U.S. OPEN

September 1, 1996

Andrei Medvedev

ANDREI MEDVEDEV: I don't know. I think my best tennis is yet to come. Am I playing the best tennis of the year? It's possible. My best tennis overall I think is ahead of me.

ANDREI MEDVEDEV: Yes.

ANDREI MEDVEDEV: Ready.

ANDREI MEDVEDEV: I'm just going to return. There's no real preparation for Goran's serve. You just have to try to look right the serve and place the racquet, where the ball is supposed to land. If I can do it good, I have a good chance to return his serves. I think his serve is not the only weapon that he has, he has a more complete game than just his serve. Just to say that if I return his serve I can win the match would not be fair. It will be a tough match. I'm ready and I've played him a few times. I'm looking forward to it.

ANDREI MEDVEDEV: Overall if I didn't think I could win, I wouldn't be playing. That's my logic.

ANDREI MEDVEDEV: Yeah.

ANDREI MEDVEDEV: I don't know. I'm happy with my life. It feels much better -- it doesn't feel much better, but it feels great to be playing good again. I went through a painful time in the beginning of this year, throughout this year, until this moment. I appreciate much more the way I play now than when it was two years ago and I played well. I can't complain. I don't know if I would be playing better if I was not injured. That's the way life goes. I can't really say. End.

ANDREI MEDVEDEV: Excuse me?

ANDREI MEDVEDEV: I don't regret what I have done in the past because it's been a good lesson for me. Life taught me many things, naturally. If I could stay healthy, yes, I would have done some things different. Unfortunately I was facing the injuries that I had to overcome, and I didn't know how to overcome them. I had some setbacks. It's really tough to say. It's really tough to say. I don't think I have lost my motivation for tennis during this four, five years. I have lost perhaps the direction, but not motivation. I don't regret what happened to me. It's been a lesson. I'm happy it happened to me when I was only 20, 19. Now I'm looking forward. I'd like to learn from my mistakes and I try not to repeat them to the future, and I'm quite happy with the way everything is. I don't know if I would change it.

ANDREI MEDVEDEV: Like this year, I had some minor injuries. I was having treatment and playing for them. Eventually I was overcoming them, but while I was practicing and keep working. A couple years ago I was afraid of the injuries because it was something that I have never faced when I was a junior. Even sometimes I didn't have major injuries, I would still have time off, taking care. Maybe was right, maybe wrong, I don't know that. If I look at this year, I played through some injuries, and I didn't lose practice time. Maybe this would be the only thing. Once again, if you play through injuries, you run the risk of getting even bigger injury.

ANDREI MEDVEDEV: It's like roulette, Russian roulette, tough call.

ANDREI MEDVEDEV: Is this my favorite Grand Slam?

ANDREI MEDVEDEV: Every Grand Slam is my favorite. It's a big tournament. Has a special atmosphere. It's not the easiest one, for sure. It's nice to be a part of this whole thing. It's like at the Olympics for the other athletes. Every Grand Slam is special. There is no doubt about this. Every one is my favorite.

ANDREI MEDVEDEV: No, it's not true. Every three matches that I play, I push myself to the limit of what I have now. The scores were favorable to me, but the games themselves were not. I mean, I had to fight. It was not easy. Every guy out here can play, can win. My only objective when I am on the court is to play as good as I can, not to hold my energy because of maybe I have to go five sets or something like that. I try to give my best from the first point. I will not give up until the last. Seems to be working for me. I really cannot say that I had an easy, easy time. It was not easy. Because probably it's tough to play.

ANDREI MEDVEDEV: Bob Brett.