U.S. OPEN

September 2, 1993

Karel Novacek

KAREL NOVACEK: Well, as far as I am concerned importance of the tournament and the kind of the player I beat today, yes.

KAREL NOVACEK: Well --

KAREL NOVACEK: This year, this quarterfinal of French Open I played Krajicek. I had two sets to one and I lost the match 6-4 in the fifth. I was really close to reach the semis and today I beat Stefan Edberg two times champion here, defending champion, and in this tournament U.S. Open, one of the biggest ones in the world, that is really what counts and I think that is -- that is when nobody can say like that he tried or maybe he didn't sleep well, or whatever they say, the people, after these big stars losing the matches in the small tournaments, so that is what I am really happy about that I was able to beat him at the U S Open.

KAREL NOVACEK: Well, of course I was thinking a little bit, but I know that Stefan is the kind of a player which fights from the first point to the last one and -- but I also was feeling very well and I felt that I am hitting the ball well and I just stay confident and concentrate even if I lost the serve and I was down a break in the fourth. So I just broke him back right away, the next game, and then I was a break up 4-2. I lost the break because he just played too great points and at deuce he just played two great points and I was just still in the match. I was still concentrating. Then he played off at 5-4.

KAREL NOVACEK: I think I was moving well and returning well. That really I was-- as much as possible I was trying to play the ball over and if he was winning the points, he just had to win two or three volleys and/or I just played the winner.

KAREL NOVACEK: Me?

KAREL NOVACEK: Well, maybe it was too slow for him, I don't know. But yeah, it was a little windy also there, so sometimes once you are not really as confident as I was or he was, so that is difficult then to hit the ball and when the ball comes a little slower, you just have to make a swing and once you can do that at the right time, the ball just finally over, so --

KAREL NOVACEK: Well, I think that this just simply shows how the game is even; how are -- the players around top 50, I would say top 50, that really when they are on their top and they are just playing the great match and great tennis, they are able to beat the really top guys. They are not maybe able to do that everyday, or every week, but time to time they are able to beat them also in big Grand Slam tournaments.

KAREL NOVACEK: Well, you know, I played a lot of matches in my life and I think this is just-- you don't think at that moment, you don't think really too much about it. I was just, after I lost the serve in the opening game of the fourth, I was just saying to myself right now, you still have to be concentrating because this is your match, this is your match, but once I lost the serve at 4-2 in the fourth, I lost it because he just played too good, and that didn't give me really the opportunity to say, well, I choked, or I didn't play well, so I still was believing in myself and I still was confident and I pass it.

KAREL NOVACEK: Yeah, my shots were returns and passing shots today. Because we didn't play much from the baseline. Once we played, I think I was much better, so he just kept on attacking and I was trying to pass him as much as possible, and that was the story of the match.

KAREL NOVACEK: Well, I just want to say that this might happen to me as well when I meet a player as I said who is top 50 or I don't know, who is 60 and he is just going to have his day and I am going to be playing well, but he is going to play maybe just a little bit better. But once I am going to be feeling like today, once I am feeling hitting the ball as well as I was doing today, I think I can be dangerous and do so more damage. So I will be concentrated and play the tennis.

KAREL NOVACEK: I didn't miss -- I missed only last year because I was sick, because I got a flu last year and I was not able to play. And two years ago I lost to Jimmy Connors in the third round in the stadium, which that match I didn't play well at all and I didn't feel well, and just I showed the U.S. public that I can play some better tennis than I did two years ago.