US OPEN

September 2, 2000

Richard Krajicek

MODERATOR: Questions for Richard.

RICHARD KRAJICEK: Very, very happy. Actually, yeah, a great feeling. I mean, I think I beat a player who was already a great player, and he's also in a very good form at the moment. It was really a tough match. We both played I think high-quality tennis. I was a little bit lucky at the end.

RICHARD KRAJICEK: It's difficult to say, but I think it's one of the toughest. There was not a lot between us. We had both our chances a little bit. It looked like Tim was going to take it maybe even in four sets. He was playing very, very concentrated, very tough tennis. Yeah, I think the nicest thing about this match, there were not too many loose points. That is a great feeling. I don't know if it's the greatest match, but it's certainly one that I'll remember for a while.

RICHARD KRAJICEK: Well, I know he can double-fault. That's why when he missed his first serve, I moved around a little bit, wanted to show him that maybe I was going to attack his second serve. In a way, I was trying to get -- to put him under pressure, maybe that he was going to double-fault, and he did. I knew it was possible, yeah.

RICHARD KRAJICEK: No, not really. I think he actually improved a lot his serve. I think his serve used to be more inconsistent. Today he came up with some big serves at big points. In the second set, I could have gone a set and a break up. That would have been tough for him to come back from also. Then he came up with a few very good first serves. But, yeah, I don't think that's the word. But it's tough to get rid of a name. I think a couple years ago, you knew he could double-fault, still you had the feeling that maybe when it gets very important, sometimes you can get your bad habits back at the tightest moments.

RICHARD KRAJICEK: Well, it helps a lot. I think when you're seeded, then you have matters in your own hand, in a way. I was really depending on the draw. I think I was very lucky with the draw. Not to get Henman, actually. I thought that was one of the toughest seeds I could face. I was lucky for the first two rounds that I wasn't facing a top player really, so I could find my game a little bit. Yeah, that's the advantage of being a seed actually. So I think it is important. Once you played, after a couple matches, I feel good. I know I can beat everybody. I mean, I've been Top 5 myself, won Wimbledon. So, yeah, I'm not afraid of anybody out there on the court, especially on grass and hard court. I feel pretty good. The seeds, I think they're good. You have to find some way to, yeah, seed the draw. I think, in general, it's an advantage to be seeded. You don't depend on the name out of the hat.

RICHARD KRAJICEK: Well, there were some moments he returned unbelievable. One game I thought, in particular, it was at 4-All I think in the third set, he just came up with two unbelievable chip returns on the ad side, backhand pass, another good return. I think I was 30-Love up. I lost four points in a row just from good tennis from him. Yeah, then of course I have a big serve, it's tough to return. But he had very good returning streaks actually. I had to be very sharp on my serve and on my volley. Yeah, I was impressed, especially with the one-handed backhand. I thought if I could kick it up there, I would get more easy shots. I was playing a confident player. I saw that from the get-go.

RICHARD KRAJICEK: Well, I don't know. It's tough to say. I mean, I think I played -- when I won Key Biscayne, I was playing very high level tennis, but I was playing a lot of baseliners there. I think Sampras was the only serve-volleyer I played. It's difficult to say. Wimbledon I was returning very big off both sides, serve-volleying good. The serve-volley game I've played good since Wimbledon, since I won it, for sure, the same kind of level, I guess. Now the returning game, on grass definitely I haven't played so good, but on other surfaces, it's different. Your opponent stays back. It's difficult to compare the two. Obviously, I haven't had a long streak of matches in Grand Slams since. I mean, the best I've done is quarterfinals.

RICHARD KRAJICEK: No, I think actually before US Open last year. US Open last year, in the third round, I made a wrong move, or second round, then I had some problems. I had surgery at the beginning of the year. Slowly I've been coming back. I mean, I felt physically probably before good. But now in combination with the results. I mean, it's not difficult to feel good if you play one match a week. Nothing can happen to you. So now I played a couple of matches in a row, a couple of tough ones, best-of-five. I feel still good physically. That's nice.