Andrei Medvedev: I am simply proud to be a Slav
An exclusive interview
February, 7.2000

E.K: Davis Cup tie between Ukraine and Portugal was completed yesterday. Our team had a comfortable win. Did you expect that Ukraine would be in the lead even before you start your match?
A.M: I didn't expect, but I hoped for this to happen. Taking into account the level of play of Orest and Andrei, I knew that they were able to win. But I had doubts about their ability to undertake psychological pressure. After Andrei Dernovsky won first set I realised that he will easily win the whole match. Andrei managed to win. I am happy for him.
E.K: What do you think about the level Andrei Dernovsky and Orest Tereshchuk can achieve in contemporary tennis?
A.M: I reckon there is a real chance for them to reach Top 100 level in two or three years. The further advancement will depend on themselves, on their own skills. Nobody will simply put them into Top 100. They will have to work hard. However they will have good chances if they keep the determination they've just showed at Davis Cup.
E.K: Do you reckon they are mentally ready to fight? Do they have the temper of real sportsmen?
A.M: I think the do. They've got insolence and angriness, will and desire to win. Those qualities are necessary for young tennis players.
E.K: Considering this, do you believe that Ukraine will manage get into World Groupe before you retire?
A.M: I have great hopes about that, thus I believe in this as well. But I am not sure what exactly will happen. Even such strong teams like Sweden and France sometime were out of the World League. First League is difficult. Even if you get to the play-off for the birth in the World League, the teams like France or Australia can well be your opponents there. Favourable draw increases chances considerably. Some luck is necessary. I am not becoming younger from year to year, but now at least we have some glimmer of hope for the future.
E.K: Are you going to play for Ukraine in the next match versus very strong Moroccan team?
A.M: I am the part of the team. I'm planning to go. All depends whether I will be fit and whether we have sponsors to support the trip. But I do not refuse to take part.
E.K: The Media mentioned many times that you did not like to play tennis in your childhood; instead you preferred to play soccer. When the turning point happened and you liked tennis?
A.M: Generally I like all sports that involve the ball. Once played in the one-day tournament for very young children. And it happened to me to loose in the final. I didn't expect to loose and I was very upset. That episode was like a little push in my child mentality. I realised that I had to practice more in order to win. But it happened that next week we played again, this time the city championship. And I lost again. These two losses in the row were like a turning point.
E.K: Was it hard for you to enter the senior tennis after you won the French Open for juniors?
A.M: I didn't get very warm reception. Actually, nobody gets hearty reception at ATP tour. Professional tennis players are old experienced wolfs and they do not miss a chance to show lucky juniors that here is a huge difference between professional and junior tennis. They all wanted to defeat me at that time. But I was lucky to have a good coach and others who supported me. They helped me to get over everything. And since the level of my play was quite good, I managed to fight against professionals, and I started to defeat them when I was still very young.
E.K: What do you think about the level of play amongst professionals in top 100? What kind of hierarchy is men's tennis at the moment?
A.M: Well, top 5 is an elite. Furthermore everything changes often. There are three levels: top 5, then 5th to 20th spot, and finally the rest (top 100). I mean, the ones who have successful period in the season, who play more consistently are closer to the top 20; but there is no big difference between them. Thus, one has to make huge leap to get into top 20, and moreover to top 5. Also the fitness is very important. The power is the main thing in tennis nowadays.
E.K: Recently you've said that the man you used to be several years ago is already dead. What did you mean by that?
A.M: Everybody compares me to the one I used to be before. My simple answer is that I don't want to look into the past and live in the past. Life goes on. I don't want to lag behind from the current time. I don't want to compare myself. Right, we're getting older, we're getting more experienced. We might not look as attractive, but we're getting smarter. We might not be as quick, but we became more skilled. The big number of details adds with an age. They are intelligence, coolness. Probably I didn't have those traits couple of years ago. I don't want to recall anything in my mind. If you want you can like me, if not - just don't do it. Anyway it's impossible to please everyone. Before I thought it was possible. I changed my mind now. I think, it's not just impossible, it's simply stupid. I am the man like I am. I've got bad traits and they are quite considerable. But I also have many good traits. If someone wants to see only bad things in me he will succeed in this. The one, who wants to see only my good sides, will see just them. But the one who really wants to understand me will weigh all pluses and minuses and will see the whole picture. I reckon my positive qualities are more important and they outweigh all my bad traits. But I realise that I can't please everyone, and I don't try to achieve this. This is only my opinion. If anyone disagrees I have nothing against it and I am not trying to insist. I say what I currently believe to be true. All answers I give, I sincerely believe them to be true. Maybe in five years my opinion will change. But at the moment I can swear for my words. I will swear for my words even in five-years time. But I will say: yeah, I was wrong, but I got smarter and my views changed. But at the moment I am not trying to present myself better then I really am. So, just take me as I am.
E.K: There was info that before the match versus Pete Sampras at Rolland Garross you had watched the movie "Siberian Barber". The movie made huge impression on you...
A.M: Whole movie had big impact on me. My major impression was the way they show Russian soul in the movie. Personal acquaintance with movie director Nikita Mikhalkov had its impact as well. (* Note for people from outside of former USSR: Nikita Mikhalkov is arguably the most popular and successful movie director in Russia at the moment). Nikita was at my first game against Pescariu and he invited me to watch his film and to express my opinion. I went out of the cinema under enormous impression. My spirit was very strong! My American agent was next to me and I told him that Americans would never understand us. He was offended but it did not matter to me. I said that I would not loose to Sampras next day. Andrei Rybalko called me and asked about the upcoming match. I answered that I would win for sure. Everybody who knows me remember that I never said something like this before; in particular I never did before the matches versus strong opponents. I said that way Russian soul was shown in the movie was very intimate to me. I sat in the cinema and I was crying. The foreigners cannot understand us. I don't want to offend anybody, but their soul is so superficial comparing to Russian soul, or to be exact to Slavic soul! It's impossible to explain. The Slavs have such a deep soul that foreigners cannot be even compared to us in this. Foreigners have other good traits. But only Slavs can love like we do it. I don't say foreigners lagged behind us- I don't know why it is like this. I am simply proud to be a Slav. God gave me this luck to be born in this particular country. No wealth can compare to this!
