DAVIS CUP - THE NETHERLANDS Vs. USA

April 5, 1997

Paul Haarhuis

Q Did the match go about like you thought it would?

CAPTAIN FRANKER: It went better than I thought it would because Stark and Leach are No. 4 doubles team in the word and with a 2 nil lead, I mean, it is a tough have team to beat.

CAPTAIN FRANKER: Well, the shot is on now. It is wide open.

CAPTAIN FRANKER: Well, you know, we had experience already, so what they say in French "deja vu," so, we are not inexperienced at comebacks, let us put it that way. It is going to be tough. You are talking about Agassi and Courier. It is a tall order, but that is what the top sport is all about.

CAPTAIN FRANKER: Because, you know, we start -- the No. 1's will play each other tomorrow and the form that Siemerink demonstrated yesterday, I mean, he had a matchpoint. He should have won that match. And, Andre played a professional match against Schalken. So, I hope that tomorrow he is in the same playing condition and Siemerink is even better than he was on Friday.

CAPTAIN FRANKER: Well, personally, I thought that Stark was a better volleyer. But, today he made a lot of volley errors on high balls, especially. And, our guys had -- as the match progressed, their returns became better. And, the down-the-line is a weakness in American team, the down-the-line returns. It was difficult to find it all the time. But, Haarhuis - a very crucial one on matchpoint, the return down-the-line won the match for us.

CAPTAIN FRANKER: No, not really. I wasn't paying that much attention-- I was watching my players. But, I don't think that they had any communication problems. As a matter of fact, they were firing each other up when they won the third set. That is why they won the third set. They were playing a lot better.

CAPTAIN FRANKER: You said it. Anything that is meaningful, it is more important than it being dead. I hate dead rubbers. You have to play them, but I mean, it is ridiculous.

CAPTAIN FRANKER: No, Siemerink played a similar match in Romania against a guy he lost to twice on different surfaces and he came back being down three matches points.

CAPTAIN FRANKER: Voinea.

CAPTAIN FRANKER: That is definitely so. To form a team you have to know each other well and these guys know each other extremely well. Their wives are friends or one is married; one is going to be married in July. Their wives are friends also and they have been coasting the world for years. Another thing is that Jacco is the more serious guy, Paul is the guy with a bit -- who uses humor also when he plays. He is very relaxed.

JACCO ELTINGH: Thanks. That means I have no sense of humor. (laughter)

CAPTAIN FRANKER: So, it works all on the right levels. For me, it is an easy job because these guys play together so often, I don't have to do anything. I sit there and listen to their conversation and I may interject a few words here or there, but that is it.

CAPTAIN FRANKER: Well, let us put it this way. I had a job.

CAPTAIN FRANKER: I was a backyard pro in Beverly Hills, but I was looking for a head pro job in a country club. That is what I didn't get. I even forgot the name of the country club.

CAPTAIN FRANKER: As a private instructor, but at private homes. They call it the backyard pro because tennis court is in the backyard.

CAPTAIN FRANKER: I coached a few small ones like Heston and Portier.

CAPTAIN FRANKER: Charlton Heston, Sidney Poitier.

PAUL HAARHUIS: Schwarznegger, Sharon Stone, just a couple of small ones.

PAUL HAARHUIS: You haven't noticed?

JACCO ELTINGH: Listen to him, when he loses, let us see how funny he is then.

PAUL HAARHUIS: I think we played better than them on the big games, big points. We won Love games; they won Love games on their service games, but when it came down to games where it was 15-30, 30-All, 30-40, we played better. I just felt like we created more chances on those games. It wasn't like we created a chance every game, but when it was a little bit closer in the service game we -- I felt like we were playing better tennis.

JACCO ELTINGH: Tell you the truth, we try to put everything aside. We forget it is Davis Cup. We forget everything else, and at that time we just have to think about our own level. If our own level is good enough, we can beat every team in the world. We have proven that. So, for us, at that time, we just focus on each other on the court. We focus on each other during the warmup. That is why Stan also said we are very good to coach when we are out there because we are playing together all the time and we know what it takes to get our level there. And, if it is there, we are going to beat everybody. If it is not, then we are going to lose to everybody.

JACCO ELTINGH: For sure.

PAUL HAARHUIS: Of course.

CAPTAIN FRANKER: It better.

PAUL HAARHUIS: I mean, you start laughing a little bit.

PAUL HAARHUIS: Yeah, that is why -- we are serious. I guess if you start laughing -- we are serious -- than it wasn't a serious question.

PAUL HAARHUIS: Yes. No, hey, you know, last time they were there in Bucharest and then we did it. We have a little bit stiffer competition now, but we showed yesterday that we were very close to beating these guys. And, you know, if we were a little bit more lucky tomorrow, you know, we are going to be celebrating a big party tomorrow night. We have to be playing well.

CAPTAIN FRANKER: We have to be fortunate.

PAUL HAARHUIS: Oh!

JACCO ELTINGH: I didn't know. Have to be very careful here before we answer the question.

PAUL HAARHUIS: It is very nice, definitely.

PAUL HAARHUIS: Mentally. Just to be --

JACCO ELTINGH: Physically wears you down.

