WIMBLEDON

June 30, 2003

Jonas Bjorkman

THE MODERATOR: Good evening, Ladies and Gentlemen. Jonas Bjorkman. First question, please.

JONAS BJORKMAN: I haven't thought about it actually. It probably will help me a little bit, but not too much. I'm used to play the type of player who has a big serve. It's not going to be something that I will feel any different about sort of going up against Andy now.

JONAS BJORKMAN: Yeah, I guess he's going to stay back. I played him on grass last year in Nottingham, and he came in a bit. But I don't think he's going to do that again because that wasn't so successful. I guess he's going to more try and be back and try to win the points from the baseline and off of his serve.

JONAS BJORKMAN: Yeah, I think it's going to be a great match to watch. I feel I got a very good chance. All eight guys in the quarters got a good chance to win it. I have beaten him before on grass. I like the way that being an underdog and going in and play those guys. That suits me pretty good. You know, I'm going to have a nice rub and then play some dubs tomorrow and then I'm going to prepare for Wednesday.

JONAS BJORKMAN: I beat him last year in Nottingham.

JONAS BJORKMAN: I played too many matches since that time. It's not easy to remember. I felt I was playing well. I won the tournament after that. You can't really compare because it's one year back. It was a nice win for me. It's always a new match coming up on Wednesday. You know, he knows his game plan, I know my game plan. Just going to go out and see who's the best of the day.

JONAS BJORKMAN: Yeah, I mean it's always sweet to be doing well in the slams. I mean, that's your main goal, to be able to play your best tennis in the four slams. I played well last year. I lost in the quarters against Johansson. Played some really good tennis there. When you get to that stage, you know, that's where you enjoy it the most. Now I'm back again. I feel, you know, I have a good chance and I'm going to enjoy it a lot.

JONAS BJORKMAN: I've been there before in the quarters, so I definitely got the experience of what it is. That's going to help me a lot. Hopefully that would be good for me.

JONAS BJORKMAN: Yeah, I think all eight guys is having a good chance to win it. Why wouldn't I? I mean, I've beaten some good guys. I've beaten Roddick before. You know, he's a great player, tough player to play. But, you know, I'm in good form. You know, just going to go out and do my best, and hopefully that's enough.

JONAS BJORKMAN: You have to ask the guys who played him. I haven't watched him play at all. I don't know. It's not going to be like clay or hard court. It might be better the second week than it was in the first week. But it's not going to be sort of a type of kick serve like you're used to maybe if you play him on hard court or clay. Probably have a better kick serve on those surface. It's always going to be tough.

JONAS BJORKMAN: I will be the next young star, yeah (smiling). What can you say? I'm 31. I mean, I think it's just nice to see, you know, Andre doing well, he's 33. El Aynaoui. You have a bunch of guys who still can do well. I know what I can do on my best days. I just try to enjoy that. I mean, when you're 31, you don't want to say you're a veteran on the tour, but I am in a way. I'm just very relaxed at the moment, enjoying my tennis. Hopefully that's going to be good. An old Swedish Viking.