ATP TOUR WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP

November 15, 1994

Michael Chang

MICHAEL CHANG: Well, I think my approach today was -- I think it was very wrong. I think today I put a little bit too much emphasis on winning and losing instead of just going out and playing. I think that for me that is just not the way I should be approaching these matches. I think I approached it a little bit too seriously in a sense, and for today, I think obviously -- I think I paid the price for it.

MICHAEL CHANG: A little bit. A little bit. Just made a few minor adjustments here and there.

MICHAEL CHANG: No, I don't think so. For me, I am just trying to be able to go up, and each time I serve to be able to have a good rhythm because the serve is something that if you are in a good groove, if everything is working well, you do the same thing every single time, your percentage of your serve is going to improve.

MICHAEL CHANG: No, I could hit 180 for a second serve too. That is not a problem, but I think that in instances people had mentioned my second serve, but I think if you take a look at some of the stats, I am No. 1 as far as second serve points won. So it is not something that I am too concerned with at this present time. I think maybe five years ago or something, that it definitely was concerning me because a lot of people were taking advantage of my second serve, but I feel confident enough that on my second serve variety -- I feel like I can let go my first serve, not be content to just get my first serve in.

MICHAEL CHANG: I think for me it was a little bit -- you know, little bit difficult for me consistencywise. I think that -- I think I missed -- I had quite a few errors today; just didn't -- didn't, you know, didn't knock those numbers down a little bit. Sergi didn't do anything different today. As he always plays, he played very consistent from the back and the type of player where if you are playing well and you hit your shots, most likely on this type of surface you are going to be able to come on top, but if you are missing a little bit or if you are just playing defensive tennis against him, you are going to come up short. Sergi is the type of player that he will take advantage of those opportunities. I think he is quite able to move the ball around a lot better on clay than on this particular surface. But like I said over the past two years, he has definitely improved himself on other surfaces besides clay, and it has helped him out.

MICHAEL CHANG: Well, it is difficult to say because I mean, I played him this year at Wimbledon and Wimbledon is a little bit difficult to assess one's game because the points are so short and sometimes-- Wimbledon is just -- it is just difficult to assess. I did play him, I think, two years ago in the Hamlet cup and that was a three-set match. I think he improved his serve a lot more. I would say that is probably the major improvement in Sergi's game over the past few years.

MICHAEL CHANG: Are you saying that for me the mentality is to just to get to Frankfurt and that is it; is that what you are saying?

MICHAEL CHANG: Well, obviously each year I come here it's something that I want to accomplish, you know, but you are going to have some years where you play better and some years where you are just not quite -- you know, when you come up a few points short. I think that is going to be the case for a lot of these matches; whether they are won or lost, it is just going to be a few points here or there. That is what really separates the best players in the world, I think. That that is really what it comes down to. And I think even for today's situation, I think I had a set point in the first set. I think had I won that point, and I held the 5-3 game just a few points here and there, I could have really turned things around and makes things be a whole new perspective. But still those points are very, very important points. And, you know, I hope that, you know, each time those points come around I will get better and better at them.

MICHAEL CHANG: Well, I think everybody has certain amount of chance to win here. I don't count Sergi out on any surface or anywhere. You don't get to be No. 3 in the world to play top 10 tennis year after year. I think that Sergi proved himself on other surfaces because if you look at his first year when he did do well, when he broke the top, he was playing -- everything was on clay, but you come back the following year and certain designations where you have to play other tournaments on other surfaces, and Sergi wouldn't be a top 10 unless he was capable of doing that.

MICHAEL CHANG: No. I don't think I was nervous. I think my approach and my attitude wasn't quite right. Everybody has a different way of approaching it. This just should not be my attitude of concentrating too much on the winning and losing, because that has never been my attitude and it shouldn't never be. I will change that in my next match and hope there will be a new Michael Chang.