| Swedish Open 2001 - July 10, 2001 [ Return to 2001 Interviews ] |
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Q. Magnus, you are back to Bastad and you're back in winning form. Maybe better form than you had earlier this year? MAGNUS NORMAN: I think so. It's been five weeks off with an injury with my hips. When you're off tennis and you watch tennis on television and I watch games a lot and you kind of miss tennis. You miss the action, you miss a lot of things. So I think in a way it must have been good that I was away a little bit so this is kind of a new start for me. Q. Why do you think that this year so far has not been as good as you expected? MAGNUS NORMAN: I dont know. I had two fantastic years behind me that started two years ago when I was 16th and I climbed all the way up to number 2 in the world. I think I played a lot of tennis those two years and I got a little bit tired the beginning of this year. I've been struggling a little bit with my form and my inspiration. So I'm very happy to be back again in Bastad and being able to finally experience [inaudible]. Its been very good for me. Q. The difference is that you now feel like playing more than you have before? MAGNUS NORMAN: Yeah, I'm very happy to step on a court again and because of struggling a little bit as I said with this summer that right now I'm looking forward for the next match again. I'm really positive again. Q. And you're back to tournament at home, a tournament that you won last year. That's also something extra? MAGNUS NORMAN: Yeah, I mean I feel at home here. I've won two times and I was in Bastad 15 summers in a row now starting when I was very very little when I played [inaudible]. So, I'm happy to be back and hopefully I can make it to third time here. Q. You have a difficult next match. Can you talk a little bit about Andrew Ilie? MAGNUS NORMAN: Yeah, he's a great player. Fun to watch, a lot of spectators come to watch him and you never know whats going to happen. He can play some good tennis. He played an unbelievable first set, first set and a half against Andre Agassi in the Australian Open this year. Everybody was just laughing in the locker room because he was playing out of his mind you know. But hopefully I can play really, really steady and aggressive and maybe come through. |
