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PILOT PEN TENNIS AT YALE

August 27, 2010

Sergiy Stakhovsky

NEW HAVEN, CONNECTICUT

S. STAKHOVSKY/T. De Bakker
6-3, 6-4

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. You feeling it after playing three matches in two days?
SERGIY STAKHOVSKY: I'm alive. I'm here. 17 hours later. Quite happy.

Q. Must feel good, heading to where you're going now?
SERGIY STAKHOVSKY: Well, definitely give me some confidence before the finals to play such a good tennis today. Obviously to the upcoming Grand Slam also, not so bad result the week before.

Q. You've won three times. What would a win mean here? Where would you that rank amongst your other victories on the tour?
SERGIY STAKHOVSKY: Well, I played four semifinals in total and I won all of them. Definitely today I played one of the best matches I could play in the semis. I think it's the only -- no. I did 's-Hertogenbosch also in two. It's one of two matches I did won in two sets in semifinals and I did play really good.
I think this is the only match I didn't face a breakpoint at all, if I'm right.

Q. I think there was only one breakpoint in the first set and you took advantage of it. How important was that game to how the match turned out?
SERGIY STAKHOVSKY: It was actually a big turnover for me because he was serving really well and I was holding my serve quite strong. It was always about the small points. You could see this in the second set when I get a breakpoint, I get three aces in a row. So he was taking it really easy from me. I was really lucky to catch that return. I mean, I guess I just decided where he was serving, so I went for it. It went in, thanks God.
It was a really important point for me. I close out the set with my serve and started fresh from the second.

Q. Can you talk about your serve today. Was it as good as you've had it this year?
SERGIY STAKHOVSKY: Well, I can't say that I was serving as heavy as I did yesterday or as fast as I did serve yesterday, but it had more consistency and it done a lot of damage to him, not to his return, but him, and helped me a lot today.

Q. In the past three times you reached the semifinals, you won all of those tournaments. Is there a different mentality in the later rounds or a reason you improve so much towards the end?
SERGIY STAKHOVSKY: I can say the second maybe more, that I'm playing better in the end of the tournament. But that's a problem that not always you can get there. You need to struggle in the beginning.
I did won all three titles starting from the semis. But, you know, every single match at that time was really different. I mean, Ljubicic in 2008 was a big impact on me because I was ranked 200 something, coming as a lucky loser to beat the home titleist. I mean, it was huge.
The last year, St. Petersburg, was also not easy because I was coming from quallies. I won from a match point, third-set tiebreak which was a really long match and really exhausting.
This year, 's-Hertogenbosch was 50 something minutes final against Tipsarevic. It was really quick. I was playing really good.
I can't really say what it takes. It just takes I don't know what, but I'm trying to get that (smiling).

Q. You're not exactly a household name around here. Looking on your website for information about you to share for readers, I have a couple questions. You listed the top five people you would bring to a party if you were allowed to, and they were Bono, Tom Hanks, Princess Diana, Boris Yeltsin and a Russian arms dealer. Where did he come from, the guy who created the AK-47? Kind of bizarre.
SERGIY STAKHOVSKY: It's not bizarre actually. If you take his life, I mean, in any other single country, if he would live, he would more or less be a billionaire or whatever, one of the biggest men in the world. Unfortunately he was living in Russia and doing the job he was supposed to do. He done it for his country. Basically is on a government salary, which is not huge.
I know, okay, he done more damage to the world than he maybe done the good. But at some point he did save the country I was born in. I feel I have to be thankful to him.

Q. It says your perfect day would be to spend it with your girlfriend, hanging out with friends, a restful evening at home reading. Is reading something that you're that passionate about?
SERGIY STAKHOVSKY: Yeah, I try to do a lot of reading. Unfortunately, I don't like to read it on the computer, these tabloids, I don't know how you call it. I really prefer books and books are hard to travel with because they're heavy. When you're heading out for four weeks, you can't really take a lot of books because you have to take six pairs of tennis shoes.
So books are going fast. I have to watch more movies now. I do prefer reading, and I do prefer being at home because being on the road all year round is not easy, so whatever time I have I try to spend at home.

Q. You have three tournaments now in a couple years. Do you feel you're almost there where you're going to take the next step?
SERGIY STAKHOVSKY: I think I'm not the one to judge about this. I'm just trying to do my best on court. If it's going to bring me a name, it's going to be good. If it's not, I'm still going to try to do my job as good as I can.

Q. Do you feel your game is at that next level where you're almost with the elite?
SERGIY STAKHOVSKY: It definitely at some point is, but unfortunately I'm missing this consistency which can bring me a little higher than I am, and I'm looking for it.

End of FastScripts

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