the ball, and I hit the ball pretty solid; served pretty well, and, you know, I am sure Pete is going to come in and tell you he played lousy, but you know, that is par for the course.

JIM COURIER: I am playing better. I don't know if I am peaking, but I am playing better. Obviously you are going to play the best tennis at the end of the week, if you can still be playing without getting beat early.

JIM COURIER: Horrendous call. I mean, you don't, you know, you don't get too many -- can't give anything away, particularly in tiebreakers, and it was just -- absolutely mind-boggling. I hit the ball, but I wasn't even playing it. I just kind of hit it in play and looked over there and over there, and what the hell is going on, you know. Maybe that is the fire that I needed to get back.

JIM COURIER: You have to ask Pete. I really don't know.

JIM COURIER: Well, that certainly helps things, yeah. I hit some good serves to get out of it there. Pete gets up a set; he usually loosens up and goes for his shots a little bit more, serves a little bit bigger, so I was able to just stay close to him there until we got to the breakers. That was good.

JIM COURIER: Where was this?

JIM COURIER: In the first set or second?

JIM COURIER: Oh, yeah. I had a duck volley, and I didn't put it away.

JIM COURIER: No. I have seen them play enough. I don't need to watch them.

JIM COURIER: I guess not. I read today in the paper that it is over.

JIM COURIER: Well, you know, it is nice. I don't think it would have bothered me too much if I wouldn't have gotten it. But I had the best results in the Grand Slams; I deserve it.

JIM COURIER: It is there for history. It is there. It is another thing that is knocked off. It is nice.

JIM COURIER: Well, I served well yesterday, so I am kind of getting in the groove. I don't know if I will be able to serve that well tomorrow, but five sets is a long match. But I am finding my range, and, yeah, maybe a little bit surprised because his serve is definitely bigger than mine, but I don't know what the percentages were. It seemed like I got a pretty good percentage in, so--

JIM COURIER: Yeah, I was going for it.

JIM COURIER: Even the Ivanisevic match, that kind of made me have a little bit of a doubt, but you know, I came back out and fought pretty good yesterday against Michael, so it is working out for me so far. It is always tough to play against these guys. Every match is a tough one, but it is the end of the year, you get up for it, just go for it. You hit it, you keep playing. You miss it, you know, you go to the beach.

JIM COURIER: Just basically try not to play a conservative at all. You can't win indoors against big hitters playing conservative, so match head-to-head records don't mean a thing when you get on the court.

JIM COURIER: I believe that we are going to have more drug testing, and I have nothing to hide, and I will take a test any time anywhere. I have taken four drug tests this year. Last one coming in Stockholm, and it is a pain in the butt, to be tested, really. This year, in Cincinnati, I played a night match it was finished like at 11:00 and I had to go give a urine sample and I was really dehydrated after the match. It was very humid and I was there until 1:00 trying to give a sample, and you know I had to come out and play like at 1:00 the next day, so I think you know, if we can do it within reason, you know, it is fine. I don't see -- four times a year, random drug testing, I think is plenty. I don't think we need to drug test every week like they do the track athletes. I don't really think there is any abuse that I know of. I don't know of anybody that is doing anything that they shouldn't be. I don't know what drugs would be beneficial to a tennis player anyway, except if you are injured and if you want to rebuild a muscle, maybe steroids you can do it faster, but drugs in tennis it is -- you don't have to be big to play tennis. Look at me, I mean --

JIM COURIER: Look at Petr. Look at Goran. You can go down the list. Krajicek doesn't have weightlifting legs, does he?