U.S. OPEN

September 1, 1992

Boris Becker

Q. Boris, that looked like a pretty satisfying performance. What pleased you most about it?

BORIS BECKER: Basically that I won the last point with an ace. Kevin seemed to always have a special match with me, since that Wimbledon final. And today, again, he really played good tennis and it is never easy to play a first round in the Grand Slam. So I thought the standard was pretty high performing both players.

Q. There was a moment in the third set where you appeared to go, like Goran Ivanisevic says, "crazy." You started using your habits of falling into the deep coma.

BORIS BECKER: What? Deep coma?

Q. You started to not to play as good as in the first set?

BORIS BECKER: There is still a difference between Goran and myself when he gets crazy and when I get crazy, but it was just that he started to play better, you know, and he had me breakpoint twice. I really had to make sure at that moment that he is not going to run away with the break and I don't use it all the time against me. Sometimes it pushes me also, when I am like that.

Q. You went into other gear at the moment you started to push more?

BORIS BECKER: Yes.

Q. Boris, you seemed to be working pretty hard since you got over the injury that kept you out of the French. Is it a question that you also are waiting for the pay-off of all of this?

BORIS BECKER: Well, it is basically like that. Especially on the clay, I didn't play as good and I was not very fit. And then, I had to on the last tournament, then I had to put a lot at the French which hurt me a lot because that is the one tournament that I didn't win yet. So after that I started training probably harder than I have done before and I have been doing it now for the last two months and, you know, I hope it is going to come all together at some stage.

Q. When you say, "harder than ever before," does that mean running six miles instead of three miles, or more hours on the court?

BORIS BECKER: No, basically constant since Queens, usually after Wimbledon, I take three or four weeks after? But usually I am in the final too. Maybe it had something to do with it. But I really didn't take any long days off after Wimbledon. I played a clay court tournament and I played Barcelona, basically about 2 and a half month. I hope it is going to show.

Q. Do you feel now, you are starting to feel the benefit yourself?

BORIS BECKER: Yes, I am. We played 2 and a half hours and I feel pretty fresh. I felt like I could play another couple of sets out there. It helps me obviously.

Q. How would the standards of play compare to the '85 finals?

BORIS BECKER: We had less rallies then. But, you know, we are different players. We have changed a lot, obviously. He is 34, but still, he is in pretty good shape. I have won a couple of other tournaments since then but it is going to be always a special day for him and for me. And all the time, since we had the tournament, every time we played it is like, you know, very tense match, and he is playing better, and I am playing good all the time, and it is probably always a special --

Q. What is so difficult about the first round in a Grand Slam, that you say it is always difficult?

BORIS BECKER: The difficult part is that if you are a guy who has one hand in the past and whose goal is to win the whole thing? You kind of have to look at the whole two weeks in a way, but you still have to win today, that is the problem. I haven't played so much on that court also, because I played a tournament last week, and to get into a groove at the beginning of the tournament. It is what everybody is trying for. And you know, I can only talk for me, but that is my problem, usually.

Q. Is there such a thing as ideal first round opponent for you type of player?

BORIS BECKER: Basically, a match like today it is pretty good. I had to work hard, but not four hours. I had to play under pressure, but not constant and a match like that, is pretty good.

Q. Is it frustrating for you to have your ranking drop so much lower than it had been for so long? Are you worried about it at all?

BORIS BECKER: It is a fact, if you don't play as many tournaments anymore, then this year, for example, at the French I dropped many points. That is why I dropped so much. But, in a way, I cannot be for about 15 years always going to be in the top 2 or 3 or top 4. I think very few players ever did it, and it is getting a bit harder these days than it was maybe ten years ago, because you really have to push yourself every single week. Every match is difficult, and but basically, for me, it really counts at the end of the year; where I am ranked there and at the moment I am 8 or 7 something like that, I hope that I can improve that a little bit but that is not what I have in mind right now. I am here because I like to win the tournament and then you know, if my form is going to get better and better, then, I am going to be maybe high again.

Q. Do you think that it makes you somewhat more vulnerable; it takes away some of the sense that you are unbeatable?

BORIS BECKER: Well, it is not the big difference being 3 or 5 or 7. Once you have been number 1 or number 2 it really doesn't matter where you are after. I am -- for the other players' point of view, they know who is playing good and who is playing not good. It really doesn't matter how high you are ranked.

