US OPEN

August 26, 2002

Harel Levy

HAREL LEVY: I think so, yes. The best and the longest.

HAREL LEVY: Well, for the last I think month, I'm feeling pretty well physically. With the hip, with all the -- with the area around the hip. Now I need to get everything together: mental, technique, physically, just get back to where I was hopefully before.

HAREL LEVY: Actually, today was like a Davis Cup match. I felt almost the same. Maybe not as many people as in Israel. But the crowd was behind me, was pushing me all the way from the beginning to the end. It's a great atmosphere. I really enjoyed the match today.

HAREL LEVY: All kinds of things. "Levy, Levy" is enough just to keep the adrenaline going, keeping me positive inside the match.

HAREL LEVY: Well, in percentage you want? Around 23 and a half (laughter). No, I'm not sure. Always playing with a lot of support behind you helps. I don't know if I would have won the match without all the support. Maybe I would have won or maybe I would have lost. But all I know, that it really helped me and pushed me a lot. I'm really looking forward for the next match. Hopefully it will be the same.

HAREL LEVY: I think to me looks quite normal that he's playing with a Pakistani guy. Personally, I don't know the guy, but he seems like a nice guy. In Israel, everybody is supportive about it, unlike in Pakistan, that they're not very happy that they are playing together. But in Israel, it looks quite normal that we are playing with a guy from Pakistan.

HAREL LEVY: I have enough pressure from myself. I try not to think about all the pressure from the Israeli people. I know everybody is behind me, they want me to win. Sometimes they take it in the wrong way, I mean, saying things they shouldn't have said. I'm taking it very slowly. I'm coming back from a very long injury, and I don't expect anything big in the next couple of months. Maybe it will happen, but I don't think so. Hopefully I'll be ready next week -- not next week, sorry, next year. Next week is too soon (smiling). Next year physically and mentally everything will come together again.

HAREL LEVY: The rehabilitation was in Israel.

HAREL LEVY: I'm pretty used to it. I mean, I'm not used to it because I'm traveling a lot. But to me being at home for almost six months was pretty strange. All of a sudden you have time for a lot of things, and you stay at home. It's not like now that you are traveling. I haven't been home for six weeks already. It was nice. I mean, it's not as it looks on TV. I mean, it's pretty normal. We live our lives. Everything looks pretty quiet right now, but I don't want to open my mouth.

HAREL LEVY: Well, it doesn't matter if you know the guy or you don't know them. I mean, Israel is a small country. For every soldier that we're losing, every person we are losing, it hurts. It's sad to say, but we got used to it. We got used to it. It's very sad to say. But for us, every person is something big. It's not like maybe for the other people. Because we are very small, the population in Israel is very small, everybody is very important. It's sad to say, but we got used to it.

HAREL LEVY: It's very similar to Magnus.

HAREL LEVY: Not e-mails, but we talked about it a couple of times, how we were feeling. I think Magnus is feeling pretty well right now. He's starting to feeling good. I think he has a little bit of pain. Me, I'm playing without pain. Also Guga, I've been practicing with him a little bit in Toronto and Cincinnati. He was feeling so-so with the hip. So I think I'm feeling the best out of all four of us. Sargsian is also a guy who had the hip surgery. I'm traveling with a personal trainer who is taking care of me. I think he's doing a great job. I'm not going to be back to a hundred percent, but if I get back to 90%, I'll be very happy.

HAREL LEVY: Right, that's what I'm trying to do right now, just play as many matches as I can till the end of the year. Next year will be a new year.

HAREL LEVY: It's Ramata Sharon (phonetic), 10 minutes from Tel Aviv, a suburb of Tel Aviv. It's a pretty quiet place. Not too much going on there.

HAREL LEVY: Why not? No, I drive my own car. No, I mean, we're going to movies, going out with friends to discotecques, cafe. Even on crutches I went to discoteque sometimes just to listen to the music (smiling).

HAREL LEVY: Not really. Not really. After a terror attack, you start thinking a little bit. But you have to live your life, otherwise you will stop living, and then it won't be so good.

HAREL LEVY: I think that it's not the same. I mean, they had one terror attack which was a very big one. But in Israel, we have it almost every week, so it's pretty different. I mean, I don't know. I don't think they can identify with us because it's a different thing. But maybe they can start to understand what we are feeling with the terror attacks.

HAREL LEVY: Well, when you have a terror attack let's say 20 times a year, it's something very common. You just get used to it. It's not like here you have one big terror attack and you say, "Wow." For us, it's something that was happening since I was a little kid. So, like I said, it's sad to say that you get used to it, but you do.

HAREL LEVY: Not much (laughter). I was going early in the morning. I was very lucky in the Army. I had a very nice commander who understood the tennis. He told me, "Okay, you come early in the morning, 6:00 in the morning, you go at 10:00, and I don't want to see you again until tomorrow morning."

HAREL LEVY: Three years.

HAREL LEVY: Two years ago. August two years ago.

HAREL LEVY: Well, if I want to be a politician, then I'll have to get into it. But I'm trying just to do my job. I mean, I'm a tennis player trying to play as good as I can, and just try to concentrate on what I have to do. If I have to concentrate on all of the other things, I don't think I'll be doing my job very well.

HAREL LEVY: I think there are two systems. One is the Israeli tennis centers, and one with the Federation. I don't get into it too much. I mean, I'm on my own. I have my coach, I have my trainer. Besides the injury, I'm never there. I don't really know what's happening. I don't want to know. I don't want to get into it. I'm just concentrating on myself right now. I have enough to concentrate on, getting back to the level I played a year ago.

HAREL LEVY: The date was November 1st.

HAREL LEVY: I was the second. Magnus was the first. Then Guga and then Sargsian.

HAREL LEVY: We go down to Brazil to practice together. Unfortunately, last December I couldn't go because of the injury. But Larri was watching my match today. He was there for three sets, I think.

HAREL LEVY: Any tennis courts, you mean?

HAREL LEVY: I don't know. I've never been there. Never been there, so I really don't know.

HAREL LEVY: This you have to ask the doctors.

HAREL LEVY: Not really, no. I really just try to concentrate playing on the tournament. I'm playing Wednesday again. If I would concentrate on something is going to happen to me, I'm going to live a different life, and I don't want to do that.