EUTELSAT MONTE CARLO OPEN

April 22, 1996

Andrei Medvedev

ANDREI MEDVEDEV: Exactly. I lost two matches this year when I had the match point, and, I mean, it made my exit earlier. But you never know, if I win those match matches, I would go further in the tournament. My game was getting better, even though I don't have a great result yet. As long as my game is increasing the way it's been, I feel happy about that. I feel that sooner or later results will come. I'll get more consistent. I'll get points or whatever, you know, to get my ranking.

ANDREI MEDVEDEV: Yeah. I feel that -- I don't feel guilty. I feel that I've practiced hard, and I feel that I played well in the practice, and I feel if I can put the game that I've been playing with the practice on the court during the tournaments, I think I will play good tennis then. I'm fit so far, and I have no -- nothing that is bothering me, especially playing here, when I won two years ago here, I feel all this good play. This is one of the weeks where I hope to do well. If not, I mean, the world doesn't end on that - we go further.

ANDREI MEDVEDEV: Well, considering -- comparing this year and last year, I think the results are better this year. At least I feel a lot more comfortable with my game. If it's bad luck, I don't think it is bad luck. I think it's just a matter of winning matches; it's a matter of getting used to win, because, obviously, a lot of my matches that I played this year were very close. The reason to that is that I haven't been winning a lot last year, and I lost this feeling to finish the guys off. Now it's coming back. As I said, I feel very comfortable on the court. I think I move well. It's a matter of winning the right points and winning the right -- getting the right momentum going. It's much better than last year, for sure, at this same stage, my game is. I don't put any pressure on the results because there is no reason yet to expect great results. I had many problems with my health, obviously, but since they were fixed, practicing extra hard, and it takes time to come back to where I was. If it was easy, everyone would be in the top 10, but, unfortunately, there are only ten players and they deserve to be there. To be there, you have to become one of them; you have to work harder than the rest of the players. That's what we tried to do. It takes time, and we have time.

ANDREI MEDVEDEV: Well, of course, with Bob we changed a few things. I tried to play aggressive, but more safer. I think it's been working fine so far. I have improved in every aspect of the game. I think I serve better than I did last year. I think I move a lot better than I did last year. I think I hit the ball cleaner. This is the result of being more professional; of not being injured; of not getting interrupted during my practice. Results will come, I think. It's a matter of time.

ANDREI MEDVEDEV: Yes. It was the consistent infection in my blood because I had a lot of infection here in the nose area (indicating) because my nose was, how do you call it?

ANDREI MEDVEDEV: Yeah, not straight. All the infection was coming through that. So at the end of the year, I had to operate it. They made it clearer. Since then, I never had one cold, which is really unusual for me. For six months in a row, I didn't have any cold. I mean, didn't any have any temperature. I never felt in the morning when I cannot get up from the bed because I have such a big headache. Now it's great, and this is fixed.

ANDREI MEDVEDEV: I think I have to make it clear for everybody. At one stage I considered to play for Russia. The reason I didn't play for Ukraine this year is because it was interrupting badly my preparation for the claycourt season. We were practicing in Lugano with Bob, in his camp. That would mean that after six days of practicing, I would have to interrupt and go to Croatia indoors. This is the last thing we wanted to do. Even though I didn't play good in Barcelona, I lost the first round, but it was good experience. I don't regret it that I didn't play Davis Cup. I feel every day better and better playing on clay. My plans for this year, I haven't made yet. I will try to concentrate on my ATP ranking rather than Olympics and Davis Cup. It's just for this year. I will consider something for the next year.

ANDREI MEDVEDEV: I feel fine being Ukrainian. Like I said before, I will not change. I don't feel Ukrainian or Russian. I was born in a country that doesn't exist anymore. The question is closed. I mean, I'm a Ukrainian citizen; the holder of a Ukrainian passport. My home will always be Kiev. All my friends are back in Kiev, back in Ukraine. I cannot say -- maybe yet I cannot say one way or another if I'm proud of being Ukrainian because at the moment I'm not, I'm a citizen of the country. I play for Ukraine. I represent Ukraine, but basically my sport is individual and I play for myself at the end. That's my situation now. I hope that one day at least the big republics in the former Soviet Union will reunite and I will feel proud to represent the country, proud like proud. I would carry the name of my country everywhere in the world and probably will die for my country. Now, I represent this country, but I basically represent myself.

ANDREI MEDVEDEV: Maybe - you don't know - I move to Monte Carlo. I have also a second residence here. I don't have to come with the car anymore. I just came by plane. Actually which one? The yellow one?

ANDREI MEDVEDEV: It's not here. It was just for the show. This year I concentrate on tennis more. But I still like cars.