COMPAQ GRAND SLAM CUP

December 9, 1992

Michael Stich

MICHAEL STICH: No, not particularly. Because it was just the first match; I won against one of the top players for a very long time. Just to prove to myself that I can still win, to prove to all the people out there who counted me off already, and that was just -- yeah, I mean, I played great tennis. If you play that well and if you come out as a winner at the end, a bit luckier than Stefan was, then it is just a nice feeling.

MICHAEL STICH: No. But I am not ashamed of it. It is just nice to win and today was very important. Maybe one of the most important matches I have ever played and I have ever won and it just happened once this year. I mean, I didn't have too many wins, so --

MICHAEL STICH: It was just very enjoyable to play. There was a part of me also -- they were just getting a bit disappointed when I was down 1-4 in the third, I came back and they came back, let us put it that way. It was great. It was great atmosphere. It was a lot of fun to play and just they are always like that. I mean, to everybody who is playing, it's the same thing -- everybody is trying to play good tennis, trying to win. I mean, I think nobody has to criticize anything at all again.

MICHAEL STICH: It's a long way to go, and I hope that we are playing the full time with Boris, Charlie, me and probably Karbacher, and the Russian team is very strong, so I hope we win. I mean, that is pretty much it.

MICHAEL STICH: Well, first of all, you seem to be pretty well informed, I would think. Of course, I ended the contract, but it was to end at the end of this year. Then we are going to see what happened next year. I don't understand the record question because I play official record and I plan to go on playing with an official record.

MICHAEL STICH: Well, first of all, it is not ended yet because I am supposed to play another time here. And then of course it is a question I am asked of very frequently, and it could have been better; it could have been worse this year. I am ranking 15. It was not my goal to be among the top 10 or the top five and I am in a very comfortable position. Anyway, I can't repeat this year.

MICHAEL STICH: Of course, as I mentioned a couple of minutes ago and it is clear beating the No. 2 is important for the playing of next year.

MICHAEL STICH: No comment.

MICHAEL STICH: We might have a difference, sort of, because no comment doesn't mean neither yes nor no.

MICHAEL STICH: Well, it's exactly the same surface as last year. The match today showed it was a lot of fun for spectators and for us, and it was not only not just aces, really rallied, and I sometimes feel that nowadays you could play the claycourt, instead people say it is too fast.

MICHAEL STICH: That is what I thought before I came; when you come here you want to win. I thought it before playing Stefan and it is always 50/50 chance.

MICHAEL STICH: Somewhat higher than Munich, otherwise no difference.

MICHAEL STICH: Well, maybe Richard's serve is somewhat more dangerous than Stefan's serve, and then again he is not such a good serve and volley player, Richard. As you said, a few points are going to be decisive. Whether it is going to be his day or my day, I think there is a 50/50 chance.

MICHAEL STICH: Well, it has nothing to do with superstition because it is like in normal life; when you do something well, it adds to your confidence. This is true for us tennis players. It is nice to win and when you lose, you think you did everything wrong.

THE INTERPRETER: The question was whether about playing Stefan Edberg.

MICHAEL STICH: It is always similar. It might remind you of Wimbledon, this match. But all the matches played against Stefan used to be very tight matches.

MICHAEL STICH: I don't think so. Maybe because we both had our breakpoints. I returned very well during one or two games; maybe some easier unforced errors he made were decisive.