US OPEN

August 27, 2002

Sjeng Schalken

MODERATOR: Questions.

SJENG SCHALKEN: Well, I don't know. It looked very fancy, but it was very unfortunate.

SJENG SCHALKEN: Well, I'm not that athletic, so... I think it's very tough for Mark. Hopefully he can play soon again. I hope for him that he doesn't have to continue with all his troubles.

SJENG SCHALKEN: 50/50 match at that time. We had a very good level the first two sets both. I felt that the level was dropping a little bit by both sides. Yeah, I was just hanging in there. I felt, "Okay, it's going to be a long match and I'm going to give everything." So at that time, yeah, it was 15-30, he didn't reach the lob, so I had a chance again. I felt like, "It's 50/50. He's up one set against me." No, I was still fresh.

SJENG SCHALKEN: I was sticking to my game plan. Well, his forehand was so good today, so my game plan was to attack his backhand every time I can. That's the only thing I had in mind, even when he was in this injury time-out. I lost in the beginning of my career a couple of matches like this because, yeah, you start to think what's happening on the other side. But I get too experienced for that, so it didn't happen. I was sticking to my game plan. I was just thinking it's his left knee, so I have to serve for his forehand. If I have pain in my left leg, I cannot go to the forehand. So I was thinking those things.

SJENG SCHALKEN: Not yet. I haven't seen him yet. I'm going to go to him. I talked to his coach. Hopefully everything is good.

SJENG SCHALKEN: I think the summer circuit is very tough. It's with humidity and heat. It's not now, but we had that in Washington and we had it in Indianapolis and Cincinnati. Maybe it's the result here, that everybody's getting fatigue.