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AUSTRALIAN OPENJanuary 16, 2003Radek StepanekMELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA MODERATOR: Questions. Q. You're starting to build up a pretty good record against Guga. What makes you think you have the edge over him this time? RADEK STEPANEK: You know for me, this win today, it was more important than the win in Paris Bercy against Guga. Guga is top No. 1 player. I have a great respect for his results, what he done in past years. It feels great, you know, to beat him twice in a row. I didn't lost against him. I think I have a good game against him. I'm playing all-court tennis. I'm trying to mix it up, the rhythm of the game. I think it was working today. Q. Have you ever hit so many dropshots in a single game of tennis? RADEK STEPANEK: Everybody is joking me that the dropshots will kill me one day. But, you know, it's my part of the game. I don't know if I hit that much dropshots in the past matches, but I'm using them a lot. Q. What if you were to come up against a fellow like Hewitt in the next round? He's different in his court speed. RADEK STEPANEK: Sure, Lleyton is the No. 1 player, so I have nothing to lose. I have, let's say, two days to prepare for this match. I'm looking forward to this match. I know that I will play against all Australia maybe. But we'll see. Q. If we can assume it is Hewitt, you haven't played him before, have you? RADEK STEPANEK: No. Q. What are your thoughts in terms of how he can be beaten? RADEK STEPANEK: You know, to beat Lleyton is very tough. You have to be physically ready because Lleyton is not missing too much. I'm just finish a long day today, so I'm not thinking too much about the tactics to play Lleyton. I think I will think about it tomorrow. Q. You showed today you're a pretty intense customer out there, as well? RADEK STEPANEK: Yeah. I love it because I was trying to play matches cold, to be as a European guy, but I need it for my game. I know that I'm in the match. I feel great with that. Q. You felt you were cold as a European player? RADEK STEPANEK: I cannot play without showing my emotions. Q. In the fifth set where the ball was out, you motioned the linesman to call the ball out. What were you doing there? Do you remember the fifth set? Kuerten might have attempted a volley at the net. He basically hit the ball long. You stood on the baseline and looked at the crowd, put your hand out. Do you remember that? RADEK STEPANEK: I don't remember it. I have a lot of points played today, so I don't remember. Q. The rise that you made up the rankings last year, what do you put that down to? RADEK STEPANEK: Two years ago I was playing just the doubles. I was in the ranking pretty low. But I still believed that I can play singles. I was working hard on that. The results came last year. I had a great year. I had no points to defend last year, so I was playing without pressure. I had a pretty good year. I didn't play too much tournaments. I played, let's say, around 15 to 18 tournaments. I was really fresh and happy that I can play singles. Q. What sort of influence has Petr Korda had on that rise? RADEK STEPANEK: Yeah, I gave him a phone call in November now two years ago and I ask him if he can help me, just to tell me what I'm doing good, what I'm doing wrong. Since that time, I believe his words, and so far it's working because Petr, he was second player in the ranking. He won Australian Open, so he knows about tennis a lot. I'm trying to prove his words into my game. Q. Today's win, does that make you feel as if you can match it with the best players in the world? Have you always felt that you could? RADEK STEPANEK: I'm becoming to have these feelings. But, you know, every match is very tough. Now I believe that I can play with everybody. I know that there are a lot of top guys. But in tennis you can beat everybody and you can lose to everybody. End of FastScripts…. |
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