TMS - INDIAN WELLS

March 17, 2001

Yevgeny Kafelnikov

MODERATOR: First question for Yevgeny.

YEVGENY KAFELNIKOV: Up and down, yeah. You know, it was one of those days where, you know, I felt like I was playing well, but I wasn't able to capitalize right points at right time, and that's what made a difference. Pete played a lot more consistent when he needed to. You know, unfortunately for me, I was able to make, you know, unforced errors in those particular times. When you're playing a guy like him, you know, you just cannot make those mistakes.

YEVGENY KAFELNIKOV: You know, I had a good rhythm. I felt like I could see his serve, which side he was going to serve, easier than previous matches. You know, like I said, he played a lot more consistent on the return of serve, too. Maybe he wasn't confidence like he always is on his serve, but he was quite confident. I gave him a lot of rhythm to feel his groundstrokes. Particularly when the score in the games was deuce or advantage for him, you know, he was really taking the charge. You know, he put me so much under pressure. Maybe when I was up in the match, I was trying to play a lot more defensive to play high percentage of points. That's maybe where I made my mistake, instead of going for my shots a lot more, give him a chance to play his game, to dictate his game.

YEVGENY KAFELNIKOV: Only in the end of the second set, you know, towards the end of the second a little bit. You know, it wasn't a fact where I can blame sun for my loss.

YEVGENY KAFELNIKOV: Probably he has confidence because, you know, I don't have such a booming serve where I can win my points on my serve easy like he does. You know, I don't rely a hundred percent on my serve. You know, when the percentage of the first serve is not as high as I want it to have, you know, it makes life for him a lot easier because he knows, you know, you can really control the point on the second serve. That's what happened. Three times on the second serve, he just chip and charge, and basically he won those points quite easily. You know, when he puts pressure on any player like that, you know, he's such a good athlete, he covers the net very well. It's very tough to pass him.

YEVGENY KAFELNIKOV: When I was leading both sets like that, you know, I completely started changing my game, started to play a lot more defensive, started to play a high percentage of shots instead of going for my shots a lot more. By doing this, I give him a chance to breathe a little bit more, play his game a lot more than, for example, in the beginning of those sets. You know, he got the confidence. You know, when he's confident, it's very difficult to beat him.

YEVGENY KAFELNIKOV: It doesn't happen very often. In fact, I don't recall last time it happened to me.

YEVGENY KAFELNIKOV: I wouldn't say so. I'm still happy with the tournament. I still feel like I played probably as good as I could. I was quite unfortunate on the important points in the match. Like I said, that's what made a difference. Pete was able to come up with the shots on the important time. That's why he's been, you know, No. 1 for such a long period of time because he knows what he needs to do when he needs to win those important points.

YEVGENY KAFELNIKOV: I was quite impressed with his enthusiasm on the court today. He never would have done that, like he was fist pumping. I guess when you getting older, when you feel like your time is running out, you got to do that. That's I think pretty positive. That just shows he wants to play a lot longer. You know, the competition is very, very deep. You know, obviously if he will continue like that, it will be good for everybody, good for the tennis, good for the fans, absolutely.

YEVGENY KAFELNIKOV: Well, I'll probably -- another two years maybe. Another two years.

YEVGENY KAFELNIKOV: Why should I be hurting?

YEVGENY KAFELNIKOV: That just absolutely prove that old guys still dominating. Like Lleyton said yesterday, you know, he brought up a good fact, you know, French Open won Kuerten, US Open won Safin. But it's a matter of play very solid on the right occasions, the right time. I don't think the young guys still capable of doing that. When the old guys like Pete, Agassi, you know, myself, Corretja, when we are really eager to win, we can win any tournaments we want. But I don't think the young guys still able, can't do that.

YEVGENY KAFELNIKOV: Well, I'm not sure about the ten Grand Slams. To win ten Grand Slams, Pete needed like 10 or 11 years to accomplish that. To be honest, I don't think Andre has many years left in his career. I'm sure he can win one or two, but I think ten is out of range.