EUROCARD OPEN

October 27, 1998

Boris Becker

Q. How did you enjoy this match?

BORIS BECKER: Very much. I was very glad to be back on the tennis court and with feeling pretty healthy. I have played one tennis match in three months. I originally was going to play more indoor tournaments, but I broke my ankle about eight weeks ago, therefore, I tried in Basel, but I felt like I wasn't ready yet and I needed another couple of weeks. So I am glad to be back on the court. I was able to pull it off in two sets. I am very pleased with that.

BORIS BECKER: I enjoyed very much to play on the clay. It gave me great satisfaction to be able to play good with the best players in the world. Even beat some of them like Haarhuis in Gstaad, for example. Unfortunately, I couldn't have played more indoors because I feel like if I am back into practice I have a chance to do well. But I have won first round now. I have another match with Moya tomorrow. I am looking forward to it.

BORIS BECKER: Yes.

BORIS BECKER: I asked them already a long time ago because I wanted to play absolutely here in Bercy and I talked to Patrice and to Christian and they promised me one.

BORIS BECKER: That is right. He served well, too. I had him a couple of times Love-40. And he started to serve his best when he was down Love-40, apparently, and just took it the last game when I needed the matchpoints, he came up with big serves every time, so he didn't give me any opportunity to really play the point.

BORIS BECKER: Yes, I was. It is something I love doing. And I am very glad to be able to still come back and play decent tennis. It gives me great satisfaction to be able to do what I really love. Hopefully I can do it a few more times.

BORIS BECKER: If I would try to improve my ranking it would be a very foolish thing to do by playing 10 tournaments a year. I am actually surprised to be ranked where I am. But, no, it gives me pleasure to be able to come out here and play with the best players and practice the last couple of days, it is -- obviously, sooner or later I am not going to do that anymore. So as long as I am still around, I enjoy it more than before probably.

BORIS BECKER: We had a little chat.

BORIS BECKER: We are pretty good friends, so, hopefully one of these days when I need his help I am sure he is able to give me some.

BORIS BECKER: I don't know, to tell you the truth. I am planning now to play next week and to play in Stockholm. Obviously I wanted to play more in the fall and with my injury it took away a lot from what I have gained this summer. It was very difficult to come back and actually play again because the muscles didn't work anywhere, the ankle hurt. So it really depends how healthy I am. If I stay healthy then I can play a couple of more tournaments. If I break my ankle, or if I break a muscle, then it is going to be very tough to come back.

BORIS BECKER: Sure. Sure. Yeah. I mean, it really depended how quickly it healed. If I would not have gotten ready to play now, I don't think I was going to -- I was going to be back next year. It is tough enough resting for three months. I couldn't cope with it for six months, it would be too long.

BORIS BECKER: I am really here as a tennis player and I want to stick to Schalken and maybe Carlos Moya and not about anything else, whatever is written about or whatever the rumor was. A lot of people talk many, many things; not everything is true. I am not going to put more fire into it. I am just thinking about Carlos Moya right now and hopefully I will do well tomorrow.