U.S. OPEN

September 1, 1993

Andrei Medvedev

ANDREI MEDVEDEV: Too many people.

ANDREI MEDVEDEV: Yeah. Too noisy, but it is still nice, but it could be a little bit quieter. Look, I mean--

ANDREI MEDVEDEV: Yeah. I am feeling much better. Better than ever.

ANDREI MEDVEDEV: What is that?

ANDREI MEDVEDEV: Yeah, because it was -- he was a little bit too hot, more hotter than I expected. I guess I wasn't ready for that. I didn't play well at all this match. I am expecting myself to play better next matches, I hope. But you know, is it a Grand Slam, you never know what is going to happen. Hopefully I can do it, but I will definitely try.

ANDREI MEDVEDEV: It has been a long time. I am already here for twenty something days, twenty-six days. I guess it is enough time to be ready for this, but it is still I am sweating too much. You just can't get over. Probably it should stay -- it will stay like that for me, because I am getting tired very quickly -- not that I am getting tired very quick, but you know, I just don't feel well. It is not that my temper -- it is the humidity. You cannot breath. In Spain it is also hot, but at least you can breath. You get fresh air. Here, you don't get fresh air. So you cannot really run; all your functions are a little bit destroyed.

ANDREI MEDVEDEV: What do you mean "worried"?

ANDREI MEDVEDEV: I can't hear you?

ANDREI MEDVEDEV: You cannot say that somebody will do well in the Grand Slams and I think we already have enough examples for that. To is say that I am worried about this, yes, I am worried. I want to do well here, but you cannot be disappointed if you don't do well, because the tennis is at a very high level right now. Anybody can beat anybody. You know, if I lose, I will try to take a lesson out from this loss, but I will not take it as a suicide or the end of life.

ANDREI MEDVEDEV: No. Because, you see, I was also training at the heat for a long time; 26 days is a long time. I have to say I was playing successfully also in the heat, but it is just the way that my body works. I am sweating too quickly too much, and I can't help it. Even if I lose a lot of weight, I am still sweating. It is just the way my body works.

ANDREI MEDVEDEV: Oh, yes, definitely. But I couldn't do it because I have no power to run --

ANDREI MEDVEDEV: And hopefully I can take a lesson out of this, because as I said, I need to play new game. I am expecting myself to play better. I hope I can do better, because I was practicing hard and I was taking every practice very seriously and I just want to play better. I want for myself to play better. No matter how I do here, I just want to feel that I am enjoying tennis a lot. One of the things that I have to improve is the serve and volley. Definitely, you cannot just play on the baseline and win the whole tournament. I mean, you can, but not me. I have to serve and volley, and I didn't do it today. So hopefully, I can do it in the next matches-- if I have matches, not just one.

ANDREI MEDVEDEV: Yes.

ANDREI MEDVEDEV: No, because in New York people don't look at the face. I noticed it. It is very funny. They look at your eyes, just in the eyes and they don't care who you are. They look in the eyes, I don't know what they are looking for, but even in the restaurant probably if you ask the waiter to describe your client, he wouldn't be able to do this, because he doesn't look at you-- even they have a great service, don't get me wrong. The people -- the people are nice in the hotels and everywhere. They just look in the eyes, maybe the girls look at your body, but not the men.

ANDREI MEDVEDEV: No, no I hate the atmosphere, because too many people, and I mean, it is just -- you want to find a place to sit, with me with my height, I have to sit. Otherwise, I fall.

ANDREI MEDVEDEV: It is great. It is great. It is just the worst atmosphere I have met. Seriously, you have the only one place you can be in the players lounge and it is so crowded and it is so loud that you just, you know, you cannot be there -- I cannot be there more than one hour to be normal, to be calm. After one hour, I start to be a little bit crazy and upset with the people walking around. After two hours, probably I start to cry. I haven't been there for two hours. I am just guessing that it will be very tough, and I was very lucky that I was playing the first match today and hopefully I can get out soon and we will see what we can do. But it is really crazy. I mean, probably you should have like a different you know, rooms with the signs like this is for loud people. This is for Spanish. This is for Germans. This is for Russians. This is for quiet people. I don't know, but you just-- it is just incredible. You have all the nationalities in the whole world and let us say if we are Ukrainians, are very quiet, I have to say, but let us say Spanish people and South American people, they are very loud, which is you can't help it. And to put us together in the same room, you know, just because of the noise, -- I am just joking, seriously, it could be some solution to do something to help it somehow, because you have a huge room and everybody is sitting there, in the men's and women's, which I don't mind, but all kind of people, they just walk around; they talk and just getting too crazy. All you want to do is just leave this place. You can't do it because you have to wait for the match and then somebody play five setters, and -- all the women play three sets, which is even longer than five sets.

ANDREI MEDVEDEV: I had a very, very special presents, very special.

