EUROCARD OPEN

October 25, 1997

Jonas Bjorkman

Q. You made a big, big jump in this tournament to get into the Top 8. Are you pretty pleased with that?

JONAS BJORKMAN: You mean for The Road to Hannover?

JONAS BJORKMAN: Yeah, it is definitely better to be up with the Top 8 than be outside and hunting. So, definitely, it is looking good. But, I think it will be up to Stockholm before it will decide who the 8 guys are going to be.

JONAS BJORKMAN: Well, I definitely was hoping to do good result here. I think still I am, you know, it is good to be in the semis, but I definitely was hoping to get further than that. I thought I had a good chance today, but unfortunately, I couldn't take advantage of it.

JONAS BJORKMAN: For the rest of the year?

JONAS BJORKMAN: Definitely it is a big goal to be a part of Hannover. That is probably my main goal for the year to get into Hannover. And, also to get into the Top 10 and hopefully have a good finish with Davis Cup.

JONAS BJORKMAN: You definitely said it correctly: Normally one call normally don't hurt a match either way. But I think today, against Richard who was serving so big in the end of second and beginning of third, it definitely hurt me because the longer we get in the third set, you could get into the tiebreaker and I think I got the advantage of better returns and having a better chance to win the match. And now, unfortunately, he got up 15-30 instead of I would have had 30-15 and that is a big difference in these kind of matches when Richard only serving big and chip-and-charge all the time and never really give me any rhythm. So, definitely I was frustrated about it because I think the umpire, if he is into the match, normally you sit up on the chair and looking. I mean, he is sitting like this. (Indicating slouching) I think that is too bad because it is two important matches coming up now, I mean, this week and the last two weeks.

JONAS BJORKMAN: Well, I don't think I doublefaulted there. I think he made a backhand winner down-the-line to 15-40 and --

JONAS BJORKMAN: -- then I made a big serve and I missed the forehand volley. So, he broke me. So, I mean, that is big; especially when you play a big server like Richard.