US OPEN

September 8, 1998

Thomas Johansson

Q. Clearly been a tremendous tournament for you, especially this week. Can you believe what's happening?

THOMAS JOHANSSON: No, actually not. But I've been playing pretty good lately. I mean, I played a good tournament in Cincinnati, and then I played a good tournament in Indianapolis, too. I knew that I was in good shape, but maybe not this good.

THOMAS JOHANSSON: In Cincinnati, I went to the quarters. In Indy, the last of 16.

THOMAS JOHANSSON: Larsson.

THOMAS JOHANSSON: Todd Martin.

THOMAS JOHANSSON: I think now I play a little bit more solid than I did before. I'm a lot stronger, I mean physically. I know that I can be out there for four or five hours. So I feel really well. I feel good.

THOMAS JOHANSSON: I tried to calm down. But I had I think a pretty good match point at 5-4. I should have made that forehand. But playing against Kafelnikov is really tough because he's fighting all the way to the end. I mean, and then in the breaker, I had 5-2, and I didn't make one first serve on my two serves. But then I was lucky. I got one more and then one more.

THOMAS JOHANSSON: I worked harder this year than I done before.

THOMAS JOHANSSON: My big weakness before was my physical strength. I mean, I was really weak. I think the guys knew if it goes to four or five sets, that I'm real tired. But I changed that for this year. So now I know that I can be out there for a couple of hours.

THOMAS JOHANSSON: When he hits the racquet at the net, it's good for me, because then I know he's a little bit frustrated. But as I said before, he's a really tough player to play. He can play every shot. But in the second, I played really well, and third, too. I played really well up to 4-1 in the third. Then he started to play a lot better. It's a tough match.

THOMAS JOHANSSON: I tried to stay with him longer. I thought I went for my shots a little bit too early in the first, and then I tried to stay with him from the baseline as hard as I could. And then, I mean, if you take a look at the court today, it was a lot of wind. But the wind was always at the same way, so you had the wind either behind you or --

THOMAS JOHANSSON: Yeah.

THOMAS JOHANSSON: Not against Kafelnikov, because it's tough to get tips if you play against Kafelnikov. Because of what I said before, he can play every shot. But when I played Krajicek, I got a few tips from Larsson, because he has played him a couple of times. But we try to help each other as good as we can. I mean, we're very good friends, both on the court and off.

THOMAS JOHANSSON: The tips were very good.

THOMAS JOHANSSON: Tough to say. But in Sweden, nowadays we have very good coaches, really good. I mean, guys who play before is coaching nowadays. I mean, he's coaching us. And I think our mentality is good for tennis, because we're pretty -- we don't get frustrated so easy, we stay pretty calm most of the time.

THOMAS JOHANSSON: My coach, Magnus Tideman, he has played before. Joakim Nystrom, Jans Simonsson, Stefan Simonsson. It's a lot of coaches in Calle Hage Skog.

THOMAS JOHANSSON: I like his game a lot. He's always been my idol. I try to play like him.

THOMAS JOHANSSON: Yeah, that's right.

THOMAS JOHANSSON: I don't know Mats so well. I know him a little bit. I saw him in Stockholm. He was in Stockholm during the Swedish Open. We talked a little bit there. He's a very nice guy.

THOMAS JOHANSSON: I'm really good friends with both Larsson, Bjorkman, Kulti, Tillstrom, Norman.

THOMAS JOHANSSON: The guys don't want me on the hockey team.

THOMAS JOHANSSON: Because I'm really bad on the skates. But I'm going to practice harder this year so I can make the team.

THOMAS JOHANSSON: Yeah, I feel comfortable. I mean, this time will be very fun to be on the team when we play Spain at home, because playing at home is something special.

THOMAS JOHANSSON: No, not yet. He picks the team on Tuesday next week, I think.

THOMAS JOHANSSON: No, not yet.

THOMAS JOHANSSON: Yeah, way better.

THOMAS JOHANSSON: I don't know. I like quicker surfaces. Like this is not that quick, but the bounce is always the same. On clay, you play all the Spanish guys. I mean, it's really tough to play them.

THOMAS JOHANSSON: Yeah, yeah. I mean, it's tough to play them here, too, but especially on clay, it's most tough.

THOMAS JOHANSSON: I've never played either of those two guys. But I think it's going to be a tough match. I don't know who's going to win that one. It's an open match. I mean, they're both very, very good players, so.