U.S. OPEN

September 8, 1994

Karel Novacek

KAREL NOVACEK: It feels great. It feels really good and for me it was the dreaming destination to break the quarterfinals of the Grand Slams and I am endlessly happy that I did it today, and that was something that I was missing in my tennis career to get to the quarterfinals of the Grand Slams. I won 13 tournaments and I have been playing Davis Cup. I have been playing Masters; I have been playing everything basically that exists in tennis, but I never went to play semifinal of Grand Slams and I did it today and I am very happy for that.

KAREL NOVACEK: Well, I just said today that a player as experienced as I am, I never been playing semifinal. I am still able to realize that once I went so far it is good to concentrate. And let us say that the tournament starts Saturday now and let us really take all my experiences which I have after 12 seasons on the pro circuit and really try to do my best on Saturday.

KAREL NOVACEK: Well, since I really became a world class player in '91, when I broke top 10 and when I played Masters, you realizing that you have to play all the biggest tournaments which exist here in the world and for me always was, kind of, difficult to breakthrough on the hard courts no matter what tournament it was. And then I was able to win the small one in Oakland and I was able to win a big one in Dubai and now I am able to be in the semifinal of U.S. Open, hard courts, which never really suits my game. So, I am very happy for that, and it only shows that in any age of tennis you can still learn and you can still fight for something which you are focusing on.

KAREL NOVACEK: Because it is a part of the tennis life, U.S. Open. U.S. Open, there is only four tournaments in the world which are the same size and it is hard to imagine that someone from the top players would skip the U.S. Open and that I reached the semifinal today just it is a fortune maybe, but I am really happy for that. I don't know why it was here in New York; why it is in U.S. Open, but it is, and thanks God for that.

KAREL NOVACEK: It was not. Until -- I think I had a little bit troubles of moving on it, and it is a matter of practice anyway. And since I really played more and more on hard courts I was able to learn more and more, and this was the top of my tennis career. This is the top of what I achieved and -- but I don't think it is the end. I think as a good tennis player, I have to be really still focused on the tournaments not over for me. I have to do my best and go on the court to fight every point Saturday and try to move one step closer.

KAREL NOVACEK: Never played Bjorkman. I played Stich maybe five or six times. Six times, I think. I won two. I lost four. So always pretty close matches.

KAREL NOVACEK: The philosophy this year was a little bit different than it was three years ago because I have been struggling during the spring season and favorite clay courts, I was losing first rounds. I was practicing hard, but I had to push myself playing, because the only way to get your confidence back is to play matches and try to win some. Even if you work hard and if you are playing well in practice, it doesn't mean you are going to play well in a match. And then I just decided to change a coach as well and start to think about the tennis a little bit different; start to do something which I didn't do for maybe four, five years; start from the basic things; how I am playing forehand, how I am playing backhand, the technique of the strokes. And I really was able, within 14 days, one month, to find my strokes and slowly, slowly to feel more comfortable. And this is really the great thing which I achieved now after a couple of weeks which I spent in Monte Carlo where my home is now; practice hard everyday, four, five years, and I was not thinking about how to reach semifinal of U.S. Open. But I already won five weeks ago a tournament in Hilverson, which was kind of a help to me rebuild my confidence and then here is something I was dreaming about.

KAREL NOVACEK: First of all, he is my friend. He is not any kind of coach. He is the one who I respect very much and if we are having coffee in the morning he tells me how he does a little bit when people are moving around the stadium a little bit more than they used to do in the grandstand; that is just advice of someone who is very experienced, and as a friend. And that is how it is.

KAREL NOVACEK: That is not my problem, actually, I don't care. You know, they got to read the newspapers. You guys can help me if you write something nice about me, but, you know, they will find out who I am. I mean, someone may like my game; somebody not, but this was a very, very tough match today and quite a difficult conditions with the wind on the court. And I have been nervous during the second set when I was already up 5-2 and I lost my concentration. I choked on a couple of points and -- but then I was just able to suddenly forget a set and broke straight away and get focused again and it cost me a lot of concentration in the end, but I am really proud of myself that I was really able to push myself to the limit in the end to play my best points; serve a lot of aces and a high percentage of the first serve which guarantees me to put the pressure which I put on Jaime always when I was serving and I was able to hold and it is a great achievement.

KAREL NOVACEK: Well, I was once. I was playing the Masters with them. I was beating them and I was top 8 player in the world in '91 and then I was still beginning of this year I was always top 20 and so I was one of them, not maybe as -- I was not winning any Grand Slam tournaments but I was able the one who could scare a couple of them and who could give a good match to a couple of them. Of course, it was-- for me it was -- I appreciate that Jaime beat Pete Sampras in the quarters, because probably it suits a little bit better the game against Yzaga -- against Yzaga than it would probably suit against Pete Sampras being the No. 1 player in the world and American, so he would probably have all of the support. But, yeah, I mean, I never was winning any big Grand Slam tournaments, but to reach a semifinal is for me like to win all of them. But as I am saying, the tournament just starts.

KAREL NOVACEK: You know, I have been also tired. I have been -- I have been really on the circuit for a long time now and I have my family and I was not maybe as hardworking for a couple of months as I was before, and that maybe caused my bad results. But it is a great feeling that I really wanted to practice again and play tough again and here is the result. The result came which is always great when you really doing something 100% and then you are rewarded for that.

KAREL NOVACEK: Well, I found the new inspiration with my new coach his name is Hostinsky which gave me a little bit new thinking about tennis. He said right now forget about whatever you played in your life. Let us start again as a young guy as a junior; let us play forehand, let us play backhand and we have been playing a lot of small -- for somebody maybe stupid games, we were playing crosscourt backhand for 20 minutes without missing one, but it was something that I was not doing for a long time and it gave me nice remembrances of what I was doing when I was 14, 15 and then it helped me to really regain the new hunger for the tennis; new spirit; new destination which I want to come too. I think it was something different. I think it was helpful to me because once you are only talking about how to serve on big points and how to keep your concentration on, that is part of the big tennis. But there are also little things which we have done which are part of the basic tennis.

KAREL NOVACEK: That was right after French Open.

KAREL NOVACEK: Well, I just find out that sometimes it is a little bit easier on the hard courts to finish the point, which on the other hand gives me better percentage of winning against the guys who I have more troubles of playing on clay courts. And now, I am also feeling that I am able to change my head for the game if I am playing a match on a hard court or on a clay court, so I am able to really switch quickly and play a little bit different tennis, which I need to be successful either on playing on clay or hard.

KAREL NOVACEK: Shot of the day. You got to see it in the evening.

KAREL NOVACEK: Yeah.

KAREL NOVACEK: That is the price I paid and that is when I am going to think of and try to avoid when I am going to be playing Saturday.

KAREL NOVACEK: Yeah, of course. That was a kind of a lesson which I got for free and now I really can prove if I really took something out of it or not. And I am positive that I will.

KAREL NOVACEK: 1991.