IBM/ATP TOUR WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP

November 17, 1995

Boris Becker

BORIS BECKER: Is he serious, what is going on?

BORIS BECKER: Well, first of all, any journalist usually gets one question, not three.

BORIS BECKER: Well, because you are different my comment is "no comment."

BORIS BECKER: I had matches before. I risk a lot on my second serve and, you know, sometimes they go and sometimes they go out. They asked me after the Muster match in Monte Carlo whether I would do it again. I said "any time." It is my trademark, that on the important points, I go for it. I am trying to risk it. And many, many times they go in, you know, sometimes I do make a doublefault. I do make an error, but, you know, it is part of my character. I cannot change that.

BORIS BECKER: The pressure was just so much more because I knew if I have a bad ten minutes or so, he is going to get a break. I am not only battling against him, but I am battling, you know, against me being out of the tournament, so that puts me under so much pressure with every point and every game I play, and usually I prefer the format where even if I lose a set, I am still able to win and go through, but with that format we have, it occurred to me 1992 when I had two singles wins, but I was playing my last Round Robin match; I was playing Pete Sampras; I won the first set; I lost the second set in the tiebreaker, so I was out of the tournament because of losing one set, so anyway, we have to rethink the format because it cannot be like that, that you win two matches out of your Round Robin and you are not able to qualify for the semifinal. You know, it happened to me now for the second time in three years, and I don't think it is should be that way.

BORIS BECKER: Well, the satisfaction is emmense because, you know, he is one of the best players indoors, and I have played him twice already this year and he has beaten me once, so I knew what I was up to. I knew I had to perform my best, but I had to finish him off in two sets and the satisfaction was just very great right now.

BORIS BECKER: In all the tournaments in the world we play the knockout system, and they had it in the Masters a few years ago, and it is just psychologically some players play better under pressure, and some players, you know, play better when there is less pressure when they have a couple of matches to go, and since it is not the format we usually play, I'd like to play how we usually play in the year, meaning if you lose, you lose; you go home.

BORIS BECKER: He is still very young in the circuit, so he doesn't know how the crowd reacted to me in Frankfurt five years ago and how they react. I thought they were very fair. Of course they are very much behind me because they also clap for his good shots, but when he shows them the middle fingers - excuse me - it is probably the most stupid thing you can do in Germany against a German crowd when he plays me. I mean, give me a break.