AUSTRALIAN OPEN

January 24, 2001

Yevgeny Kafelnikov

MODERATOR: Questions for Yevgeny.

YEVGENY KAFELNIKOV: Sometimes happen like that, you know, where basically the result of the match could go either way in a matter of two, three points. I think that's what happened.

YEVGENY KAFELNIKOV: You know, it's hard for me to answer the question. But, you know, the main thing, I guess he kept fighting, even when he was down in the third and the fourth set. You've got to give him credit for that. In the meantime, you know, I let my chances slip away. I don't know why, but, you know, it's just one of those days where you trying hard, things just not going the way that I want it to go.

YEVGENY KAFELNIKOV: Yeah, it doesn't surprise me at all. Why should I be surprised? You know, I'm favoured, he's underdog. Obviously, you know, all the crowd behind him.

YEVGENY KAFELNIKOV: I hit, you know, all day long, no rhythm at all. But it's part of his game. You know, at one stage in the match, I was taking the control, basically trying to play his game against him. It worked a little bit. But then, you know, I lost very bad game at 3-1 in the third set. If I would have won that game, perhaps things would be a little different because he was already, you know, down at that time. You know, I just don't know what happened at that time. Give him a chance to come back and he took that opportunity.

YEVGENY KAFELNIKOV: You know, I can adapt to any kind of game. Today I just showed that perfectly. In the beginning, obviously his game got me kind of off balance, lost a set, was down a break in the second set. Then I kind of regroup and start to adapt to his game. It worked, like I said. It worked perfectly, winning the second set. Things were going okay for me in the beginning of the third. I guess it's very hard to keep that momentum for such a long period of time where basically you can get tired. Obviously your opponent playing also as well as you are. It's one of those matches where basically two, three points in the match were, you know, affecting the results.

YEVGENY KAFELNIKOV: You know, I wasn't concerned at all. I was trying to get through that match, no matter how. You know, watching that match early in the day, Grosjean against Moya, I knew obviously if I would have won the match, perhaps my chances were really, really high to get to the final for the third consecutive year. But I wasn't thinking that at that time, no.

YEVGENY KAFELNIKOV: Obviously they got hot this week. Nobody can take away from them. The guys obviously practiced hard before that. Definitely both of them deserves to be in the semifinal. But the other question is if they will sustain that level for the rest of the year. That's going to be very hard questions to ask -- to answer.

YEVGENY KAFELNIKOV: Say again the question.

YEVGENY KAFELNIKOV: I believe so. If you look at the record, Clement/Agassi, I'm sure Arnaud can present trouble for both of them. As far as I know, statistics, you know, he beat both of them last time he played them. You know, it's definitely going to be different circumstances this time. You know, whoever wins between them, I'm sure pressure obviously would be huge because those guys who are in the other part of the draw, they've been in the situation before. I'm talking about winning the Slams. But, you know, it's another great example. We played today for 3 hours, 10 minutes. Seems to me Arnaud can handle the long matches pretty well. They just hope whoever wins between them won't disappoint the final of the Australian Open.

YEVGENY KAFELNIKOV: I don't know. I guess it's a point where probably I know my body so well and I know exactly where comes the point where I feel really, really tired, where I need to take a break. You know, perhaps I was blessed with my health, you know, that I stay for such a long time injury-free, you know, never had any problems with my health. That's about it.

YEVGENY KAFELNIKOV: I don't know what complaints are, what the players are complaining, I have no idea.

YEVGENY KAFELNIKOV: Everybody plays whatever they want, where they want, when they want. It's hard to criticize them. We have certain rules on the ATP that you're obligated to play certain amount of tournaments a year. It's too bad that those guys doesn't want to come out and play tournaments like Monte-Carlo, Hamburg, you know, those kind of events to make really European fans to look for the stars. I guess that's how it is.

YEVGENY KAFELNIKOV: You know, it's obviously big disappointment that I lost, period.

YEVGENY KAFELNIKOV: You know, like I said, it's one of those days where you trying hard, but things are not going the way that you want them to go. You know, who knows. Like you said, if I would have made that first set point in or made that set point in the third set, things would be a lot different right now than just me talking to you, feeling that particularly bad at the moment.