US OPEN

September 1, 1997

Jonas Bjorkman

Q. I guess I want to know why you play so much. You seem to have a very busy schedule, like you're playing every week almost. The reason I ask is, this is Labor Day here. It seems like you're kind of a working man's tennis pro. You're playing all the time.

JONAS BJORKMAN: Well, no, I don't think I play more than anyone else. I think I play almost the same like all the other guys. I've been taking down a few weeks on my doubles this year, so I play less tennis this year actually than I've done before actually.

JONAS BJORKMAN: What?

JONAS BJORKMAN: If I ever work?

JONAS BJORKMAN: Yes.

JONAS BJORKMAN: I helped out a company who sponsored me back home.

JONAS BJORKMAN: They sponsored me with clothing, and I helped out when I had a free time between my practicing.

JONAS BJORKMAN: No. It was all kind of things. It was all kind of things in the company.

JONAS BJORKMAN: Well, it's tough to go percentage. I think there's always a new day when you go in and play your next match. The next one, no matter who it's going to be, it's going to be very tough. Hopefully, I will feel good on Wednesday and hopefully go out and play good tennis. I think if I play good tennis, I've got a good chance to win the next one.

JONAS BJORKMAN: Well, I don't know. I haven't heard that. If what you said is true, I think I've been playing some great tennis this year. I've been improving my game a lot. After I won my first title, I really felt strong, that I can win more tournaments. That means that I can play solid tennis in more than just one or two matches; now I can play good tennis one or two weeks and then maybe have a bad week after that, but still come back again. That definitely is a good point for me. To see that I'm able to play a lot of good tennis, a long time. So, I mean, of course I think everyone got a chance to win. I'm part of that group.

JONAS BJORKMAN: Well, my serve. I've been improving my serve quite good. Also my groundstrokes from the baseline. I think before to beat some of the Spanish guys, I had to attack them a lot, make a lot of chances. Like this year, I've been beating a lot of these guys from the baseline, even if my serve haven't been working. So I've still been beating these guys. That's a good sign for me to see that my groundstrokes has been improving.