E.K: That is why you may read Dostoevsky?
A.M: I can't say I'm able to afford to read a lot. But I do read Dostoevsky. He makes me think, he gives opportunity to choose something that suits me. All over the world Dostoevsky is considered genius, splendid writer, psychologist and philosopher.
E.K: What subjects did you prefer in high school? Did you like to study?
A.M: I have abilities in mathematics. That's why I can easily memorise numbers. But also that is probably a reason I've got the worst memory in the world for the names. I liked to learn things I had interest in and which suited my character. I liked maths, history, geography and Russian literature. Besides a lot depended on the teachers. I totally hated physics and chemistry. I reckoned those subjects are in no use for me. Well, physics might be sometime in use for me, but elementary physics, not theoretical for example. I often told teachers that I didn't like their subjects. In particular I told this to chemistry teacher. I tried to study chemistry. My mum can be a witness that I studied by heart pages, because I understood nothing. I simply learned words! I told the teacher: "I understand nothing, so you can give me "2"! (*Grade system in Ukraine: 2 - fail, 3 - satisfactory, 4 - good, 5 - excellent). I just learned what is written over there, that all! I'm not going to study your subject!" It was communist system that time and they simply did not understand me. I had either 4 or 5 for all subjects. It's strange but I always had 4 for chemistry!
E.K: After this you started self-education. Is it easy to educate on your own?
A.M: It is easy. When I am interested in something I keep asking people until they got completely mad! I have some spheres of interest. For example: space, force services, relationship in criminal world, the force that drives people, motivation of actions, what intelligence services are for. It happens quite often that I, let's say, lie on the beach, look at the stars and think about my mission in this huge world. Who are we at all comparing to the whole Galaxy? How stars were created and how long distance is to them? Is there any life on other planets? What the humanity is? Why tree is called tree? What is origin of languages? Why there are so many languages on Earth?
E.K: So, what is your opinion about the origin of Earth, humanity?
A.M: I don't know. It is certain that the Earth existed as hard surface and water. There was atmosphere that allows life on the planet to develop. It's certain that people progress. I mean the average height of the human is increasing, and it's happens all over the world, even Chinese are getting taller. To clarify this completely seems impossible to me I am certainly interested in answers to these questions. But I live already for 25 years and in fact it doesn't bother me too much that I don't know exact mission of the human in this world.
E.K: So, you are not the kind of person who is looking for the sense of life all the time?
A.M: I know what is the sense, the mission of my life. It is to give the continuation to my family, to raise children, thus to continue a human kind. To be a good citizen of my planet, to bring good to people if I can - that is my mission. And also - to play tennis, while I can play- but generally to remain a good man. My major principle is never to offend a normal man. If the man doesn't hurt others and treats me well, I would treat him in the same fashion. By default I treat all people well.
E.K: What if somebody hurts you? What is your reaction?
A.M: It depends. For example not long time ago the representative ob one of the banks was rude to me. My first reaction was to retaliate in some way. But I got over it and I feel okay. But I will never miss a chance to show others what this bank is really like. I just had 3 conflicts with this bank: two of them yesterday and one today. I came across with pure rudeness. By the way the bank is called "Aval". It seems like the employees of this bank simply lack brains to talk to people normally.
E.K: How do you treat people who are in fact very average but who think they are something and think of others as inferior to them?
A.M: I feel sorry for them. They are fool people. I treat them with irony. I should not imitate them. They just live and think they are the best. In fact, these are their own problems.
E.К: Do you like to be in the centre of attention?
A.M: I like to be a leader. I feel that I have abilities for this; I've got leader's instinct from the very childhood. I always wanted to be a team captain; I've always been a leader of the youth national team. I would say I like to be in the centre of attention. It's simply the part of my job, but I don't seek attention! If somebody asks me for report, interview, I would never refuse when I have time. But I never look for it myself. If I ever have to say something to the media, I would just pick one journalist and tell him. But this never happened so far. But I like to be a leader. I like team spirit! For example when we won doubles and brought the overall victory to Ukraine I was give a Ukrainian flag to make a lap of honour. But I gave this flag to Andrei Rybalko, because I knew he would love it and simply because he deserved to make this lap of honour.
E.K: Do you like to do good things for people, to bring them joy?
A.M: Yes, it makes me very joyful and morally satisfied. People who know me even consider myself as a very kind and too generous, even in regard to strangers. Certainly there are some people who try to use me because of this, but I'm starting to recognise those people more and more.
E.K: And the last. Please, comment the situation with Anke Huber.
A.M: We are not together anymore. This is exactly the case of misunderstanding by her of Russian soul. We tried to be together, but it didn't come up well because of misunderstanding. I love and respect her. We will remain special to each other forever. But it was the time to make a decision. But I was not sure whether she is the one who I can live all my life with and to live through everything. We started to have conflicts on the basis of misunderstanding. Of course, we spent six wonderful years together and it's a pity, that everything's finished like this- I often think about it, but the life hasn't stopped, it goes on.

Elena Kaidalova
Translation:Oleg Ayzin (Australia)