US OPEN

September 4, 1999

Andrei Medvedev

ANDREI MEDVEDEV: I felt all right. From my stomach down, I felt strong. Just had maybe a bad food before coming to play. I felt like I want to throw up.

ANDREI MEDVEDEV: No, I didn't. I spit out a few drinks, but I didn't throw up. I think it's sort of normal. It happens when you don't really watch what you eat. That was my case today. I paid the price almost.

ANDREI MEDVEDEV: You can rename it, not Armstrong but Throw-up Court.

ANDREI MEDVEDEV: Everything the same what I normally have. But on top of my normal food, I had this chocolate bar from Power Aid or something like this. I don't eat that normally, but I thought playing Hewitt I might need to bring my running shoes, I need more energy. I had this energy bar. Actually gave me less energy than supposed to. Believe me, I will not take it for my next match.

ANDREI MEDVEDEV: No, it had nothing to do with that. Even though I felt bad, I was still able to maintain a decent level of play for four sets. I was able to even increase it in the fifth. He's a very good player. I knew it's going to be four, five sets no matter who wins. You know, actually I was a bit fortunate that I could always get an early break in the second and fourth set, then early break in the fifth. If the start of the sets were tighter, I think he would have better chances.

ANDREI MEDVEDEV: I think he's right.

ANDREI MEDVEDEV: Come on, I mean, I wouldn't enter the tournament if I didn't have any hope, even remote hope, that I would win here. Coming into here, I wasn't playing a great tennis. You know, neither was I playing well before Paris. Got things going, got to the second week, then I was playing much better. My goal here was to get to the second week. Now I'm in the second week, playing the second hottest player on Tour right now, for sure a contender to win the tournament, finish the year No. 1. But I know his game very well. He knows my game very well. The difference in the skills will not matter that much. It will be the difference in the head that will make the winner.

ANDREI MEDVEDEV: How so? He knows my game so well. I can play him with my eyes closed. He can do the same. I mean, we practice every day here. We can play our rallies really with our eyes closed because we know where we're hitting the ball. It's who is hitting the ball better and whose hand is not shaking when you go for the passing shot or the winner. That's the mental side. The one who is better prepared for that day will win. Hopefully it will be me, but I have to be realistic. I'm playing, in my eyes, maybe even the No. 1 contender for the crown here. I like my chances.

ANDREI MEDVEDEV: I think that it's his own fault, or maybe he wants it this way.

ANDREI MEDVEDEV: I think so. Maybe he presents himself wrong. I don't know what's the problem. Maybe he does it for purpose. Maybe he doesn't want to be recognized. Maybe he wants to be left alone and give the spotlight to Agassi, Sampras and Rafter. I cannot blame him for that. Sometimes it's very hard to handle the media pressure. We have already enough pressure for ourselves. Then when the media gives an extra attention, writing good or bad story, if you pay attention to that, you might lose your concentration on what you really have to do. Yevgeny has always been from the very beginning of his career very distant with the press. It worked for him. Cannot blame him.

ANDREI MEDVEDEV: I must say he's in a very good form now. When I practice with him, I have difficulties to win points. I still have his money in the pocket when we play the game till the tiebreak in 11.

ANDREI MEDVEDEV: I can not tell you. It's private. We are playing for $50,000. I think the prize money is $50,000. We played the final in Hamburg also which was the same sort of bet. If we put $20 before the match on the side, the match will be much more interesting.

ANDREI MEDVEDEV: $20.

ANDREI MEDVEDEV: Should be enough to get me motivated (laughter).

ANDREI MEDVEDEV: No, no. He's definitely not cheap. He's betting more than Michael Jordan with me anyway. I'm betting also.

ANDREI MEDVEDEV: No. He's married. I'm not. That's the difference. We are friends. We are playing golf, golf for lots of money, nothing more than that.

ANDREI MEDVEDEV: It was frustrating for me after Paris to come down on earth and sort of play in the smaller tournaments, get myself going, motivated. I would win the first round and lose the second for three or four straight tournaments. I just couldn't get going. I was so down. It was such a letdown after the French. I felt that my tank was empty, my spiritual tank. Maybe some players would be more excited after being in the final, but I felt that I lost one of the greatest chances to win it. It was the dream for me to win the French Open. I was so close. Losing it, I had a letdown. Maybe other people wouldn't, but I had it. Actually, I was looking very much forward to playing the US Open because I knew I'd get my motivation back here. Hopefully now I get relatively lucky to get to the second week. Hopefully I can use now the energy to get me for the end of the year, get into the better ranking, better position for next year.

ANDREI MEDVEDEV: I feel I'm getting it back. New York is such an electrifying place that you have to be dead not to get energy for it.

ANDREI MEDVEDEV: Just walking on the streets in New York, you get it, pumped up.

ANDREI MEDVEDEV: Actually, hate and love is very close. Sometimes you don't know if you hate or love it. I realize that I love this city. You know, I love four cities in the world, which is Kiev first, Paris, New York and Monte-Carlo. I live in Kiev, in Monte-Carlo. I have an apartment here in New York. I don't have anything in Paris, but I'm looking forward to that. That's the city that you can do anything 24 hours a day. You have a 1-800 number for every need you need. Everything is toll free, fat free, bullshit free. It's the best. Really, I love it. It's dirty, it's crazy, it's loud, but I love it. It's completely opposite to, let's say, Monte-Carlo or to Kiev or to Paris. It's just wild. To be here let's say a couple months a year, perfect. You get energy. Every time I leave New York, I feel sad. Same feeling I have when I leave Paris or Kiev or Monte-Carlo. When I leave from here, I feel I don't want to go. That's the relationship I have now to New York.