PAUL HAARHUIS: Mentally stable. It is nice.

JACCO ELTINGH: I think, in a way, it should not be necessary. That is the most important reason. But, if they think it is necessary, then I think it might be a good idea because a lot of teams, a lot of Americans teams, they play together for maybe two, three months and if the results are not straight-a-way winning tournaments or making good result, they quit playing together. We didn't start playing off and winning every tournament when we started. It was the same for the Woodies. But, we stick together now for five years and they already stuck together for eight years, something like that. That is when you start winning the big events. So this can really help them maybe get them some security, financially, so that they can maintain, you know, travel expenses and playing together all the time. So, maybe gets some over the first few months.

PAUL HAARHUIS: It is a tough issue because I mean, you have to -- one guy maybe might be in singles still and only guy is only doubles. You have to be able to, you know, to hang out and be on the road with each other for 48 weeks or whatever, you know. That is what we have been basically doing for the last five years, and, hey, you know, you don't really know the guy how he is and whether you really can get along with him very well unless you do that long period. There is a lot of factors, you know, tough to say, yeah, they should do it because if you give him 50,000, if he doesn't like to play with the guy all year, then he is not going to play with him. It is just -- Maybe they were thinking about 500,000, then the guy is not such a bad guy to hang around with (laughter).

JACCO ELTINGH: Then he is not going to try because he already makes enough money.

CAPTAIN FRANKER: The United States did have some great doubles teams in Davis Cup.

JACCO ELTINGH: They still have great players.

CAPTAIN FRANKER: Yeah, Smith Lutz, Fred McNair, Sherwood Stewart.

JACCO ELTINGH: Leach and Pugh.

CAPTAIN FRANKER: McEnroe, Fleming.

JACCO ELTINGH: Flach/Seguso. They have so many. It is about time somebody else wins the doubles tournaments.

PAUL HAARHUIS: You think that is a good idea?

PAUL HAARHUIS: I think they are fantastic out there. It is really for us good that we hear them cheer us on especially when you play outside your country. And, you know, they are having a good time and they are all tennis players. It is not like they -- they pretend to be students still, so I don't know.

JACCO ELTINGH: Americans start clapping between second and third serves at the end of the match, they start clapping in between points. I don't really see the Dutch guys that they have done that throughout the week.

PAUL HAARHUIS: I thought he was out there cheering for us because they called the Dutch cheese heads; that is why I figured he was cheering for us.

PAUL HAARHUIS: That is why they are wearing orange -- they are called Dutch because they are cheese heads.

PAUL HAARHUIS: No. For you guys, not such a good idea.

CAPTAIN FRANKER: Don't copy everything.

PAUL HAARHUIS: It is like when we have breakpoints you hit hear the Dutch fans going "breaky, breaky" and then today we are down breakpoint an all the American fans of the Americans going "breaky breaky." I was like, come on, can't you think of something?

CAPTAIN FRANKER: Be original.

PAUL HAARHUIS: Be original.

PAUL HAARHUIS: Yeah, or something like that. You know, I it hit is good -- because you see it in team events that people like that are more into it. And, you know, it is fun to have a little bit of a crowd getting into the matches and as long as it is not annoying, but, you know, we are not in a country like Brazil or Romania where they really whistle and do everything to disturb you. Then it is an annoying if you have fans there.

JACCO ELTINGH: Those people still pay about two-thirds of the price themselves so it is subsidized. They are tennis lovers. They still pay a large amount of money to come here for the week.

JACCO ELTINGH: Well, we have never played them as team, but we have played them as individuals. So from those experience we tried to learn and tried to put things together. Obviously we watched them over the last few weeks because we knew we had to play them in Davis Cup and, you know, two things, Stark very strong service games with Leach at the net. Leach service games, they can be a little bit shaky sometimes if we really can put the pressure on, but today we felt we had chances on both serves. But, I don't think Rick really returned a lot on deuce in the first couple of sets. When the match went on, he did it a little bit better. I think Jonathan, he had a few opportunities to convert for breakpoints and he didn't make those points at that time. So, it is about the same.

JACCO ELTINGH: Well, as I said, we tried to put pressure on Leach's serve. On Stark's serve, we tried to play from the baseline; sometimes his serve. We played up front; tried to create some controversy between the two of them at the net. We tried to play more at Stark than we play at Leach because, you know, I am not going to tell you all the tactics because next time they will play us they will kick our ass. But those are the most important things we were trying to achieve.

CAPTAIN FRANKER: I thought that the match would definitely go five sets. I didn't tell the guys, but that is what I thought being 2-Love down there is a lot of pressure, but these guys surprised me. They played a tremendous match.

PAUL HAARHUIS: No, I mean, he played really good and to come to two matchpoints against Jim Courier, eventually losing it, but, you know, what can you say? He played real good match and a little bit unlucky to lose that. He played a good match and we were going to try to make sure he is going to have a chance at it again on Sunday. We let him win in cards. He won 40 bucks off me last night playing cards.

CAPTAIN FRANKER: To build up his confidence.

JACCO ELTINGH: Klaverjassen.

CAPTAIN FRANKER: That is a Dutch name of it.

PAUL HAARHUIS: Did you write that down?