A Few Questions for Michael Chang

Michael Chang literally burst onto the tennis scene, becoming the youngest ever French Open champion at 17 years, 3 months with thrilling victories over Ivan Lendl and Stephan Edberg en route. Since that time he has remained a permanent fixture in the top ten. Last year, however, injuries and perhaps age have slowed him down in recent years and last year he failed to win at least one tournament for the first time in eleven years. Here's what Michael had to say about his struggle to regain form.

Q: Michael, why have you struggled in the past year or so?
Michael Chang: Well, I think it's been a combination of things. I think injury played a little bit of a part. I think just trying to get back into the swing of things. This year, I haven't had to deal with injuries, which has been great. But, you know, tennis hasn't quite been where it has been in the past. It's taken me some time to make that progress and get back to where I was. Like I said, it's a little bit tough to pinpoint. I can't really say it's one thing because I think it's been a combination of some things.

Q: Do you feel like you're playing like the player you used to be yet? Are you close? 
Michael Chang: No, I don't feel like I'm quite there yet. I'm having fun trying to get back there. That's good.

Q: Where do you feel like you are right now with your game?
Michael Chang: I got off to a good start in the year 2000. The last couple of years is kind of a learning thing so I’ve tried to learn from it and try to become a better player. I’m trying to take things match by match and every match I get under my belt is going to help me more and more. I feel like things are getting better little by little. 

Whenever you try to work your way back, it’s never one huge jump its going to take some time. For me I don’t expect to get back to the top just like that. It’s going to be a lot of little steps. It’s going to be gradual and I’ve got to be patient and put the time in and the effort to succeed.

Q: (Last year) you spoke candidly, and said you were going through the toughest phase of your career. Do you think you're still going through it, or do you think you've had a breakthrough?
Michael Chang: I don't know. I don't feel the same heaviness. Things are a little bit different now. I've learned a little bit. Learned a lot, actually... I'm just pretty much trying to take things in stride.

Q: You seemed so down then, the weight of the world on your shoulders, sullen, whatever you want to call it. What changed?
Michael Chang: I think a lot of it is perspective. A lot of it is attitude. I think part of it is maybe not putting so much pressure on myself in certain ways. I think one of the tough things is that I'm a perfectionist. When I'm used to being at a certain level or certain ranking, when I'm not able to maintain that or be in that position, I always feel like there's something wrong, something I'm doing that's not quite right. I feel now like my perspective has changed. It's a little bit more relaxed. I realize that I am, you know, indeed very, very blessed to be able to come out and be able to do something that I really enjoy for so many years. It's very, very easy to forget, you know, about the good things when you have a lot of bad things or difficult times that you go through in life. 

Q: Was there ever a point you thought, "My chance is passed, I'm ready to give up"?
Michael Chang: To be honest with you, there were times when I was very, very frustrated, times where it did cross my mind: This is something -- maybe we should start to think about other things. I think those times really only happened when I was really very frustrated and very discouraged. I think once I started to really think about things, you know, come to my senses, I realized that this is something that I still love very much. I know this is still a place where God wants me to be. I continue to work at and continue to persevere at it. It's taken quite a bit of time, but it's okay.

Q: Did you envision yourself going a number of years more not being a lead player, Top-20 player? Is that a possibility that you could see?
Michael Chang: It's a possibility. I don't know what the future holds.  

Q: Do you feel like you can still summon the intensity up that you could three or four years ago?
Michael Chang: I feel like it's still there. You know, I feel like it's still there. Whether that is something that, you know, people see on the court or not is, you know, it's hard for me to really say. But I feel like, you know, the determination and the fight is still there, just haven't been able to win as many matches as I did three or four years ago. So, yeah. 

