INTERVIEWS

Quarterfinal: Defeated Tim Henman.....5-7, 6-3, 6-4

JOE LYNCH: Yevgeny Kafelnikov moves into the semifinals here for the third time in the last four years and is also in the doubles quarterfinals, finishing at about 11:32 p.m. last night. Did you get any sleep?
KAFELNIKOV: Yes, I did.

JOE LYNCH: First question?
QUESTION: How does it feel to be in the semis three out of the last four years?
KAFELNIKOV: Feels good. I'm good hard court player, I like the surface. It fits for me here. Great atmosphere, I'm happy to again be in the semifinals.

QUESTION: Last year when Alex O'Brien beat you in the quarters, he said if there was one knock against your game is if you got down, sometimes you would quit and that he thought that was partially the case last year when he beat you. Have you disproven that since? It seems like you battled back very well out there today.
KAFELNIKOV: Well, unfortunately for myself, I've had so many defeats like that in my career and I had to recover from that quickly, which I think I did. After the defeat, I played so successful in the end of the year and I won a tournament, I think I made a couple of finals, I won three tournaments in doubles. It's disappointing, but that's one thing you have to live with. You cannot win every tournament you go out on the court, but it is disappointing. But, you know, as far as I remember, he played very good tournament and, you know, he definitely proved that he was the best last year.

QUESTION: Is that something you had to fight within yourself to improve on?
KAFELNIKOV: You have to fight every time you go on the court.

QUESTION: That specifically, when you get down, to make yourself, you know, come back like that, get a little tougher at those moments?
KAFELNIKOV: Yeah, it's frustrating when you lose to the guy. I think he was ranked 250 in the world in that stage, but it didn't mean that he was a bad player. He was good player, I've seen him play. It's hard to manage those defeats in very quick time. It's very difficult to get back to your normal focus, but, you know, I was able to do it quickly.

QUESTION: You saved, I think, 10 of 12 break points today.
KAFELNIKOV: Well, it was difficult conditions. Once out on the court it was very windy, you had to play against the wind. Tim was very aggressive today. He was attacking. He was behind my serves every time. He put a lot of pressure on me today. I was really lucky to get away in the third set, but at one stage I felt like it's never going to be over. Maybe I got not enough sleep, I wasn't really fresh in the match today, but I'm glad that I got through.

QUESTION: How did you keep on pulling it out of your heart, so to speak?
KAFELNIKOV: I don't know. I just, you know, I was lucky. Few break points, but on the other hand, I've made a couple of important shots on those break points which helps me to stay in the match.

QUESTION: Yevgeny, you were talking a little about last year. You came in here last year having won the French Open, you played here, obviously you had that disappointment going into the U.S. Open. Can you compare this year on how you feel -- obviously I don't think we're likely to see you pull out of the U.S. Open next week.
KAFELNIKOV: I definitely am not the same person I was last year. I had injury and injury kept me off the court for a very long period. But on the other hand, you know, I haven't had so many matches coming into this tournament, so I'm a little bit -- not a little bit, I'm more hungry to play good competitive tennis. That's an advantage for me. Right now I -- my goal is just to win this tournament, play consistent tennis next week, and then I feel like if everything will work out well for myself, I'll be ready to give a shot to the U.S. Open.

QUESTION: How else are you different? You said you're not the same person. Last year had this extraordinary high and it had to be a low for you what happened before Flushing.
KAFELNIKOV: Tennis always goes up and down. It's never going to -- it's very unusual. Only Pete Sampras goes up, up, up, up. A lot of guys, myself, Ivanisevic, Krajicek sometimes go down. The most important thing is not to go down very deep. Once you're very deep, it's difficult to climb up again. And that's the main story. I was able to keep that level to still be in the top ten and that's most important thing for me right now.

QUESTION: Was there anything with dealing with your first real major injury of your career that mentally --
KAFELNIKOV: That was important. I haven't faced any particular stages like that in my career, so I didn't know how to deal with that. I remember leaving the U.S. Open, I was really happy because I didn't have to face any media people. I was home for three months. I had very fantastic time. But at the same time I realize that tennis, that's my life. I missed it. So that's why I was forcing myself to -- it was really difficult because I was out of shape and didn't do anything basically in those three months when I was away. And I'm really proud that I've done that, that I got back on the tour. I feel healthy now and things for me are just going well right now.

QUESTION: You're not going to go off and fly planes?
KAFELNIKOV: What?

QUESTION: You learned how to fly a plane?
KAFELNIKOV: Yeah.

QUESTION: What did you do for three months?
KAFELNIKOV: I did everything that I could.

QUESTION: Like what?
KAFELNIKOV: Like everything. Use your imagination.

QUESTION: Give us examples.
KAFELNIKOV: No, I don't want to give you examples.

QUESTION: How do you reach the finals? How do you play Petr Korda?
KAFELNIKOV: I beat him a couple months ago on the grass, 7-6 in the third, I was fortunate to save a couple of match points. Every time I've played with him, we have fantastic matches. What comes tomorrow, we won't disappoint them.

QUESTION: Are you going to be playing next week?
KAFELNIKOV: I'll be on Long Island.

QUESTION: Do any of your fellow competitors talk about the color of your sneakers?
KAFELNIKOV: Nobody really cares. As long as it's helping me, I'm fine with that.

QUESTION: How do they help you? Do you look down at them mid-match and start laughing?
KAFELNIKOV: I used to before, when I first started wearing them, but not anymore.

QUESTION: When did you first start wearing them?
KAFELNIKOV: November last year during Hannover.

QUESTION: Who picked the color out?
KAFELNIKOV: The company picked the kind, I picked the color out myself.

QUESTION: Were you the only player on the tour with yellow sneakers?
KAFELNIKOV: No, I'm the only one. Kuerten has the blue ones. We both have the same company, but he's got the blue shoes, I've got yellow.

QUESTION: What do the straps do?
KAFELNIKOV: Help the ankles.

QUESTION: Are you going to unveil a new look at the Open?
KAFELNIKOV: Yes. Yes. That's going to be a big surprise.

QUESTION: To you or the rest of us?
KAFELNIKOV: To the rest of you guys.

QUESTION: Different color?
KAFELNIKOV: Perhaps.

QUESTION: What are you going to have to do to beat Korda comfortably tomorrow?
KAFELNIKOV: I'm hoping that I'm going to play my doubles, that's going to be an advantage for me. But right now, I don't know. They're still holding doubles match for tonight.

QUESTION: You practice today together, right? Does that make it harder or easier with Korda?
KAFELNIKOV: We practiced once this week. You know, we know each other very well. It's not like he's underdog and we don't know each other. We go on the court and we don't know what to expect from each other. We're pretty close and we know game of each other very well.

QUESTION: During the three months off, did you think about what it would take to be number one? Was that going through your mind?
KAFELNIKOV: No. At that stage I was only hoping that my injury will recover quickly and I will get back to the court and compete again. That was all what was going on through my mind at that stage.

QUESTION: You talk of missing the game.
KAFELNIKOV: Yes.

QUESTION: Was it different -- did it surprise you how much you missed the game?
KAFELNIKOV: Not at first month. But then after that, you know, I watched TV, there was so many tournaments on the TV, Henman was playing, he was doing well. I felt like, you know, it would have been nice if my parents would see me on the TV at that time, but unfortunately I was injured at that time. That was the only thing going through my mind.

QUESTION: Where were you at that point?
KAFELNIKOV: I was home. Home in Russia.

JOE LYNCH: Anything else for Yevgeny?
KAFELNIKOV: Thank you.