THE LIPTON CHAMPIONSHIPS

March 27, 1996

Arnaud Boetsch

ARNAUD BOETSCH: The difference?

ARNAUD BOETSCH: That's tough to say. I think, you know, I told that already, but I think I was a little bit lucky, you know. I had like sometimes I miss my backhand, the ball was going this way very high, and with the wind, you know, and so he got a bit mad of that, especially at the end. So I was relaxed, you know. He got a bit mad at the end because maybe of my luck, you know, I don't know exactly, but something like that, so because we were so close, you know, so close, he could have win, you know, like I did.

ARNAUD BOETSCH: Yes, a little bit. I can understand it.

ARNAUD BOETSCH: No, not at all -- I mean, I can't. You can't play with luck, but, you know, he hit like 20 breakpoints. He didn't -- he did just maybe three, three breakpoints. I had like three or four twice, you know, maybe three.

ARNAUD BOETSCH: Three for three, so, you know, it is a bit like, you know, MaliVai Washington, he had like 11 and he hit just one, so, I don't know, sometimes it is like that in a tournament. Everything is going your way, you know, so that's one of this --

ARNAUD BOETSCH: Oh, yeah, it's -- actually I can't remember really when, you know. All I know is that's right, he made a great, you know, cross volley, backhand cross volley, he made a great one. And I was just running, running, and I just hit the ball, you know. I thought he could have reached the ball, you know, easily and I don't know. I didn't see my shot, actually, I was just still running and hit the ball like that and, you know, maybe pray for the point, but I was surprised to win this point really.

ARNAUD BOETSCH: I don't know. I did, but yes, because there was not too much, you know, to cross, so I had the chance to reach the ball and I was quite fast, you know.

ARNAUD BOETSCH: Yes, but I was surprised to win the point, you know, it was like, "Oh, yeah," everybody was clapping, so that was great.

ARNAUD BOETSCH: I have no idea, actually. When I was up in score, you know, maybe I'm not hitting the ball so hard. I just try to hit the ball safely and play the point and it is maybe a mistake, but when I'm down 15-40 or Love-30, you know, I try to hit the ball harder and say I have to win this point, you know, so it is maybe the difference, actually he worked very well.

ARNAUD BOETSCH: Yes, they were so nice. I don't know exactly if it is the French crowd or the American one because they had like maybe 15 or 20 French people here, you know, screaming all the time. So they just -- you know, the voices are louder than the American ones, I don't exactly, you know, but I think it was a good match, so that is why the people enjoyed it.

ARNAUD BOETSCH: Yes, I played Andre maybe once and I got killed. It was like maybe six years ago. I was a kid, you know, he was younger than me, but I was a kid and so it was in the French Open. I got scared, you know. He beat me like 6-1, 6-3, 6-Love, so I have my revenge now. I am going to try my best. I enjoy to be here, so I have maybe one day rest hopefully, you know, because I start to be a little bit tired. Friday will be another day, you know, I'm going to try to hit the ball harder than him, which is going to be very tough, but you never know.

ARNAUD BOETSCH: Maybe six times.

ARNAUD BOETSCH: 3-1 Courier, so...

ARNAUD BOETSCH: He is still top ten, right?

ARNAUD BOETSCH: He is still top ten so it means something for me. I think he was playing a little bit -- I think he is playing much harder right now than last year, you know, he was playing much better. I was practicing with him maybe 18 months ago, he was not that confident, he was hitting the ball much lighter. You can feel it. He is much stronger now, much stronger. And for me, something to beat him today because I feel he is coming back, you know, to the way he was playing in like two or three years ago.

ARNAUD BOETSCH: Both. Physically, the ball is harder, he is hitting the ball harder because I beat him in the final in Toulouse. He was inside, you know, he was a bit tired because he won the Basel the week before, but still, you know, I thought here he was hitting the ball much harder than in Toulouse. In Toulouse I couldn't move, I feel the ball better, but here he was tough, he was tough. Hopefully he missed some shots.

ARNAUD BOETSCH: I don't know exactly, you know. It is maybe we put too much pressure on ourselves, I don't know. You know, I think there is big potential in France, but we still young people and we have like a different mentality than here. Here you think you can be president, you know. In France you can't feel like that. So in France you say, "Okay, I am going to play and we'll see, you know." Here you want to win. You want to -- that's what I feel when I am in the United States, so that is maybe the difference. Yannick was total difference, total difference than the really French people. He had this state of mind, you know, he wants everything. He wants to fight. He wants to -- it is tough for us to have that, but, you know, maybe to get in a little bit now.

ARNAUD BOETSCH: That's a special time, yes.

