INTERVIEWS

Round 2: Defeated Grant Stafford.....6-3, 6-2, 6-2

Q. Thomas, how well do you think you're playing?
A. I think I'm playing much better than the first match. I felt very good out there, it was a great day to play tennis, a great temperature. I felt really good the way I was hitting the ball.

Q. Talking about temperature, Thomas, going back to years ago to the time you played Lendl, he was physically exhausted that day, wasn't he?
A. That was '89 but I couldn't put the volleys in enough. It doesn't matter whether he was exhausted or not, but I think today was great. It was a good temperature to play and a nice breeze.

Q. How much improvement do you feel you have got within yourself over the next ten days?
A. I think I'm playing better and better every match and, as I said, maybe four or five days ago I wasn't 100 per cent but I'm getting closer, I'm feeling physically much better and I'm having four matches, including Doha, and ten days of practice and really I'm getting back to the feeling of the court and where I'm putting the balls and I think today I played pretty good.

Q. How much time do you get to spend in Australia? You've got a house now in Queensland, how much time do you get to spend there?
A. Probably three months at the moment, but might be later on six months here.

Q. Have you built a tennis court there?
A. Yes.

Q. One?
A. One, yeah.

Q. The surface is Rebound Ace, is it?
A. No, grass.

Q. A grass court?
A. Yes.

Q. So you were playing on a grass court coming to the Australian Open?
A. No, I wasn't, I was in Doha playing.

Q. They are the two days before?
A. No, I wasn't playing at all when I was there, no.

Q. Before coming to the Australian Open for ten days you didn't play any tennis?
A. I didn't play for four weeks and then I went to Doha and I started practising there, because I had an injury in Doha and I wanted to get rid of it completely, that's why I didn't play so much and I started in Doha and, as I said, now I'm getting better and better every day I'm playing.

Q. Are you also feeling maybe more refreshed mentally having had that four week break?
A. For sure because ..... so I tried to get a few more weeks off and it was quite good for me.

Q. Thomas, can I ask you why did you build a grass court?
A. Because it's easy to make it into a putting green when you don't like to play any more.

Q. Seriously?
A. Because I just think it's nicer to play for family tennis. I'm not thinking about practising on my own court, so when I have guests and people they probably like to play more on grass, and it's better for your feet and all this. I can't give you a real reason. It's not that I'm going to win Wimbledon because of this.

Q. Thomas, Mark Woodforde said earlier that there's no reason why players can't play good tennis into their 30s, how many more years do you give yourself without any major injuries; how long can you be competitive for?
A. I wouldn't really like to say. I don't know, maybe three years, four years, five years. I don't know how long my body can stand the pressure but I definitely have a bit of mileage on my body, but I'm feeling good and I just think that if I plan my schedule really carefully in the tournaments I'm playing.

Q. Thomas, are you involved in any way with Austrian Federation, for example, bringing up their new players, the Austrian guys, the youngsters? I know Becker, for example, in Germany has now started a new thing where he would look at the young players and recommend to the Federation who to work with and who is a good prospect?
A. Well, I think that playing with the young players in the Davis Cup team and supporting them I think is one way but my coach was the Davis Cup captain and junior Davis Cup captain, was quite a big influence there, and I think the program they are having now is more privately, not even similar to the Federation, but I think our Federation is not that big, like we don't have the money to spend and other Federations and I think we're to go more the private way and players have to spend more money on their own and find sponsors and that's very difficult. I think we have got quite good young players and it's not that I'm going to be there in my off time and play with the young players and teach them what they have to do, that's quite difficult. I don't know how much time Boris or Michael are going to spend playing --

Q. I don't mean the playing --?
A. -- but I'm not much involved in it. Maybe I can make a stand in the future and put in a Federation - give my talent to my son.