THE LIPTON CHAMPIONSHIPS

March 29, 1996

Arnaud Boetsch

JOE LYNCH: Everybody ready? The first question for Arnaud.

ARNAUD BOETSCH: Only ten, it was all right.

ARNAUD BOETSCH: You mean I miss it?

ARNAUD BOETSCH: Yeah, I mean, his serve is pretty strange sometimes because he is not like a huge serve, you know, a very high ball, so the ball was going very slowly and very high and very around the net, sometimes with the wind I was just surprised. If I get tight a little bit, you know, I miss it. And with the sun and, you know, all my tournaments in the shoulder, I got -- I lost my, I don't know -- all my, you know, focus. That's why I missed the shots.

ARNAUD BOETSCH: No, today was all right. It was a match. I didn't feel, you know, so great today. I was a bit heavy and a little bit tight at the beginning, to be honest, I was tight.

ARNAUD BOETSCH: I feel all my tournament and I want to play well and I want, you know, I thought I had good chance maybe, and try to play like I played the day before, but actually, I didn't play so well in tournament, like in my shots, you know, I was not hitting the ball in every shot, but I was just fighting and today physically and maybe a little bit tight mentally. I didn't fight so well, you know, that's maybe the difference, but that's why I am a little bit disappointed today.

ARNAUD BOETSCH: Yeah.

ARNAUD BOETSCH: Well, yeah, I was fighting, you know, I was feeling a little bit heavy, you know, he was quite tough. Not as tough as two days ago, still moving very well. I had my chance in the first set, too, you know, it was 4-1 and I came back to 4-3 and I had these two breakpoints and I missed two forehand returns. The second one was really strange, you know. I started to have a blank, you know, I didn't hit the ball very well. I lost the first set. I had mentally -- I was mentally a bit down and I lost 11 points in a row. I was still in the match, he was pretty tough. I didn't hit the ball like I wanted to.

ARNAUD BOETSCH: It is maybe not just Agassi, it is maybe, you know, to be in the semifinals, it is only four players now in tournament and, you know, I'm pretty close to maybe win the championship, you know, or win very good matches, it is maybe my best tournament for my career, so I wanted to be ready for this match, maybe too much and maybe I miss it a little bit. In terms of feeling the ball well, you know, maybe a great match. It was okay -- okay make, but not a great one.

ARNAUD BOETSCH: I was thinking a little bit too much maybe.

ARNAUD BOETSCH: I have to get used to the clay court, that's right, I hit some good shots. I miss some, sometimes, the wind was a bit, you know, I don't know how.

ARNAUD BOETSCH: Yes, tricky so I had to concentrate, you know, a lot. I lost a little bit of my concentration some time, but I feel ready for the clay court set and I hope I am going to do well, especially in the French.

ARNAUD BOETSCH: It was a deuce?

ARNAUD BOETSCH: Yes, after my breakpoint or something?

ARNAUD BOETSCH: Yes, but, you know, some linesmen make some mistakes, but I make some too, so that's all right.

ARNAUD BOETSCH: Sometimes you need some more -- I hit some lucky in the last couple of match so, you know, it is just like that. You know, the thing is I have to win the point on my breakpoint I miss that and after that a lot of things can happen.

ARNAUD BOETSCH: Which one?

ARNAUD BOETSCH: Yes, that's right. This one was disappointing a little bit, yeah, I thought the ball was very -- going this way or around the net, so maybe the ball was let, I don't know. I was pretty, you know, sharp on this one, it was good forehand and the referee just say it was let, but, you know, it's all right. It is -- the match is not on this point.

ARNAUD BOETSCH: It didn't change me a lot.

ARNAUD BOETSCH: Oh, yeah, yeah, sure. I didn't play so well on hardcourt outside, so it was -- it's maybe my best one on my career, that's right, but, yeah, I got some confidence now, I am ready to play the '96 season and I hope I am going to be better than that because I need to be better on the, you know, big matches like this one today, you know. That's the thing to do.

ARNAUD BOETSCH: I have no idea how much I have earned, but close, yeah, maybe.

ARNAUD BOETSCH: You know, I have a wife and a baby now, I have a lot of things to do with that.

ARNAUD BOETSCH: I mean, my baby needs education and things, so, you know, wipes and things like that.

ARNAUD BOETSCH: He is almost five months. He needs a lot of things, you know.

ARNAUD BOETSCH: Him?

ARNAUD BOETSCH: I don't know, I don't know yet, you know, I didn't see him for three weeks, so he is changing a lot. Maybe now yeah.