ATP TOUR WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP

November 14, 1994

Boris Becker

BORIS BECKER: I think people tend to forget that it wasn't just one very good week, you know, could be one, two, three in a row, but it was sort of didn't see their results all over the year. I thought I had a very solid year all over on every surface. I made the final in the tournament in grass where it was the semis. And even before Stockholm I was already the No. 6 in the world. So okay, finally I made the boom in Stockholm and everything -- all the best players in the world back to back, but it showed already in the month prior to the tournament that I was able to play great tennis again.

BORIS BECKER: Yeah, I'm going to make the decision after the Grand Slam Cup.

BORIS BECKER: Whether I will be playing and if I will be playing when; which round.

BORIS BECKER: Of course there's a chance.

BORIS BECKER: I don't want to really go into it. I said the last couple of weeks that I want to make a definite answer after the Grand Slam Cup, and I know I have an easy week ahead of me and another easy week in Munich and after that I will tell you what's going on.

BORIS BECKER: Well, not in particular. Actually, I feel that we have one more opponent to fear, so, you know, no, we have so many strong opponents week in, week out that we don't follow one particular player that much.

BORIS BECKER: They have a few rules, and I think it's partly because of me and mainly because of all the press basically speaking in the same voice about the issue. And, you know, we're very glad that -- (Inaudible.) -- and hope that everything is going smoothly.

BORIS BECKER: It was a spontaneous answer to the news I heard in the morning when they changed the time rule, 25 to 20 seconds, and I know how hot it can be in Australia, and I know playing the best of five match and the climate which is in Australia can be very hard anyway. So I was -- my first reaction was that in the press conference, and I -- and talking about it I wanted to point out, you know, that some of the things they were trying to change I don't -- they're not making much sense. Actually, they can hurt tennis in the long run.

BORIS BECKER: I was very, very -- at that stage of my career I was very fortunate to have found a man with so much knowledge and so much experience as Nick has in the last winter. It was a period of transition for me where I got married, and my son was born, I didn't play very well, in the fall I dropped from No. 3 to No. 10, and I didn't play a tournament in two months. It was very important for me to find right there a man who can bring me his knowledge back to the top in the tennis world and I, you know, I'm very, very glad about it, very thankful.

BORIS BECKER: We worked on all areas of the game. It starts with the technique; both through the mental approach you have in matches. But, you know, it all comes down to work as you -- it may look easy sometimes on the tennis court. You have to spend many, many hours on the practice court just improving yourself, and after you have been playing for so long as I have been, it's not the easiest thing as when you're a teenager on the Tour. Nick found the right words to inspire me every day, to go back to training and just do a little bit better than the day before. And after ten months now, I'm back to being a very good tennis player.

BORIS BECKER: I think respect is the most important part. I respect him a lot. I respect the work he's done, and he respects me a lot. Our partnership is based on that, on respect. And we, at that stages of our careers, we don't need each other anymore to be famous or to be big. He's his own man, he did his own things before me, and I did my own things. So right now as what we have achieved is going to be the icing on the cake for our careers.

BORIS BECKER: We came almost -- I played about 19, 20 tournaments. He came to 15 tournaments with me, plus he spent many weeks in Munich in my training camp. We spent many, many weeks together.

BORIS BECKER: To stop talking about whether tennis has a crisis or not. I don't think it has any and I've been answering that question for the last six months almost in every question, and I got tired of hearing about it, and I think most players are. Tennis is bringing out excellent players, new ones, some old ones are coming back to the old form and I don't think -- you know, tennis isn't in a crisis at all.

BORIS BECKER: You see, how quickly things can change. He was untouchable for six months and then he got injured and then he struggled too. First of all, to come back on a tennis court and then, of course, in a couple tournaments he didn't play like he did before. So, in the first six months he was definitely untouchable, he lost two matches out of 12 or ten. And, you know, also I think now players start to know his game a bit more and -- but when he's playing well and when he's on top, he's very difficult to beat. He doesn't have a weakness.

BORIS BECKER: I think the majority of players would like to win a couple of Grand Slam titles, and a few have the opportunity; including Andre and including myself. Of course I want to win a few more.

BORIS BECKER: Well, it's very easy to talk over a year and explain it in one sentence just how you did. One year can be very long for an athlete; you go through many ups and downs. And when you're reaching a semifinal in Wimbledon, it's not that far away from being a winner. But I intend to be in more semifinals in the future.

BORIS BECKER: Oh, no, I have that hair cut quite a lot of years now, and sometimes they get shorter than planned. And I wish, you know, the hair cut to be make me quicker this week. I don't have the extra weight on the head.

