INTERVIEWS

Quaterfinal: Defeated Goran Ivanisevic.....6-4, 6-2, 6-3

Q. Thomas, we were pretty impressed. How impressed were you about yourself?
A. Well, I think that I really returned well and I had a good concept going in there and I tried to read his serve and I really tried to figure out where the strong parts of his serve were. I didn't really make any unforced errors off the baseline. I was just a bit unhappy with my own serve, the percentage wasn't good enough and the speed, but everything else was really good and I think the attitude I had and the focus was good.

Q. What did you think this morning when you saw they had to close the roof because of the rain?
A. Well, it doesn't matter. I mean, I'm professional and I think I should play under any conditions. Honestly I have to say that the court gets slower when it's cold, when the surface is cold, and when it's really hot it becomes more fast, and I don't really think it was an advantage for Goran.

Q. This is your first victory indoors against him?
A. Well, we played on carpet, which is much, much faster; and I think that Goran might have been a bit tired today because he had a really tough match, a five-setter in the heat the other day, and I think he wasn't really as fast, or at least his footwork wasn't as good as it usually is, especially at the net. But I mean, you also have to be able to take those chances, and I did.

Q. Thomas, you said you had been able to work out where the strong parts of Goran's serve are. Does that mean you had a fair idea of what was coming?
A. Yeah, my coach figured it out. We had a computer and we did it with the computer.

Q. Are you going to sell the package?
A. No.

Q. Were you surprised to see him serve and volley so much in the second set?
A. Well, he had to, I guess, because he was a bit tired and he had to take his chances on the second serve and he had to rush, and that's where my chances were. And his first serve percentage dropped and the more second serves he had to play, the more chances I had to move him around. And I knew the longer the match was going to last, the more I will participate in the game.

Q. Thomas, you mentioned computers. Since when are you using a computer and whose idea was it?
A. It was my coach's idea and I think it's a good thing because you can - everybody has a certain type of play which he likes and computers can help you to figure out over matches what players usually do and what they play, and it's a good thing.

Q. So since when are you using it?
A. We actually just started but it's good.

Q. Just started this year?
A. Yep.

Q. So you don't need any match practice any more; you have it in your computer?
A. Yes.

Q. Thomas, you're recognised as probably the fittest guy on the tour. After a game like this, which is only three sets, will you do any other physical work today?
A. I usually do, especially when I have a day off the next day. But that's a daily program; it doesn't matter if I play five sets or how long it's going to take, it doesn't matter; it's just a routine workout I do.

Q. What will you do?
A. We, depends. But mostly medical balls and jumps and whatever. We have a certain program which I follow and, as I said, it doesn't matter.

Q. For how long?
A. For how long the match lasts, it is a routine thing.

Q. Thomas, you looked so pumped up on court and now you seem almost depressed, like you have lost, the way you talk. What happens?
A. When I see you.

Q. Smile again.
A. Don't worry about it, I'll be all right.

Q. Are you consciously maybe trying to keep your excitement level down and just keep everything on an even keel?
A. I feel really relaxed and there is nothing really bothering me, and I had a good workout the week before the tournament. As I said, every match I felt more comfortable playing here and now I'm 100 per cent, and that's good. It was just important for me, the first two or three matches.

Q. What do you think about your chances to win the tournament?
A. Well, I just can't tell you. How many guys are still in the tournament? But the chances, it's like at the beginning, you have to take your chances, every match you've got to play. And it doesn't matter if Costa wins or Sampras, they're tough opponents either way. My goal was the quarterfinals and now I'm in the semis and anything can happen.

Q. Have you entered Sampras or Costa into the computer and are they any more predictable or less predictable than Ivanisevic?
A. Well, Costa I know very well. But we have it and we'll take advantage of it. But still you've got to go out there and play; the computer doesn't play for you.

Q. Thomas, did you have to be convinced that the computer could be of some benefit to you when Ronnie proposed the idea to you?
A. You always - I think, since we are using technology with racquets, we are taking advantage of so many things in tennis, and I think that the statistics are very important. It can help you but it's never going to do the work for you on court. It's like researching, I don't know, any other things. You can do it with tactical things and serves, but still you have to go and play. It just helps you.

Q. Is there a special meaning for you being in the semis here, considering that last time you were in the semis here was '89?
A. It was quite a long time ago, but I had several chances. I was in the quarters before and I was in the quarters of the US Open three times, so it's just - I thinkit's just a matter of time when you get into the semis next time. But it's good for me that after such a long time, that I could make it again.

Q. Thomas, can you compare your physical fitness now to, say, seven or eight years ago? Are you now more confident going into five-setter matches, on clay court or anywhere?
A. Not because of my fitness; I think because of my tactical strengths and my experience. But I'm sure that I recovered much better five or six years ago, which is natural.

Q. Thomas, one of the Australian players mentioned last week that you were among about 20 of the top 70 players using the extended racquets. How long have you been using yours for?
A. I started at the World Championships, so that's actually the third tournament I'm using it.

Q. Has it made an appreciable difference?
A. It has on the serve, it gives you more speed and also the groundstrokes, you are able to hit harder, and using a longer racquet gives you more spin. There are a few things. But it just takes a while to get adjusted to it.

Q. How long had you been working with it before you took it into a tournament?
A. A week.

Q. Do you think, if you win this one, people will stop calling you a clay court specialist?
A. I don't care. If they didn't realise so far that I can play on hardcourt, they was blind anyway. So it's not really worrying me.

Q. Thomas, is playing in the Australian Open any different for you now that you live here?
A. Well, it's not much of a difference. I always liked this tournament because I think it's really nice to play here. But before it was always for me a long trip to come here and go back. But now it's sort of - yeah, it's a second home and it's nice to play, especially when you play in Australia. Now for me it's motivation. But it's not much of a difference, I would say, it's just nice to play well here.