ANDREI MEDVEDEV: No. To be honest, I just like to walk on the street and look at the people. I have a feeling really - I say this quote a couple times - I have a feeling you can be walking naked on the street and still nobody will look at you. You can drive a super modern tank shooting left and right, and people wouldn't pay attention. They would be so focused on where they have to walk. There's so many tourists. It's so full. You really get energy from just being here. You go to the coffee shop. You see all these people who cannot speak English, who cannot count the change. It's unbelievable. It's nice, really.

ANDREI MEDVEDEV: Manhattan.

ANDREI MEDVEDEV: I was there a couple times. There in the Russian part. You feel like you're in Moscow. I prefer Manhattan. When I need to be with Russian people, I go to Ukraine or Moscow. I don't need to go to New York to see Russians, even though there's no way that I will ever change my love to this nation. I think it's the gift from God that I was born in this country and that I have Russian blood in me. But, you know, I'm internationally educated, so when I come here I like to spend time with you guys, Americans.

ANDREI MEDVEDEV: I like where I live. I live close to the Central Park. You know, you walk out on the street, just down from my apartment, I'm in the middle of everything. I love it. I mean, you get straight into life. Sort of if you don't watch your head, the people will take you with the way they move, they will force you in the direction they're moving. It's great.

ANDREI MEDVEDEV: You got to be strong, got to wrestle your way in. Then you have to wait in line because it seems like the whole nation, all they do is they are running. You go at I think 11 p.m. in the Central Park, you will see thousands of people running, jogging.

ANDREI MEDVEDEV: I don't know what they're doing. Maybe they don't like to stay home. I don't know. Maybe they have problems with their girlfriends or boyfriends or husbands, and they like to run. I don't have this problem. I stay home.

ANDREI MEDVEDEV: You should ask her.

ANDREI MEDVEDEV: Live would be difficult because I have such nostalgia when I'm away from Kiev. I feel my heart is still there. Here to live, yeah, I could probably live if my life forces me to. Like I said, I love this place. If I had a choice, I would live in Kiev, no Paris, nowhere else, Kiev. Maybe, who knows, the country is in bad shape now, maybe I can make a difference, maybe in a small field of sports or economy. I feel I can help. I feel that I'm enough educated, I've seen a lot from how it's working in the West, and maybe I can do it when I'm finished. My heart is still there. It will always be there.

ANDREI MEDVEDEV: Married, no. Too young. Too young. Again, it's the press thing. I win a couple rounds, you think I should get married. Really, come on. I've won a couple rounds before and I never get married, so why should I now?

ANDREI MEDVEDEV: Maybe if I win, then I'll consider it.

ANDREI MEDVEDEV: Exactly. Until I let you know, you shouldn't ask me. Today Guy Forget said, "Congratulations." I said, "Why?" He said, "You get married." I said, "Really? I didn't know that. When?" He says that everybody in Paris now thinks that I'm married. PI don't deny that I have a girlfriend, I have a good relationship to her, but I'm not married.

ANDREI MEDVEDEV: Yeah, like you have one. I had a birthday on the 31st of August. Not one gift from the press. I was very disappointed. I give you so many stories, you give me nothing. Unbelievable.

ANDREI MEDVEDEV: Something, yeah.

ANDREI MEDVEDEV: What?

ANDREI MEDVEDEV: I have doping? Or that I am a doping?

ANDREI MEDVEDEV: The answer to your question is that I've made so many doping tests this year, and I'm clean. I don't know what she's talking about. I don't know where she finds the doping in me. I'm clean, believe me. Even if she digs inside, I'm still clean. It's what I've been talking about in Paris. I think it's her turn to talk about it. She's in the spotlight. I hope she's getting the energy from me and the positive feelings because I certainly did or still do when I'm with her. If you call it doping, I prefer another word which is legal. Doping sounds strange to me.

ANDREI MEDVEDEV: I understand. Doping is doping. There is no legal doping. Doping is like cocaine or something. Legal cocaine, have you ever heard of that? I have some legal cocaine. Don't arrest me, please. Come on. Legal heroin. Come on.

ANDREI MEDVEDEV: I expect a good hospitality, good hotel, good food. I never been there, but I heard the place is great. It's packed from the first day on. That's what I'm looking for. I heard that the courts are fast, which is not really great for me. I seem to be playing well. These courts are fast, as well. Maybe I get a round or two under my belt. Never know where it can take me from there. I always enjoy playing in Switzerland. I've never been successful there, but I always enjoy it. It's not far from where I live in Monaco, so I probably go by car. It's nice. I'm looking forward to that.

ANDREI MEDVEDEV: I was once there to withdraw. I had the injury. I came there to withdraw. I saw the tournament director. I thanked him for the offer that he had. It was I think '94. I just wasn't ready to play. I told him, "I better give my spot to somebody who is ready, I'm not playing." He was disappointed, but I felt that that was fair. I never actually hit the ball there. I'm looking forward to that.

ANDREI MEDVEDEV: Who?

ANDREI MEDVEDEV: We making bets, but it's private things. I cannot tell you the amount because you will go crazy.

ANDREI MEDVEDEV: Push-ups, no. We're too old for that, come on. Push-ups or sit-ups, who cares about that? I don't do it even for my fitness regime. Why should I do it when I lose to Kafelnikov? We play for money, that's all that matters between me and him when we on the court. We can play a thousand sets for nothing. We will not get as motivated as if we play for $10. If the bet is more, which normally it is, you get even more motivated. We have bets every day, every single day. Sometimes I win, sometimes he wins. At the moment I got his money. The next week, it can turn around.

ANDREI MEDVEDEV: What do you mean? Here we make more money than a normal tournament. The first round to lose here is $10,000. You win a few rounds, now I'm at the 55 mark. I can bet some money with him.

ANDREI MEDVEDEV: All or nothing, no. He would. I'm not ready for that, no.