BORIS BECKER: I played two clay court tournaments and I reach one final. So sometimes you forget how little the difference is between winning and losing, and once you're in the final, the difference is smaller. Unfortunately on that final it wasn't as close as I hoped to be, but yes, I hope I can produce, you know, similar kind of clever tennis next year in certain events.

BORIS BECKER: No, for my tennis it was a tough period. For my personal life, it was the most beautiful period of my life. I got married a couple of weeks before Noah was born and it was really a beautiful experience. I hope that I can make that experience many more times, you know what I am talking about?

BORIS BECKER: It is not up to me. And if you play as many years as I have been now as a professional tennis player, you cannot go through the same tournaments and the same years when you are 25 years old pretending you are 17. You have to face that you cannot be inspired by the same things you were five years ago. And for me, it was very important to have foundation, a base there, my private life which gives me the chance to excel in my profession, and, you know, that may be tennis now. In a couple of years it may be something else, but for me, the foundation is there now, just to go on as a normal human being; it doesn't matter what happens.

BORIS BECKER: Obviously it depends on the success and on the enjoyment you have, but I strongly believe that I have a very good chance of making it that long because deep down I really love tennis. I love the competition. I love to travel around the world; maybe not as many times, but I am one of the few ones who can call his job his hobby. And as long as I have that, my success, I wish to continue many more years.

BORIS BECKER: I thank him very much. I want to keep in Germany that trophy. It has been the last two years in Germany that trophy and it is going to be very difficult this year with all the competition, but I will try my best.

BORIS BECKER: I mean, you say that only. I mean, it is very difficult to play on clay week in and week out. You have to be in great shape and you have a lot of tough players on that clay surface. And for him to have achieved the 7 ranking and to qualify, he has to be playing incredibly well. And no, he won so many tournaments plus he was in the French Open in the final, he deserves 100% to be here in the ATP final.

BORIS BECKER: You play where you can, where you have the possibility to win. And he believes that he has the most chances on clay and, you know, he deserves to be here.

BORIS BECKER: Sorry? Actually, she doesn't get involved so much and I would like to get more involved, but she doesn't let me either, so...

BORIS BECKER: Because it is very difficult to understand each other's feelings deep down on your profession and why you do it. And, you know, she is travelling now for a couple of years around because of me, so when I quit tennis, I think I have to make a few years of travelling up for her. So I hope she continues what she did before.

BORIS BECKER: I would say honestly the comeback of Agassi. You know, he had a very difficult operation at the beginning of the year and he couldn't play prior too many months, and for him to be now the No. 2 ranked player in the world and really winning the U.S. Open and winning Paris and winning really strong tournaments, I think was a surprise even to him how quickly it came. Plus, on the other hand, we have in the last couple of years a big change of the guards and that hasn't happened this year. You know, this year, apart maybe from one player, you expected almost all seven or eight who are in the ATP final to be somewhere close to it again.

BORIS BECKER: That is a surprise how he went down, yeah. I forget about that.

BORIS BECKER: It is easier. It is much easier, much less pressure than before. Much less.

BORIS BECKER: Actually, it was this year from the amount of years that I played there. It was this year. Next year is my Wimbledon No. 12, but my 11th since I became the champion there. So it was already this year.

BORIS BECKER: I have a hard time finding just one. I could tell you 25, but...

BORIS BECKER: I personally would like to have more Grand Slam tournaments.

BORIS BECKER: No, a lot of players have the chance on it too. I cannot point one --

BORIS BECKER: I think about the quantity of tennis tournaments. I definitely believe that we are playing too many so-called big tournaments and they are built up from the media, from the whole organizers, to make them big because they want to sell, obviously, their tickets and their TV rights. But you only have, you know, maximum two handful of really important tournaments and -- but the ranking system doesn't allow us to play less because our opponents are playing 20, 25 tournaments, and they want to have the equal chance for the amount of points. But I think the ATP has found it out and they want to change for '96 maybe something in that direction. That was a short answer for one point.

BORIS BECKER: I think it is going to be a very close match. We both have a similar style. We like the serve and volley game, we like to base a lot. It is going to be probably deciding who just feels a little bit better on the day.

BORIS BECKER: I don't like to call myself new. I don't like to call myself old. I am Boris Becker, you know, playing the tennis on the Tour for ten years now, eleven years.

BORIS BECKER: You definitely have to improve each year to be able to keep with the best. If you don't improve you go down, and I am playing very good tennis right now.