U.S. OPEN

September 9, 1994

Brad Gilbert

BRAD GILBERT: I think the two best -- Todd's game, obviously he is very good on his serve; kind of like a spot pitcher. He looks like he could serve 130, but he never does. He moves his serve around well. He serves all four spots pretty well. Obviously, his best shot other than his serve is his ability to be able to be aggressive on the second serve return. Those are the two things that have given Andre trouble in the past; his first serve and Andre getting hurt on his second serve.

BRAD GILBERT: Obviously, the key for Andre, you know, is making a lot of returns on the first serves so he is giving himself a decent -- one extra chance every game of getting a break. Also I believe that the key to him is getting a good percentage of first serves like in the high 60s, so Todd is not getting too many at his second serves. The more Todd gets to his second serve, the more trouble there is going to be.

BRAD GILBERT: Me and my wife we are still hanging in there together. We got together in Key Biscayne and kind of went over things a little bit six months later, but it has been -- working really hard this summer. I told him if it didn't happen today, tomorrow, next week, that it was going to happen. I felt if he practices hard and worked on some things, his game will start to get better.

BRAD GILBERT: It is hard not to be impatient if you are not playing as well as you'd like. I think he felt maybe he had to take a couple of steps backwards and move forward. I think it is a growing process. He is starting to come to net a lot more; starting to think a lot more at the net and he is serving better.

BRAD GILBERT: I told him after that when we came back to Las Vegas practice and we were there for a week. I said he was like a 10-month baby; he was so ready to bust. We had a good practice week in Vegas, it is really hot there. He was working a lot of things. I said, you keep a positive attitude. You can't win seven matches in a row. You got to go out and win the first game, first set and one match and then let it fall into place after that. You can't think about who you are playing in the third round or what anybody else does. You've got to worry about who you are playing against in that particular day.

BRAD GILBERT: It is a totally different surface. Todd is a serve and volleyer on the grass. On hard court he might serve and volley a third or half the time. You know, I mean, Todd Martin, Pete Sampras, Courier, Chang, Agassi, by far, play all the best tennis on hardcourt. (inaudible) hardcourts in the juniors and if they had to play one match they all would want to play it on hard court.

BRAD GILBERT: I think one becomes very capable at 24 and 27. I think he understands at this point in his career that he has got to make his move now. He doesn't want to look back nine years from now and say, I could have done this or done that.

BRAD GILBERT: I feel like, you know, one of those match-ups where (inaudible) guys sit around an analyze. But I think that if Andre keeps focused and he gets Todd moving from the baseline, side to side. I don't think Todd is moving that well. But one thing he has a very good (inaudible) Todd has played lousy here and he is in the semifinals. That is a great sign for him. He is two days from the finish line and he has not played well. He was in, I mean, choked on matchpoint which he (inaudible)-- maybe Richey would have taken him down, but he got injured. He didn't play well against Karbacher. The thing is, obviously, he is still here.

BRAD GILBERT: I think he needs to concentrate better on the score. I was always really worried with score. When you are up 30-Love, take more chances; as opposed being down Love-30; that is time to make your first serve and let your groundstrokes do it. When you are up 4-1 or 5-2 tell yourself you are down a break; keep focusing, so you don't get complacent with your score.

BRAD GILBERT: (inaudible) sometimes it is hard for me not to go a day without thinking about anything else.

BRAD GILBERT: I think the most important thing for Andre right now is just, you know-- it is hard to make any changes, you know, because we have -- I think with him, the most important thing I try to stress to him is the strategy. I think if you go out and play 100% of your capabilities with poor strategy you can lose. If you go out with 60% of your capability with a good strategy, you can win. Nick was never into strategy. He felt like if you went out and played well, good things can happen.

BRAD GILBERT: He obviously breeds more people in the seats than anyone else. Every time he has played it has been full. I told him he can't worry about what is going on outside the court; you got to control what is going inside the 72 by 36. If you make it happen there, a lot of things will happen outside the 72 by 36. That is not my place to tell him what to do outside the court. On the court I feel his concentration level is at a constant pace for 2 1/2 hours; his game speaks for itself. When you tend to go up and down for ten-minute periods and down for ten-minute periods, guys are feeding off his donations. Guys feed on his donations. If he is giving it to guys, guys will take it.

BRAD GILBERT: Obviously the key in the semis of a tournament is making sure you are peaking at the right time. I mean, you don't want to peak for your first two, three matches; then all of a sudden be -- you don't want to peak first two, three matches; then all of a sudden (inaudible) all of a sudden you play a bad match. Obviously, he has been playing well. He has been playing well; even every day in practice, but you know, Todd hasn't played well and it is not like it is inconceivable that he can go out and play 27 aces and play a lot of winners because he is a dangerous player, but hopefully he shows the form that he showed for the past five matches and Andre shows the form that he showed, I like Andre's chance lot.

BRAD GILBERT: I am not going to get into it.

BRAD GILBERT: I lost a bet in Toronto. He won the event. He played lousy in Washington. I had to get an earring and I went and got it.