Q. What is your overall outlook now on your career? You have always been honest when you were down and up. I mean, emotionally, are you into your career right now?

BORIS BECKER: If I am emotionally into it?

Q. Yeah, you have always been one to be pretty honest about when you have thought about giving it up and when you were unhappy. Right now, how is your feeling toward tennis?

BORIS BECKER: Well, in my opinion I am on the way up right now, that is probably -- that is the best way to be.

Q. How come, though, what has made you reverse your feelings?

BORIS BECKER: At the end of last year, I was tired of tennis basically. I won all the major tournaments. I reached my goal and I took basically sometime out. I played not so many tournaments anymore. And I did that for 6, 7 months. This summer, I started to train more, you know, to be more into it, probably Paris hurt me a lot, not to be able to play there. And since then I found a joy again and the drive, and I think it shows also on the court, but that is the way everybody, you know, everyone's life is like always goes up and down. I don't have to tell you.

Q. Some years ago you had made a statement that tennis is not everything and you had other plans?

BORIS BECKER: Yeah.

Q. Are you still in that frame of mind or do you want to continue some more years?

BORIS BECKER: Of course I want to continue, but tennis was never my whole life and it is never going to be my whole life, but at the moment I am in New York because of the tennis tournament. I try my best to play as good as possible. But once a tournament is over, whether I lose or win, I go home, and I live a so called normal life again.

Q. Considering how the year has been so far, Boris, how important is it here for you either to -- what in your mind will make this a good tournament and therefore maybe a good year?

BORIS BECKER: Well, I like to have a shot to play you know, maybe a Lendl or Edberg, you know, they are in my quarter of the draw, and you cannot -- when you start a tournament you have in the back of your mind-- you always have your hope of winning it, but you have to go step by step, and about three months ago, if I would have played here, I didn't think I had a chance to win. Now I am -- I think I have a better chance, and I hope I can, basically, improve over the last couple of months, and just that goes with winning matches, that goes with playing the best players in the world and the most important tournaments. That is how you improve. And I hope I have that chance here.

Q. Will the disappointment of all the, maybe the first eight months be erased if you can do something--

BORIS BECKER: Well, the first eight months weren't as bad as everybody think they were. I had -- I really had a very bad clay court season, but I won two tournaments indoors and on grass, I wasn't doing as badly either, too, so it is not as bad, it is my fault. I started with winning the most important tournaments, so everything less is bad, basically, but it is not as bad. I think 95% of the players would be happy to have those eight months.

Q. After you had been number 1 and now you are not anymore, do you look at that differently from the first time that you had attained it?

BORIS BECKER: It took me eight years to get there. Once I reached that position for those couple of weeks, or two months I enjoyed it very much. I enjoyed it probably more than most players who have been there because I had to work a little bit longer for it. Right now, I am just -- I feel like I don't have to prove anything anymore, you know, to me and to you. I am having fun going out, I am having fun training and I am 24 years old, and so I have another couple of good years ahead of me where I believe I can win a couple of more Grand Slams.

Q. Jimmy Connors has talked often about the difference between the younger players and the older players. He says the younger players don't have as much fire. Do you agree with that or do you think that he is wrong?

BORIS BECKER: I believe he is wrong. You know, I think now the younger players, because of the chance of making so much money in tennis and because of the fame, you have much more younger players and it shows. You have-- any first round in any tournament is tough, whether you play somebody who is 25 or 17, you have many strong players now and when Jimmy was 25, he couldn't lose to most guys in the first couple of matches. Whereas now you know that you have so many strong players young or old, that I think there he is wrong. It is just not everybody is like Jimmy Connors. He was always a guy with a lot of drive and a lot of fire, playing. Everybody has different way of playing and of being on the court.

Q. You said you found the joy, the drive again and it shows on the court. How does it show on the court?

BORIS BECKER: Can't you see it?

Q. Describe and explain it.

BORIS BECKER: I think about a year ago I basically screamed and scrambled after every point, basically, I wasn't cool at all on the court and that is because I wasn't very happy at that stage. Even though maybe I was number 1 or number 2, now, even if the tough gets going, I keep my mind and I just you know, try to play my best and that is it.

Q. Thank you.

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