EUROCARD OPEN

October 29, 1998

Boris Becker

Q. Give us a summary of how you feel you are playing; where you feel you are at the moment with your game?

BORIS BECKER: Well, I must be satisfied with the three matches. I haven't played in quite a while. Coming into one of the strongest fields ever for the end of the tournament, I couldn't expect too much. But the way I have been playing the last three matches gives me great satisfaction. Even today, I have played well. I wasn't the one where I had luck on his side, but, you know, overall, even today, I played very well.

BORIS BECKER: Well, I am trying. I am going to play next week in Bercy and then in Stockholm. Hopefully, each week I will play even better and, yes, I didn't think I was able to play that strongly and so I am very much encouraged by the fact of my performance this week.

BORIS BECKER: I am in the process of doing it. I haven't decided yet 100% where it is going to be.

BORIS BECKER: No.

BORIS BECKER: Deserves ... It is not for me to judge who deserves to be No. 1. The one who makes it at the end, earns it and must deserve it. Obviously, ideally, you want the guy who won the more Slams to be No. 1 at the end of the year, but since Pete has won, Marcelo has not; Pat has won, it is not a whole lot of difference. I think it is exciting for tennis that you have three still in competition. The rest is very much open. Pete is in good form again, but obviously Marcelo is the leader and he is in the tournament and he has got all the cards on his side right now.

BORIS BECKER: Oh, yes, it was a big part of my life and I enjoyed very much to come back and be part of such a tournament and that is the part I definitely miss by not playing that much anymore, sure.

BORIS BECKER: Wimbledon was very difficult. Obviously I miss it that much I was courtside at the semifinal when Goran played Richard and even the final I saw in the Royal Box and yes, I had an urge of going on the court and doing it myself instead of talking about it. But, well, I have done it a long time in a row, so that was a decision I took; I am very glad about it. But if it wouldn't hurt, it never meant a whole lot anyway, so I was kind of glad the fire was still there and -- but I have done it 14 years in a row and it is time to do something else.

BORIS BECKER: Well, I don't think it is in such a bad state as everybody is trying to put it. Yes, there has to be some change in the format. Yes, we have too many tournaments on television each week. But I don't think it is a problem with the personalities and the lack of young exciting players coming up. I think, you know, there is a general desire of talking about the good old days that they weren't all that good after all. It is always easier to talk about the past than it is about the present. I think the game is exciting and just the fact that three players are playing for the No. 1 spot shows that it is a very, very tight race and, you know, you have Australia who is a big tennis boom right now. Spain is very much a tennis country. Not -- yes, it is no more Germany, it's a fact tennis was built very much in Germany. We don't have the Top-10 players anymore, you know, but other countries have it and they deserve credit for it and they deserve more tournaments for it.

BORIS BECKER: I always said that if he puts it down and gets dirty a little bit, he is one of the best of all time. He put his commitment back into the game and, yes, it is a bit of a miracle last year he was ranked 140; now he is in the Top 5. It is one of greatest comebacks, I think, tennis has ever seen. I am not surprised by it. He is such a talented guy that it was just a question of time when he is going to be back.

BORIS BECKER: You should never say never, but I strongly doubt that I will be back for the 35s. First of all, I have a couple years left under 35, therefore I prefer to play with the young boys instead of the older boys. Plus I think when the time comes I am 35, the last of the things I want to do is keep on travelling as a tennis player to different parts of the world. But other players choose to do that, that is all right as well. I have been a long time a professional. I think once I have quit the men's Tour, it is going to be it.

BORIS BECKER: I hope so and I am convinced that we have a young group of players who are going to make their mark, but we have to give them time a little bit. Obviously the shadow of Michael and myself is quite large; it is not easy to produce each five years a new No. 1, or a Grand Slam winner. But talking about Kiefer and Haas, they have the talent. They have the potential. Hopefully they have the desire to go all the way. The other juniors we have, they are playing as well good tennis. If we produce another Grand Slam winner, I hope so.