Q: Have you cut down on your weight-lifting program?
Michael Chang: Can you tell (laughter)? I feel strong. But, yeah, I have. I think it has helped me tremendously, not just that, but to change my whole way of going about training. I think it's definitely helped me to get to the ball a little bit better. I know that if I'm able to do that, it gives me an opportunity, a chance to be able to do something with the ball. If I can't get to the ball, then I don't have a chance at all. It's something that I've learned. Hopefully, I'll never go back to doing that. I think everyone is a bit different. My size and stature, God didn't make me a big guy, by all means I'm not going to go out there to win matches by overpowering players or bombing 140-mile-per-hour serves. It's just not my style.  
 
Q: I know you don't like to look back too much, but if you had to change one thing in your career, what would that be?
Michael Chang: It's hard to say. I can tell you that I'd like to change some of the mistakes I made. But then again, part of growing and part of being human is making mistakes and being able to learn from your mistakes. I think in many ways the tough times that I've gone through, some partly because of mistakes, it's helped me to grow as a person, as an individual. The funny thing is that God takes your good and your bad, and still somehow he's able to make it good out of all of it. That's the wonderful thing. I mean, there are always things that you'd like to take back, but obviously you can't do that anymore. You learn from them and you correct them, you ask forgiveness of those people that you've wronged. From there, you move on. 
 
Q: Would you like to play Davis Cup again?
Michael Chang: Oh, yeah, absolutely.

Q: How would you find playing for John?
Michael Chang: I think it would be pretty exciting. I think John's a pretty intense guy. You know he's going to be there behind you. I've always gotten along pretty well with John. Actually, I've gotten along better after I've beaten him than before. I think John has a certain closeness to the American players, particularly the players that are approaching 30. He has a particular closeness there because for us, growing up in tennis, we've watched him play. We watched him play the '80 final against Borg in Wimbledon, these classicl matches. In certain aspects, we are able to identify with him. He's obviously able to identify with us. There's a certain respect there for the things that he has accomplished.

Q: Has he talked to you about playing Davis Cup on particular surfaces?
Michael Chang: No, no. I have not talked to John since prior to Harare.

Q:  This may be a touchy subject. Has Prince renewed your contract?
Michael Chang: No, they have not.

Q: Do you think you'll switch racquets or seek another contract?
Michael Chang: That's something that we'll have to wait to see how things go. I think for me, obviously I'm not going to make any kind of change unless I know it's for the better. I'm 28 years old now. I don't think it's in my best interest to go to fiddle around with a new racquet unless I'm absolutely a hundred percent confident it is a better racquet. For the time being, I'm happy with what I'm using.

Q: Obviously they've been going through a lot of changes. Did that kind of hurt after all these years?
Michael Chang: It did a little bit. I think what maybe hurt the most is that I've been very close -- obviously I've had a relationship with Prince for a very long time. What I miss actually is the family of Prince.

Q: You've taken Phillip King a little bit under your wing, worked with him a little bit. Why, and what are some of your reviews on this young player?
Michael Chang: I think Phillip is a very talented player. I think he's very similar to me in many ways: Size-wise, obviously being a Chinese-American, same kind of upbringing in a certain way, going through, winning Kalamazoo, doing very well there. I think for me, it just worked out that we were able to hit a few times in LA  I don't feel like I've really taken him under my wing. I feel like obviously there's a certain commonality there that's a little bit unique. I don't know exactly what he's going to do as far as the future. I think he has a bright future ahead of him. He's going to have his chances. It will be good for him to be able to get out there and play some, you know, see how he does, make his decision from there.

Q: Will you be a sort of mentor to him occasionally as he winds his way through the Satellites?
Michael Chang: Sure. I feel like -- to be honest with you, I think for all the up-and-coming American players, the guys like Courier and Agassi, Pete, Todd, all of us, you know, we're pretty open to the younger American guys. If they come to us and ask for suggestions or comments, stuff like that, I mean, we're more than happy to share our information or share what we know. It's been probably more so during Davis Cup than any other time. But then again, us Americans, we practice a lot together.