US OPEN

September 5, 2000

Thomas Johansson

MODERATOR: Questions for Thomas.

THOMAS JOHANSSON: Of course. Especially this tournament, I played, I mean, really good tiebreakers in every match almost. I played a good tiebreak today, too. I was -- I think I was a little bit unlucky not to win that one. But against a guy like this, he serves so well so you have to put so many returns in as possible. But I mean he can hit ten serves that you cannot catch. I mean he serves that well. But, of course, when it goes to tiebreak, I feel very confident, just for the moment, yeah.

THOMAS JOHANSSON: A little bit. I remember when I went to the hospital last year when I had to do this biopsy. But now I feel very good. I haven't played as well that year. But coming into this tournament I felt, I mean, I didn't play last year, so I was really happy to play this year. So I looked forward to The Open for a very long time, and now I'm in the quarters again. So hopefully I can take one more step this time.

THOMAS JOHANSSON: Well, I think I haven't been playing that well, I mean, in the matches. If you play bad on this level, you lose. I mean it doesn't really matter who you play. If you play the tournaments I played this year, if you play bad, you lose. I mean it's that simple. When you lose a lot of first rounds, it's really tough mentally because it's getting into your head. So I won a couple of first rounds, but I never reached the quarters or the third round in the tournament. So I've been struggling a lot this year. But as I said, I looked forward to The Open for a very long time. I didn't play last year, and I've been -- actually, this is my best Grand Slam year so far. So that's nice.

THOMAS JOHANSSON: Well, the tactic before the match was to try as long rallies as possible from the baseline, so he got tired. And if you get tired, you don't serve that well. But I mean I think he served really well the whole match. I was lucky to break him twice in the third and in the fourth. So I mean he has maybe the biggest serve on the tour, one of the biggest serves I will say. So it's very tough to play him because you have to stay really focused in your own service game so he doesn't come in on your second serve, for example, because then he's really good. He covers a lot of the net, so... So my tactic before the match was to put a lot of first serves in so we could rally from the baseline.

THOMAS JOHANSSON: Well, I'll play --.

THOMAS JOHANSSON: I've played both of them. I've never beat Todd, but I think I'm 2-1 up against Carlos. But they're both playing really well for the moment, so I mean it's going to be a tough match, whoever wins.

THOMAS JOHANSSON: Well, I think I'm a little bit stronger this year physically. We've been practicing hard off the court because I haven't played so many matches, so I had a lot of time to exercise off the court. So we've been running a lot, and I feel really strong now. I could be out there for a long time. So if you have that feeling, you're pretty confident with your game too. So, but it's a big difference because last -- two years ago Krajicek retired, but then I had to beat Kafelnikov to go to the quarters. This year I haven't played a seeded guy so far. So I mean it's -- all the players are really tough to play. If you compare this year to two years ago, I had to beat the Top 10 guy to get here.

THOMAS JOHANSSON: It's gonna be a completely different match. Today, in his serve, he was only serve and then the point was over. Against I think both Carlos and Todd, it's going to be more rallies from the baseline. I think I'm gonna have to struggle a lot more in my own serve maybe if I play Carlos or Todd. But other than that, it's just to play my own game, and hopefully I could serve a little bit better than I did today maybe. And then I have to stay with them, I mean with the rallies and stuff like that.