U.S. OPEN

September 7, 1995

Byron Black

BYRON BLACK: Basically, yeah. I was pretty much overpowered out there. Really windy. I haven't played in that sort of swirling wind before and I think Pete was used to that and he serves a lot better than I do and I think I was really struggling every time on my serve.

BYRON BLACK: A little bit, yeah. Took the wind out of my sails. You know, in the other matches I felt really confident and I was building confidence as I went along. Today, he really blew me off the court. I really didn't have a weapon that could hurt him today. So it is kind of a downer.

BYRON BLACK: Right.

BYRON BLACK: I have done better -- I did better today, than I have done before. He pretty much killed me at Wimbledon two years ago on the grass and last year in Antwerp, on a very fast court, he also overpowered me, so I try to stick with him a little today. I was able to break his serve at least a couple of times. That gave me a little more confidence.

BYRON BLACK: Well, like I said, I wanted to really stick with him. I know he has got one of the best serves in the game; probably the best, so it is heavy. He must have aced me, I don't know how many times today, but his most effective serve goes out wide to my forehand on the deuce side and I was really struggling to see that. I didn't make any of them back. That was the one that was really hurting me a lot.

BYRON BLACK: Just mentally, he is very stable, you know. Nothing seems to phase him too much. You can break his serve and he still comes back firing. He has got a lot of confidence. He knows he is one of the top players.

BYRON BLACK: It is hard to say, because I really didn't play well in the third. I mean, he was feeling very confident, obviously, taking the first two -- we were both struggling a bit in the beginning with the wind. Then, in the third, he really started rolling and he just built up momentum.

BYRON BLACK: Sure. When he is at the top of his game, it is pretty to watch. He is so smooth. He has got ---every one of his strokes is just about perfect.

BYRON BLACK: Not really. No, I mean, obviously I was happy to be out there. I had felt I deserved to be there and it is nice to -- I mean, to lose to a player of Pete's caliber.

BYRON BLACK: A bit of both. We both were struggling a little with the wind and I did break him which gave me a bit of confidence, but I was struggling on my serve as well.

BYRON BLACK: If you could say that, yeah. You know, just his serve, basically, is the big weapon. It is tough to get around that, you know, I really didn't have an answer to that today. My strength is my return and when I can't use my strength, I basically don't have any weapons.

BYRON BLACK: Well, it has been a long summer. I have been working on a lot of things and, you know, it is nice for it all to come down -- all to come together at this moment, you know, at the U.S. Open. That is what I was hoping to peak at, and, you know, it is one of my goals. It was one of my goals to get inside the top 50 during the summer and it is nice to achieve that. But more importantly, it is nice to be able to beat, you know, a couple of top 10 players and really know that I can do it. That is the main thing.

BYRON BLACK: The only difference, I would say is, you know, obviously Pete has got a little better serve. He is just very stable, Pete, he doesn't get flustered. He is very calm. Stich can -- he can be pretty much up and down. That is the difference that I saw.

BYRON BLACK: No.

BYRON BLACK: No. No.

BYRON BLACK: I am sure one of my friends would have taped it and they will eventually get a tape.

BYRON BLACK: I really have tried to, you know, stay focused and not talk to too many people. I am going to give my parents a call tomorrow. I am going to actually go home tomorrow, so, you know, it is about a two-day trip back home, so it is a long way. They have never actually been to the states before, my parents.

BYRON BLACK: No. You know, maybe I am strange that way, but I just -- I don't want anything to change. I just wanted to keep going and I always call them after I finish a tournament.

BYRON BLACK: Yeah, sure, they have been in touch.

BYRON BLACK: For sure.

BYRON BLACK: Yeah, basically. Or the worse....