Tina: I'm going to call you a Yugoslavian teenage tennis sensation.

Goran: Oh, Jesus.

Tina: Is that okay?

Goran: It's perfect.

Tina: Good. How tall are you?

Goran: 6'4"? 6'5"?

Tina: And the titles you hold?

Goran: I have only one. This year - Stuttgart.

Tina: I was going to ask you if you shave yet, but you shaved before dinner. Now, you were born in '72...

Goran: '71.

Tina: The tournament book says '72. Are you sure?

Goran: Yes, I'm sure!

Tina: OK, they made a mistake. So you are actually 18.

Goran: I'll be 19 next month.

Tina: Yeah, September -

Goran: September 13th.

Tina: -shhh! I would have remembered.

Goran: You cannot remember it!

Tina: Yes, I would have. September 13th.

Goran: Ok. You are very good student.

Tina: I also just read you are one of the top earners on the tour.

Goran: Yeah, I know.

Tina: Well, I was wondering if you ever try to calculate it in dinars - I mean, being from country where the currency sometimes changes hourly, the concept of money must be very confusing to you.

Goran: No, I don't count the money. I don't care, you know?

Tina: Where does it all go?

Goran: It goes into my account, but it's not important to count how much I earn. It's not the point. I just need to play good. If I play good, the money's coming. But you know, it's nice to read that you have 1 million, six hundred thousand US [dollars]. It's a nice feeling.

Tina: Yeah, but haven't you spent some?

Goran: Well, I bought a car.

Tina: What make, what color?

Goran: Mercedes, blue-black. It's a very sporty car. It's going 240 kilometers per hour.

Tina: It's in Split?

Goran: No, it's in Monte Carlo, because I live there now.

Tina: Wow, already? 18, and you already have your Monte Carlo residence.

Goran: Yup.

Tina: Boris Becker "lives" there, too. Do you and Boris ever hang out?

Goran: Me and Boris - what kind of question is this?

Tina: Well, I wanted to ask how you get along off the court, because you and he already have a rivalry that's one of the most interesting in  the sport. The impression one gets watching your matches is that Boris has a lot of respect for you, and that he genuinely likes you. Maybe he sees you as a younger version of himself.

Goran: Yeah. He was afraid of me, maybe. I beat him first in an exhibition, then I beat him in Paris, and I had a chance in the
semi-finals of Wimbledon. If I beat him there, maybe he stop to play tennis! He was afraid of me, but maybe he's not anymore. Maybe he  likes me more now.

Tina: Because he managed to beat you at Wimbledon, even though he was down a set and a break? That was a fun match to watch. Did you have fun playing it?

Goran: Yeah, I had a lot of fun. That's why I lost.

Tina: You were on the ground, you were biting your racket...

Goran: I was doing a striptease...

Tina: So someone already asked your story at dinner: you started playing when  you were 7, you went to a  tennis school, you started  playing on the junior tour  when you were 14.

Goran: Yeah, I was  playing a lot of   tournaments in Europe.

Tina: So did your family travel with you?

Goran: No. The coach always - there were a lot of  players and he was  traveling with us. And then  I started to play the junior Grand Slams. I was number two junior.

Tina: Behind Nicolas Perreira.

Goran: Very good.

Tina: Do you like to travel so much? Honestly?

Goran: Yeah. What else to do?

Tina: Well, you're young, and it seems like you see the hotel rooms, you go play your matches, you see all the same people all the time.

Goran: Same people, same faces. In Europe I like it more, not so much in America.

Tina: You hate America, don't you.

Goran: No! But I like Europe much more. You are more free. It's fucking unbelievable here, you need to be 21 to go to the disco, to have a drink, showing your ID every two seconds. In Europe, nobody give a shit if you go to the disco, if you're gonna get drunk, if you're gonna drink all fucking day...

Tina: People here are uptight about teenage drinking and sex.

Goran: Ah, sex... In Europe they know me more, they watch what I'm doing. But here, nobody knows me, it's nice.

Tina: People who watch tennis know you.

Goran: Yeah, ok, maybe somebody's gonna recognize me in a disco, but in Europe, especially Germany....Here, I can't even go to the disco, I'm not 21!

 Tina: They never ask in New York.

Goran: Come on, they ask everywhere.

Tina: In New York, you can do anything you want.

Goran: Ok, you show me.

Tina: When you're finished at the US Open - woops -

Goran: "When I'm finished" - what is this?

Tina: I'm sorry. I mean, after you've won it...

Goran: That's better.

Tina: I'll take you out to show you. Nobody will care that you're not 21.  What do you like about America?

Goran: Everything. And nothing. It's beautiful. Everyone's always running, jumping, it's crazy. It's a fast life. It's funny. In my
hometown, everybody's moving so slow... And here, you can see a  lot of things you can't see in Europe.

Tina: But that's just it - when you're here, what do you see? The   tournament sites, the hotel rooms.

Goran: I can go to the city everyday if I like.

Tina: You've said that you used to be a very bad boy, but you're not anymore. I'm not sure if you meant on the court or off.

Goran: I was a troublemaker. I was kind of crazy guy, you know? I was throwing the racket, I was swearing, I was screaming. But now  it's okay. Now I can control it.

Tina: Now you're doing the Andre Agassi.

Goran: What is this?

 Tina: You know, he tries to make it fun on the court, he tries tolaugh.

Goran: I don't give a shit about him.

Tina: I knew you wouldn't. He drives you crazy, right?

Goran: No, I don't hate him, why you ask that?

Tina: Because, as an American, he gets so much press, even though he's yet to come up with a big win. And the press is so much about his hair and clothing.

Goran: I don't know him, so I cannot say if he's nice guy.

Tina: Does anybody ever tell you that maybe you should be less rambunctious on the court?

Goran: Ram-bun-shus. What is this?

Tina: Sorry. That's a big word. Rambunctious.

Goran: Rambunctious.

Tina: You know, when you're on the court screaming and bouncing  the ball on your head, and the audience is loving it.

Goran: What's wrong with this?

Tina: I just thought that maybe your coach would want you to be less emotional, that it might hurt your concentration.

Goran: Does anyone tell you you shouldn't bite your pen like that? I cannot be angel. No way. I need to do something: I'm gonna bounce  the racket, I'm gonna play with the ball, I'm gonna scream. It's more  fun. Sometimes, it's a nice feeling, when you're keeping it inside your  heart, to give a scream, to let it out. It's a very nice feeling.

Tina: About your diet and training - are you strict about what you eat?

Goran: No. I eat anything.

Tina: Yeah, I saw that at dinner tonight, you ate a plate full of steak, no vegetables or anything. And you're so skinny for such a tall guy - you make me think of my Yugoslavian grandmother, saying "eat, eat" all the time.

Goran: And you're not skinny. You listened to her.

Tina: I'm in pretty good condition. I'm very strong.

Goran: You want to armwrestle?

Tina: I would, but you're a lefty. It wouldn't be fair.

Goran: You're dangerous woman. Yeah, they say I need to be careful, no chocolate, no sugar, no salt, but I'm eating a lot of
chocolate, I'm putting 10 spoons of sugar in my coffee -

Tina: You put so much sugar on your blueberries tonight, I couldn't believe my eyes!

Goran: I would have put more, but I was trying to be nice boy.