ANDREI MEDVEDEV: No. It is for me. And it is from very special people, so I would say that was one of the best days that I had because it was very special. I understood a lot because with those presents, you know, because sometimes the people, by the way, they are giving you something and the way-- what they giving you can tell you a lot. I found out about very nice people a lot of things and they are all nice. So it was very special.

ANDREI MEDVEDEV: Not yet. But when I receive it I won't tell anybody.

ANDREI MEDVEDEV: It is too far from my hotel.

ANDREI MEDVEDEV: It is bullshit. It is just for papers. I am Russian, I mean, I am not just Russian, I am 100% Russian. It is like you know, like a lifetime guarantee or something and I never -- I will never be Ukrainian because I am not. From the head to the feet I am Russian and there is not one part of me Ukrainian. Not as far as I know, maybe there was somebody a long, long time ago, but I don't think so. You know, to call me Ukrainian because I was born there is not fair and the people started to talk to me in Ukrainian language and I don't like it. Because they are doing it for the, I guess, for the political reasons and I am not involved in the politics and you know, I have nothing to do with it. I only play tennis. I don't, you know, I don't care about anything -- I mean -- I do care about some things, but not as much as they do, to make me proud to represent Ukraine. I am not proud to represent this country because I don't agree with my government, first of all, and beside this, okay, I don't mind to represent it, but again I am not Ukrainian. So --

ANDREI MEDVEDEV: Yes.

ANDREI MEDVEDEV: Home? No, he was here.

ANDREI MEDVEDEV: Oh, no. As I said, I couldn't see anything than the court because I was just too tired, probably. Crowd didn't bother me because it is loud anyway, even if they sit and trying to not to talk it is still loud, I don't know why. It is just probably the American way, but seriously, I don't have nothing against it because we have many different nationalities and you know, most of them are you know, loud; you can't help it. You can't tell them, don't talk, because they just need to talk. They need to talk and they need to say that I made the backhand, forehand and they need to do it just during when I make this forehand. You can't help it. I don't really care. With the ages, with the years, as far as I am getting old, I realize that the people are like this. You have to play and we do our job. They came just to enjoy it, so I don't care. As long as they don't throw the songs to us or they don't shoot us, it is okay. No problem.

ANDREI MEDVEDEV: I am not saying it would be quiet. Probably if you tell the people to shut up, they will shut up. You can't say to Americans shut up. If you ask them, please, be quiet, they won't be quiet because it is too nice. If you tell them shut up, they will not shut up because it is too bad for them. And there is no between, there is nothing you can say between. You can say, don't talk, they probably will start talking because it is natural for the people. And if you say to our people don't talk, they will not talk because they are afraid that something is going to happen and Americans, they know that nothing is going to happen, so they talk. It is a free country. You say you can't tell me to shut up because it is a free country, right, they are probably right.

ANDREI MEDVEDEV: I mean, our country is free also, but our people-- I am not saying that they are more educated, but they are more understandable, because tennis is not very famous probably in any of the Russian countries and if you tell them to be quiet because they don't know if it is right that they talk. Americans, they know, even if they talk, we are still going to play and Ukrainians, they will think, oh, if he keep talking, they just talk back. That is the way it works.

ANDREI MEDVEDEV: French Open.

ANDREI MEDVEDEV: Why not? I like it because I like it. Do you have a wife?

ANDREI MEDVEDEV: Why do you like your wife?

ANDREI MEDVEDEV: Sure, I got time. Go ahead. It is the same. You like it for something that you cannot sometimes describe. You just like it. You feel good there and I feel good at the French Open.

ANDREI MEDVEDEV: No. I am not a big fan -- I mean, let us say I am not a fan of baseball at all. I don't watch it on TV, so --

ANDREI MEDVEDEV: No, I don't like to talk to you. Don't get me wrong. Because you see, the more I talk, the more bullshit you write in the paper. And I understand you are doing your job; you need to sell the papers, but you know, don't get me wrong, I am just helping you to do your job and I think we get-- hopefully-- I will talk to ATP that we should get paid for it. We should get paid to talk to the press because we talk to you for free and you make money out of it. It is not fair. You say, Monica Seles gets stabbed and whatever in Hamburg. Then, I don't know, somebody falls in love with somebody, okay, and you sell the papers like this. You make huge money and we get nothing than destruction so we should get like percentage of it. We should -- we give you more sensations, don't you think, that I can give you lots of shit that you can write? But for this, for this, you know we have to get paid. I won't talk for free.

ANDREI MEDVEDEV: Sure.

ANDREI MEDVEDEV: Yeah, you just talk to me direct, we make a deal.

ANDREI MEDVEDEV: What do you mean, trade?

ANDREI MEDVEDEV: What is that?

ANDREI MEDVEDEV: You don't deserve to take my money. I deserve to take your money because I help you do your job.

ANDREI MEDVEDEV: You don't help me to do my job. If you run with me and put the A. C., you know, just in my face that I can breath, then it is okay, I pay you whatever, 20% of the prize money. But you don't run with the air-conditioner in front of my face, you don't get paid, right?

ANDREI MEDVEDEV: I am fine.