ARNAUD BOETSCH: I don't know, I feel very relaxed now. I didn't start the year very well. I finished the '95 very well. You know, I feel strong. I was moving up in the rankings. I was number 14, so -- but after that, you know, I was tired, you know. Things happen and I start the year very tired. I lost a bit of confidence and I lost matches and I just needed to rest a little bit after a few losses and I think it is coming back now. That's the main thing, you know, physically, mentally I feel stronger, but I have to improve a little bit physically because at the end I was so tired, but that is the main reason.

ARNAUD BOETSCH: I am going to answer it like a stupid thing, I am going to play every match after every match. It was tough for me to play MaliVai Washington because he beat me three or four times, after it was tough to play Edberg because he beat me ten times, and then Courier, then Agassi, maybe Joyce. But I'm -- how you say that -- climbing the mountain. So I can't say, "Okay, I am going to be right on the top," you know, I say, "All right, I will see, you know, I try to play each point after each point." That is a stupid answer, I know, but...

ARNAUD BOETSCH: Yeah.

ARNAUD BOETSCH: Both, yeah. I think he has much more to lose than me, you know, on this last sets. I was feeling okay, I was fighting, so he was fighting, too, but he wants really to win, you know. And he got frustrated because of my shank balls. I had some luck on the breakpoints sometimes and so I was relaxed. I don't have to complain, you know, it was just, so, okay, it is going all my way so I have to, all right, let's see, maybe it is going to continue, you know, and that's what happened, that's why I was relaxed.

ARNAUD BOETSCH: That's tough for me to answer because I like Jim and I don't want to say anything bad about him, so but what I think maybe Sampras is on the top, he has a game to beat everybody all the time and so it is tough. A guy like Jim, myself, you know, all the players after Sampras and Agassi to be No. 1 because they are so strong and so -- but I think Sampras is more complete, you know, he has a complete game. He can serve all the time. He can play the back of the court and he can come on the net all the time, which I can't do that, you know, I think Jim can't do that, too, so that's maybe the difference. It is much tougher for him.

ARNAUD BOETSCH: How often?

ARNAUD BOETSCH: He was -- it was a special thing because I was -- I had a coach, his name was Dennis Ralston, so I came to the states maybe 18 months ago, we came to Indian Wells, Palm Springs to practice and Jim was there, so I practiced two weeks with him. He was very nice, but that's it. And I practiced once in his home here, Fisher Island, so that's all.

ARNAUD BOETSCH: Yes.

ARNAUD BOETSCH: Yes, just once before the tournament.

ARNAUD BOETSCH: This year, yes. Yes, this year. Right.

ARNAUD BOETSCH: The volley? Jim?

ARNAUD BOETSCH: I think he is improving his volley --

ARNAUD BOETSCH: Oh, today, I don't remember.

ARNAUD BOETSCH: No, I think -- he was playing strongly, you know. I think he missed some forehands, which doesn't -- which he doesn't miss too much.

ARNAUD BOETSCH: I don't understand really that.

ARNAUD BOETSCH: No, I mean, he is -- I think he had a good volley, you know, he is not volleying like Sampras, Sampras can make the volume make the point each time, I tried to run after the balls, you know, to make passing shots, so that's all I can tell you.

ARNAUD BOETSCH: Both maybe because I put much more pressure when I had the break -- a breakpoint down, so I served better. I put pressure on my forehand and backhand, you know, I was fighting much more a little bit. I don't want to lose this game, that was my state of mind, but he missed some maybe easy shots, you know, on the breakpoint after two or three runs, you know, he just miss the ball so it was easy for me.

ARNAUD BOETSCH: Maybe a little bit at the end, yes. It was at the end maybe at three all because he had the game point and I came back and I shank one ball, you know, with my backhand, the ball was going very high on his backhand and I won the point after that and I knew he was frustrated on this point. I couldn't understand it, you know, because it was lucky. I won the point after that. I broke him 4-3 down in the first set and he was mad. He was mad.

ARNAUD BOETSCH: I was kidding.

ARNAUD BOETSCH: It was just the fun part, you know, I was not mad at all. I was not mad at all, that's right. I hit the net like two or three times, I thought it was funny to do that four more times, so I just walk and try to come back because I say, all right. It was a relax thing to do.

ARNAUD BOETSCH: I can broke my racket sometimes.

ARNAUD BOETSCH: I don't know why I do -- yeah, that's right, but, you know, I try to feel the wind. No, it is relaxing to do that. I know sometimes it's not -- you know, I feel relaxed to do that, it is all right, I lost the point, but, okay.

ARNAUD BOETSCH: No. My coach is the same of Marc Rosset.

ARNAUD BOETSCH: No, no. I live in Geneva.

ARNAUD BOETSCH: Thank you.