DAVIS CUP - RUSSIA vs USA

April 6, 1998

Yevgeny Kafelnikov

PAGE CROSLAND: We'll begin with questions in English.

YEVGENY KAFELNIKOV: You know, from very first point, I felt like, you know, I had nothing to lose. I just played. I knew I had the ability to play such a level of tennis. Just went and played. No pressure at all.

YEVGENY KAFELNIKOV: Not from the beginning. I was able to kept his pressure. You know, since I hold the first game, you know, because I had Love-30, I started kind of shaky, I hold that game, then I got momentum going. You know, from that point, I felt like if I would stay with him mentally, I would win the match.

YEVGENY KAFELNIKOV: You know what, I knew I had to serve 150 percent, not 100, 150. Everyone knows here how is Andre return; he is the best returner in the game of tennis. And if I would be a little passive, didn't go for the serve, he would have taken me. I knew I had to serve second serve harder than the first. So that's what happen. You know, I was able to place the serves everywhere I want to, to the forehand side, to the backhand side. Seems to me everything was working for me.

YEVGENY KAFELNIKOV: You know, if Safin would have lose today, no one knows how that match is going to go, if he would have lost, no one would blame him because he's the beginner. You know, he's playing first time. I think we achieve maximum what we want to. We went to the fifth, deciding match. No one's going to put the responsibility on him.

YEVGENY KAFELNIKOV: Yes.

YEVGENY KAFELNIKOV: I just told him, you know, "You have to stay cool. You never know what can happen." You know, he felt all right in the morning. We'll see.

YEVGENY KAFELNIKOV: I told him what he had to do to win the match. We'll see how he achieve that strategy which I give him.

YEVGENY KAFELNIKOV: Like I told him, I told him to be calm, not to show any emotions on the court. You know, he always shows -- his body language always shows that he's kind of down, if his momentum is not going his way. I told him, "You have to stay calm, you know, take every point at a time, and perhaps you can win." He said, "All right, I'll do what I can."

YEVGENY KAFELNIKOV: You know, I won the Grand Slam (laughter)?

YEVGENY KAFELNIKOV: It's always nice to beat someone like Andre and perform a hundred percent what you can. It's always nice. It's Davis Cup, of course it's special. In any tournament, it's always nice to beat him. You know, it just gives you a little more extra motivation to go to the next tournament and compete again.

YEVGENY KAFELNIKOV: This I never had in my mind. I didn't want to think about it. I just wanted to go on the court, play the best game that I can, because I haven't played that level since a while. You know, lost first round in Palm Springs, went to the fourth in Key Biscayne, lost to Tarango. There was not kind of preparation that I really looking for before the Davis Cup. But it's nice to win two matches, two singles matches. Going to the clay court season, I feel like I still can play.

YEVGENY KAFELNIKOV: No comparison whatsoever. First match was difficult one. I knew I had a chance to win. But today, everyone knew, even if this room, that I was not going to win. Everybody thought that Andre is on the top of his game, he would destroy me. Even I thought for a while. But deep inside when I won that first set, I got momentum going. From that stage, I felt like I had a good chance to win.

YEVGENY KAFELNIKOV: No, I don't know that. He did?

YEVGENY KAFELNIKOV: Very good.

YEVGENY KAFELNIKOV: The first set?

YEVGENY KAFELNIKOV: No. Even at that stage when I was down Love-40, I felt like, you know, I had a game going already, even though I was Love-40 down. I knew that, you know, I was in the game. It was not like Andre was on top of game, he was dictating the match. But, you know, I felt like we're pretty even. Even if he would have broke me, I still had a chance to win the next game. I was not thinking about that at that time.

YEVGENY KAFELNIKOV: I knew I had to move Andre around the court as much as I can. I basically won today because I was serving well, and my backhand was working pretty nicely, especially down the line. Most of the guys, they expecting that I all the time play backhand cross-court, forehand cross-court. But today I was loose and I knew I had to move. That's what happened. He was sometimes off the balance when I played my backhand. He didn't know which way I was going to go. I kept him under the pressure all the time.

YEVGENY KAFELNIKOV: I was pretty happy today with the umpiring. The guys were pretty consistent, although we had a few mistakes on my side, same as Andre's side.

YEVGENY KAFELNIKOV: They got behind Andre as much as they could. I didn't want to pay too much attention to that. I was focused, I knew what I had to do.

YEVGENY KAFELNIKOV: I go back to Europe.

YEVGENY KAFELNIKOV: Yes.

YEVGENY KAFELNIKOV: It's 3-Love already.

YEVGENY KAFELNIKOV: No, no. He was really off his game. You know, he was out for four months. Without question, he would not play his best tennis. The only chance we had, if I would play with Safin. Like I said yesterday, if he would be a little bit mentally stable, I think we would have won that match. Unfortunately, it didn't happen, so perhaps next time.

YEVGENY KAFELNIKOV: Why not?