U.S. OPEN

September 2, 1995

Yevgeny Kafelnikov

YEVGENY KAFELNIKOV: Nothing.

YEVGENY KAFELNIKOV: Nothing.

YEVGENY KAFELNIKOV: Huh?

YEVGENY KAFELNIKOV: Well, supposed to doesn't mean that I'm going to win, you know. I think, in my opinion, Vince play pretty good tennis and, you know, basically I didn't have any chance to beat him. He was all over my game, and he was dominating all three sets. This just happened. It was a bad day maybe for me that I didn't play my best tennis.

YEVGENY KAFELNIKOV: Yeah, it was my first match here in the U.S. Open Stadium Court, and this year I didn't play not five minutes on the Stadium Court, I didn't have any chances so -- and I found the court was much faster than the others. It took me, you know, one-and-a-half sets to feel the atmosphere, to feel the court, to feel the new surroundings.

YEVGENY KAFELNIKOV: We played one month ago. I beat him, but it was on clay court. I always beat him.

YEVGENY KAFELNIKOV: I knew that it's going to be difficult match for me, and as I said, you know, this is maybe the bad day for me, you know. I cannot play good tennis, you know, every match here in this Open. You just happen, you know, I never played on a stadium so far this year. It was the first match. Maybe, you know, I had difficulty to see the ball, to feel the atmosphere, you know.

YEVGENY KAFELNIKOV: I played last year, but not this year.

YEVGENY KAFELNIKOV: I didn't even have the chance to practice not five minutes on the Stadium Court.

YEVGENY KAFELNIKOV: No, I'm not angry. I'm very satisfied. Why should I be angry?

YEVGENY KAFELNIKOV: Maybe it was my fault, not their fault. I cannot blame them because -- just because I didn't have any chances to hit in the center court. It was definitely my fault.

YEVGENY KAFELNIKOV: His groundstrokes was more solid than mine. And I thought he served pretty well. You know, he was dominating all three sets. You know, I never had a chance to put pressure on him because he was trying to, you know, to rush me all the time and everything. His game was working pretty well.

YEVGENY KAFELNIKOV: I played last year night match. Yeah, I guess Stich, I lost. Same story happened here, I played again night match and again I went down. Maybe it's just -- I really don't know what's happened.

YEVGENY KAFELNIKOV: Yeah, it was a little bit bothering me. I thought I had some bad calls against me and, you know, I just couldn't do anything and that was that. And of course, all the people was staying behind him, they was supporting him. I'm No. 7 seed, he's nobody. And of course they wanted him to beat me.

YEVGENY KAFELNIKOV: As I said, the light was really bothering me, I think. You know, first two round match I played at 11 o'clock in the morning, so -- when the light was perfect and everything, but today I really had some difficulties to feel the court, to feel the atmosphere and all. Playing on court 16, it's very big difference to play on the Stadium Court.

YEVGENY KAFELNIKOV: No. To be honest, I'm not disappointed, I'm really happy. Seriously, to be honest, I'm happy that -- not very happy, but, you know -- how to explain to you? You know, I had a great summer here in the U.S. Open, maybe I got a little bit tired because I played singles and doubles every tournament. It's just -- just didn't work out well. And, of course, you know, I'm going to have three weeks off so I can recover and prepare for the indoor season. That's basically my favorite surface, so I'm really looking forward to it.