RCA CHAMPIONSHIPS

August 16, 1995

Thomas Enqvist

THOMAS ENQVIST: Yeah, I think I have been playing a really good this summer. When you are playing good for a while, your confidence is rising and you are winning and you are playing good on the tight shots and big points and I did that in the first set today and then in the second set I played good and I served good served good the whole match.

THOMAS ENQVIST: Yeah, I took two days off.

THOMAS ENQVIST: Yeah, I didn't do anything. I was really tired. So I think I need that two days, so, yeah.

THOMAS ENQVIST: Yeah, I hope so. I think today it was really warm and hot outside, so today you get tired a little bit today, but I think everybody did that, I mean, I hope -- I think I am hitting the ball good, so I hope I can continue to play well and I am going to do my best in every match and see how far I can go.

THOMAS ENQVIST: Yeah, I mean, that is very important, I think, feeling that you can play good tennis and you feel that you can beat or play the good tight matches with the best players in the world. When you do that, you feel that you are on the right way and just to work hard and try to continue to play well and to get a high level in your game.

THOMAS ENQVIST: Well, I don't know. I don't feel any expectations so much, I think, because we have a lot of good Swedish tennis players and we always have a lot of good tennis players in Sweden, so the press in Sweden is not really happy if you are not No. 1 in the world or win Grand Slams or something like that; when -- they have high -- when they have high expectations on you, it is very tough to do those kind of things.

THOMAS ENQVIST: We had so many players on the ranking list, so I think the Swedish tennis fans and the press get pretty spoiled about that. You always have someone in the final in the Grand Slams and always get good players, four in top 10 once; after that, of course, it is going down a little bit and they didn't think it was good enough to be top 30 or top 20, but it is coming back now. It is more positive right now. We won Davis Cup last year, and so I think it is on its way back again.

THOMAS ENQVIST: No. Nobody compares with Borg. He is a living legend in this world, nobody is going to be like him. So, no idea to think that way.

THOMAS ENQVIST: I hope so. I am going to do my best to be as good a player I can be, but we have a lot of good Swedes right now, Bjorkman, is Apell is playing well and Magnus Larsson is playing very, very well now for a year now. He is injured right now; that is why he is not here playing. I think it looks pretty good. We have 3 top 20 players and I don't know that is just one outside top 20, so right now, I think it is looking really good for Sweden.

THOMAS ENQVIST: You don't talk about that. Like I said, I don't think I feel that in anyway because I have my own expectations, and from my coach also, so we just try to get a high level on my game and to improve my game. That is the most important thing, I think, right now.

THOMAS ENQVIST: Yes.

THOMAS ENQVIST: Yeah, I think I have been in semis now in Super 9 tournaments; never been that before, so, yeah.

THOMAS ENQVIST: Yeah.

THOMAS ENQVIST: Yeah, that is the Swede, Renberg, he is playing for the Flyers.

THOMAS ENQVIST: I met him in Philadelphia this year.

THOMAS ENQVIST: I played some, yeah.

THOMAS ENQVIST: I could be right wing.

THOMAS ENQVIST: He is good. But I didn't want to take Mikael and the other one away.

THOMAS ENQVIST: Well, I have a team I support in Sweden. When I am back in Sweden I go see them play and I was lucky when I am in the states to go to NHL games. I did that a couple of times.

THOMAS ENQVIST: I am still skating a little bit when I am back in Stockholm, but I mean, not playing for the team. But I was playing when I was really young.

THOMAS ENQVIST: I didn't play that much when I was growing up. Now I am just playing with my friends, so it is hard to say.

THOMAS ENQVIST: Yeah, I saw that.

THOMAS ENQVIST: Yeah. Not live, but I saw it on TV.

THOMAS ENQVIST: I am -- I hope I am going to do well in the U.S. Open. I have been playing good in the U.S. Open two years ago and last year reached the third round, so I played some good tennis, but I know that it is so tough right now, so I have to play very good to win every match. I am just going to try to do my best; see how far I can go.

THOMAS ENQVIST: I don't know. It is hard to say. I think I have been practicing really hard before I came here, so I think I am fit. But I think it is very much from day-to-day. I think some days you don't feel the heat at all. Some days you just run out of gas if you been playing a lot and have a tough match the day before, so it is very much, I think, it is good to maybe have a day off between matches and it is hard to play everyday and if you have a tough match, and then go out and play the day after, you feel the heat much more than when you do when you get out there and you are fit from the beginning.

THOMAS ENQVIST: No. It's the same. I think on the Tour everybody respects everybody. It is not -- I mean, I have my friends and most of them are Swedes, and I mean, we treat each each other even if somebody is playing better than the other or sometimes some are playing bad, we treat each other the same way. We have a lot of fun together.

THOMAS ENQVIST: I practiced wi him. Never have problem with him. I had think he is a nice guy.

THOMAS ENQVIST: I hope not. I think I have been playing really much before that and I had a tough match the day before also and it was a lot of players out there who was pretty tired, I think, Sampras was tired there and I think Knowles in the final in doubles, he was really bad, so it was also extremely hot on the court there, so I think that was pretty -- I mean, it is nothing you think about. Now I am just going to forget that and play.