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Q&A with Michael Chang Posted: Thursday April 03, 2003 1:47 PM
Chang: Yeah, I feel pretty comfortable. As far as becoming No. 1 and stuff like that, I've kind of let that go. I'm just going out this year to have some fun. I definitely want to be able to walk away from the Tour without any regrets, to be able to feel like my 16 years out there playing was a very positive experience that bettered me as a person. SI: How has the grind of the Tour affected your body? Chang: I think, in certain aspects, it has taken its toll. I'm not necessarily weaker or more injury prone, but I definitely feel it when I'm playing a lot. When I first came out on Tour I was only playing 15-17 tournaments a year. Now the norm is to play 25-27 tournaments a year. Some guys play 35 weeks throughout the year and I think some guys would probably play 52 weeks if they could. It's not easy to be out there for all those matches and expect to play at a high level week in and week out
SI Chang: I think at the end of 1997 I definitely did. I felt like I was so close to becoming No. 1. I was really one match away. If I had beaten Pete Sampras in the final of the U.S. Open or if he had lost the match to [Alex] Corretja in which Corretja had a match point, I would've been No. 1. I felt like if I worked a little harder or pushed myself a little more, it would take me over the hump the following year. I think in certain aspects I did overtrain a little bit and ended up having some injuries as a result. I definitely got a lot stronger, but in getting stronger I lost some flexibility and agility, and ended up getting hurt. SI: Christianity is obviously a cornerstone of your life. Was it difficult to be a person of faith on a Tour that can often be filled with people who are selfish individuals? Chang: No, I don't really think so. Maybe one of the good things about tennis is that it's a worldwide sport and we have so many different people from so many cultures, backgrounds and ethnicities. I think everyone comes to respect each person for their own beliefs and where they come from. Even though the Tour doesn't have a lot of Christians, I never felt that people were making fun of me for what I believed very strongly in my heart. SI: Was it difficult to avoid temptation on a Tour that has its fair share of temptation? Chang: For sure. I think for any professional athlete there are temptations. You get involved with the wrong kind of people, the wrong kind of things. Obviously, you see a lot of attractive girls in different places and it's part of being a professional athlete. A lot of people are attracted to that. You definitely need to be able to distinguish what's good and what's not good and what's right and what's wrong. I feel that the Bible has given me a good base to help me to recognize those things. It doesn't mean I won't make mistakes. I definitely do and definitely have, but you always learn over a period of time and even learn through other athletes' mistakes. Hopefully, you try to make the right decisions. SI: You and Sampras first played each other when you were 8 years old. Who won that match? Chang: I don't remember, but I want to say that I did. SI: You were part of a great generation of American players -- Sampras, Andre Agassi, Jim Courier, David Wheaton, Todd Martin. Where do you see yourself among the group? Chang: I really think it's a wonderful group to be a part of. To have so many guys come from juniors, where we were competing against each other for titles, and then come out on Tour and see so many of the guys do so well is pretty exceptional. I don't know if you're going to have a class of American players like that for quite a while. You hope you will with Andy Roddick, Taylor Dent, James Blake, but we'll have to wait and see. Our group has been pretty special and it's an honor to have been a part of that.
SI Chang: I was when they beat me in the Grand Slams (laughs). But, in all honesty, we've kind of gone through different stages in our careers. When we first came on Tour, Pete and I were pretty good friends and got along pretty well. I trained with Pete the first couple of years on Tour and we would even play doubles periodically. Then we started to do well individually and we had our own support groups and our own teams helping us and we started to drift apart, realizing when we would go into a tournament that we were each other's chief competition. That brought a certain competitiveness and made it a little more difficult to hang out. So we had our time of competitiveness to try and become better than one another. In certain aspects we would have our little scuffles on the court. But as we approached the latter stages of our career we've kind of come back together again a little bit and we root for each other and hope the other person does well. We seem to greet each other with a little more warmth. SI: Your brother Carl has coached you since 1991. Did you ever consider going with another coach, just to hear someone else's voice try to motivate you? Chang: Carl and I have talked about that and there was a period of time when we were looking at some different people to help me out. Carl is the type of person who would quickly step aside if he felt someone else could do a better job than he could. For some reason, when we looked at coaches it never seemed to work out. It just didn't feel right and it never came about.
SI Chang: Probably the 1996 U.S. Open final against Pete. I think I would have prepared a little bit differently with the rain delay. When I walked onto the court I was too pumped up and it made it difficult to play. I never really got into the match and I was also a bit unlucky. I had a set point in the third set and I came in and Pete hit a let court passing shot that hit my racket but didn't dribble over. I felt like the tide was turning. If I had won that third set, I think I would have had a good chance to win. That was tough. SI: We know you're a big fisherman. Is fishing more difficult than tennis? Chang: No, because with fishing you can't lose. If you catch a fish, it's an added bonus. But if you don't, you still walk away feeling good.
SI Chang: I've taken Pete fishing on a couple of occasions. SI: How would you rate him as a fisherman? Chang: He knows nothing about fishing. SI: Do you like being called an overachiever, or does that diminish your talent? Chang: It doesn't really bother me. The Lord has blessed me with the talent to play tennis and I never dreamed I'd play professionally at this level. To have won so many tournaments and met so many great people along the way, it's just been a great experience. One of the reasons I wanted to have this farewell tour is to thank the tournament directors, the people involved in the events and the fans who have supported me and made some of the matches that were great even better.
SI Chang: No, it would actually make my decision to retire even better. I would feel like I was going out on a high note. I know that's what Pete is struggling with right now. It's every professional athlete's dream to finish on a high note and I've come so close to winning another Grand Slam, so to win another major in my last year on the Tour would be, well, I can't even describe what that feeling would be like.
SI Chang: I don't think so. I've never intentionally broken a racket during a professional match. And I've never received a code violation for any kind of unsportsmanlike conduct, so hopefully that will never change.
SI Chang: I've given this a lot of thought. I can't play professionally all my life and I think it's the right time to give it one last push and one last effort and to be able to walk away from the Tour feeling great about things. Hopefully, I've touched a lot of lives along the way. I'm looking forward to finally settling down and being able to unpack my luggage. --Richard Deitsch Issue date: April 7, 2003
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