US OPEN

September 3, 1997

Jonas Bjorkman

Q. Did you feel something special on the court about Petr when you were playing?

JONAS BJORKMAN: Not for the moment, no. I think we both were fighting very hard to win the first set and even in the beginning of the second set and I think when I hold my serve to 5-2, it looked like he all of a sudden started to look a little different with his face. I don't know. So, I didn't know what it was definitely. I was surprised that it was only a cold and, you know, I also got a cold. But, that is the way it is and I mean, you always like to win the final point and on a matchpoint, but like today, he retired and that is too bad. But I am still through and I am real happy about that.

JONAS BJORKMAN: It feels very, very good. It is a special feeling that I never felt before, because I have never been there. So, it is really a great feeling for me. I have been in the quarterfinal before. But, I think to be in the semifinal is really much bigger step to go up. I am really going to sleep good tonight, definitely.

JONAS BJORKMAN: Well, I think it is a few things that I have been improving. I have been improving my serve, but maybe the big key is that I am moving very good, and after I am moving very good, I have been improving my baseline game to really be strong on the back and really work hard to win the points. That definitely helped me in a lot of matches this year.

JONAS BJORKMAN: Well, I mean, of course I want to have myself as the favorite, but I think definitely the guys who are still in the tournament is very strong and the next opponent, Greg Rusedski, has been playing extremely well here and he has been improving his game a lot and he was in the quarterfinal in Wimbledon so, he is having a lot of confidence in playing these Grand Slams. Hopefully, you know, we are going to have a good match and then we will see what happens, if I am the winner or he is. But got to wait and see 'til Saturday. I am going to take this match now and really feel good about that.

JONAS BJORKMAN: No, I can't imitate him and I have a few other guys that I have done some imitations on, but that could be maybe after --