VOLVO MONTE-CARLO OPEN

April 20, 1994

Stefan Edberg

STEFAN EDBERG: Yeah, I mean, I felt that I was playing quite well today, and I played a lot better than I did yesterday. I mixed my game up very well today. So it was a comfortable win today, but I felt better.

STEFAN EDBERG: I think always if you play a claycourter like himself, if you let these guys play from the baseline, they get into a rhythm, they play very, very well. It is very hard to beat them. I think they probably don't get to play against players like me too much on the clay who come in on nearly every shot, and it makes it probably a little bit more difficult for him; plus I was feeling quite good today.

STEFAN EDBERG: I think, like I said, with these claycourters, if you let them play from the baseline, they are getting it a long rally. The longer the rally, it is the better; they think it is. I really try to really attack - especially in the first half of the match - and I succeeded. I got him out of rhythm, and I actually started playing better myself. I started moving better. And so it was the right way to play him today because I don't think he knew exactly what to do, and he got a little bit frustrated. So it was a good move today.

STEFAN EDBERG: It is hard to tell. I thought I played quite well last year on the clay. I had a lot of very consistent results in all the tournaments that I played on the clay. So last year was a move in the right direction, and I am trying to play a little bit the same this year with the same schedule; playing a lot of clay court tournaments, and I think that is the way to do it. I think you need to play a lot of tournaments in order to win the French Open. I think it is - for me it would be very difficult just to play one tournament beforehand and just going in and playing the French Open. You have to give yourself time.

STEFAN EDBERG: Well, you always have to ask around because this is the fourth player in two weeks that I have never seen play before, so you sort of have to ask a few questions. But what I heard, he is a young promising claycourter, so I expected it to be a tougher match today than it really ended up being. Maybe I was -- I was prepared today to play my game. That was the plan that I had, and hopefully with a little experience that would be a good help for me.

STEFAN EDBERG: Yeah, this year we have said because we have been working for such a long period of time we are working a little bit less this year. He basically - just doing the Grand Slams together with me this year, and that is the approach we are taking this year. Obviously, if I were to play somebody like Alberto Costa today, he probably would have been out watching that for me. But, you know, I don't particularly go and watch. And I can't, because if I go and watch somebody, I just get too many people around me, so I wouldn't be able to concentrate anyway. So that is the way it is.

STEFAN EDBERG: I mean, we have always taken one year at a time. And I think we have been working for such a long period of time, it is time that he needs to spend more time with his wife, I think, because I think he has probably seen more of me than his wife in the past ten years. We have come to a stage where I have started a family, too, so it is just the way it is going to be for this year. And by the end of this year, talking about next year --

STEFAN EDBERG: I have inside information, so, also, I really - I wasn't really surprised, no.

STEFAN EDBERG: No, not really. I thought he would find it tough because it is -- it is not easy coming from America playing your first clay court tournament in Europe, because it certainly is different. Playing against a guy like Kafelnikov - which he is a very, very good player - so I actually thought Kafelnikov would win yesterday, and he did. I didn't see anything of the match, so it didn't take me by surprise.

STEFAN EDBERG: I think he will be playing well in Paris. You know, he is always a threat; especially on those courts which will be better for him. But if he wants to do well, he needs to play a few tournaments on the clay beforehand. That is my opinion, because it is not easy coming in haven't played on clay.

STEFAN EDBERG: Yeah, he needs to play a lot of matches because he has had so much time off. He is one of the players who can really come back and play very well the first tournament he plays. He has proved that a lot of times, but it is very hard to build up any consistency, and so it is not going to be easy for him. So my advice to him would be to play a lot of tournaments beforehand.

STEFAN EDBERG: Yeah, but it is not going to work, I know that because the only way I am going to win on the clay is playing my game. I can't sort of stay back and rally for the remainder of the day. It is not my game, and it is just wouldn't work that way. You need to play, you know, use your strength, my strength is going to the net, so it - there is only one way to do it.

STEFAN EDBERG: It is hard to tell. I think there is a few strong players on the clay like Bruguera, Courier who were in the final last year. They are going to be tough this year as well, I think. Then you have outside players like Agassi; maybe a little bit myself, Sampras. I think can do pretty well, too, so I wouldn't say it is more often than this year than it has been in the past. It is pretty of the same.

STEFAN EDBERG: Yeah, for me, yes. I was quite happy that they choose to play this part of France, which, I mean, all of us are familiar with. And that they are going to play on hard court is, obviously, better for me, and it is a lot easy coming off the grass and starting to work on hard court which you are going to play on coming to America, so they made a good choice.