Dear AZers, I managed to interview Russian pool star Konstantin Stepanov for our local pool site. (He was a member of a Mosconi Cup 2007 winning team in case you missed that.) It has turned into tradition to talk to Kosta in the end of every season or after any big event. We had a long and interesting conversation, which is nothing special because Stepanov is a very interesting interlocutor. This time he told some very interesting things so I decided to pick those which must be familiar to you and translated those parts (please note that if any uncertainties or unclear things it is only me to blame as a translator). It took several hours to do but I believe it was worth doing. Enjoy!
Year 2007 overview with Konstantin Stepanov (extracts)
Q: After the European championship when asked about your dream for the moment you told us that it was being picked in team Europe for the Mosconi Cup. Now it's dreams come true, you not only were selected to play there but won!
KS: Yes, that's fantastic. For the first time when I realized Mosconi Cup can be a reality for me was last year, 2006, when I was one of the candidates along with David Alcaide and Sandor Tot. This time I couldn't believe I was in the team even when it was absolutely clear, because I couldn't imagine what an event it is and how it looks like. Of course I watched it on TV but being a part of it is a lot different to what you see on the other side of the screen.
Q: You secured your team place finishing on top of European ranking after the Holland Eurotour stop in Weert. You've been leading the rankings for three months by that time. Did you know that being number one guarantees Mosconi Cup team place? Did that influence your mind during the season?
KS: No, I didn't think about that at all because I didn't know the regulation. Only when I learned that before Weert event which was declared decisive I was anxious about that a bit. But in general I didn't link these things directly, being Europe number one and being included in Mosconi Cup team.
Q: And being on top of EPBF rankings you traveled to the USA to take part in straight pool world championship (because you were runner-up to Niels Feijen at European 14.1 championship).
KS: Yes, and that was one of my worst results during the year, despite I didn't lose any of 7 games at the group stage. I must admit my group wasn't tough, it was actually one of the weakest in my opinion. Two girls, though one of them mighty Jasmin Ouschan. My straight pool knowledge turned out to be better than that of the majority of my group players. The hardest match was vs Allen Hopkins. Diamond tables are hard for straight pool because you tend to play slower and more pragmatic there. But nevertheless I played relaxed at the group stage and it was all right until play-offs. There my game was down, I was tired of multiple tournaments by that time and wasn't motivated enough to perform. Additionally the tournament wasn't organized well enough, and perhaps one looking from aside could hardly call that a world championship. They were clarifying the rules of the game for several hours just prior the tournament start. There was no clear regulation, the score was kept on boards with markers... Organization was not at high level.
Q: You didn't go to the US Open again, why was that?
KS: I played there twice, in 2001 and 2002. Since then I didn't play there because the tournament is too long and it costs me much. On the one hand, I would like to play there again, but on the other, there are a lot of tournaments in Europe now which are similar to Eurotour events in terms of format, and they are 3-4 times cheaper to visit than the US Open. The prize fund is less there of course, but chances to win prize money are bigger.
Q: Next in tournament schedule is World Pool Championship 9-Ball. What do you think about new format of preliminary stage where round robin was replaced by double elimination groups?
KS: Every system has some drawbacks. In round robin there is room for meaningless or fixed games, and you can do nothing about it. New system eliminates that. But it in turn is not perfect in regard with strong players often facing one another in the same group and some players who you would like to see in play-offs get eliminated. So-called "groups of death" are drawn often, and that's what is not very good about new system, but in terms of fair sports it is quite acceptable, so I would prefer it stays like that.
Q: The rest to cope with should be soft break, right? Though some say you can't force players shoot it in a certain way since it's just the same shot like others.
KS: Yes, soft break is the thing to beat and they officials work on it, I think they will come with some decision sooner or later. Breaking restrictions are enforced only to make our sport more watchable and popular, because every event promoter wants his product to be appealing and interesting for the viewers. Soft break makes the game look boring and predictable, thus killing all the interest. I have never been using soft break and will never be. I think if it can not be eliminated when playing 9-ball, in time it will be replaced by 10-ball at the WPC, I'm not the first to come out with such an idea. But at the moment positions of 9-ball are strong enough, it has been a symbol of the game for long time and it's hard just to throw it to trash.
Q: How did you feel when it became clear you were going to face The Magician himself, best cueman ever like the majority believes, Efren Reyes?
KS: I can't say I was absolutely self-confident. Certainly I was very nervous before the game. But it went in such a way that I started playing good from the very beginning. As soon as the match started my nerves settled down and I started to keep this feeling through the game. I managed to do that, and what helped me along was that Efren made several mistakes. Having seen that I realized something was wrong with his game and I had to add pressure to use that in my favor. And when the score came back to even at some moment (3-3) I well knew that after several racks I became mentally stronger than before.
Q: What did you think before a game against another strong Filipino fighter, Jeff De Luna? He seemed to be very confident if not self-assured during the tournament.
KS: He is a very strong player, crazy shooter, very powerfull energetically, he is a tough opposition. I caught a glimpse of him during practise, and I knew he won a local tournament with all mighty Filipino players present just before the WPC. But after I defeated Efren it was easier to prepare mentally for De Luna. And again, my opponent started making mistakes, Jeff struggled harder than before when he played me. When facing a strong opponent you usually feel if his game is tuned well or there is some problem, and so did I when watching him. I noticed his uncertainty and led the game like I needed to the very end, running out last three racks. It was easier to play De Luna than Reyes for me.
Q: What prevented you from overcoming the next hurdle, namely Karl Boyes? Hardly anyone expected that it would be him to beat you after you passed two strong locals.
KS: It is some sort of a paradox, because it happens quite often when the strongest of the two - in the majority's mind - doesn't win. I was preparing mentally to face the Filipinos as if it was my last fight to survive, and I can't say the same about my match vs Karl. I didn't need to beat thousand percent of it, I just needed to play good, that's it. Because actually at that WPC there was no any difference between Reyes and Boyes. Karl played almost perfect, very good, he didn't make any single mistake in open layouts. In this game it was me to be nervous from the beginning, I played without confidence and made several errors, last being quite an easy ball missed, and that was it.
Moreover, he was using soft break which killed me completely. I just don't have mental ability to play against soft break, because with soft break you face a system, as if you hit a wall. It like switches you off, your will to fight - because when you break strong you rely on luck to some extent, and at the same time you know that your opponent eliminates luck factor. That kills self-confidence and will to fight to the end.
Of course we can mention opponent's soft break as a key factor to my loss but there also was some underestimation - not by me personally but by the majority of people. They considered Boyes to be easier rival than those I defeated before, and it was hard for me not to listen to them because I lived in the society and communicated with other people.
Q: After your defeat some supposed that when you were playing Filipinos you were an underdog, but in match with Englishman it was you who was a favorite and you couldn't cope with that role, is that correct?
KS: Probably it is. At the world championship where you are involved in only one match (at the play-off stage) the most important thing is mental preparation. The match will go the way you tuned yourself. Most probably in this particular game I was destroyed by huge volume of irrelevant information. But we should also give credit to Karl who was almost flawless throughout the tournament.
Year 2007 overview with Konstantin Stepanov (extracts)
Q: After the European championship when asked about your dream for the moment you told us that it was being picked in team Europe for the Mosconi Cup. Now it's dreams come true, you not only were selected to play there but won!
KS: Yes, that's fantastic. For the first time when I realized Mosconi Cup can be a reality for me was last year, 2006, when I was one of the candidates along with David Alcaide and Sandor Tot. This time I couldn't believe I was in the team even when it was absolutely clear, because I couldn't imagine what an event it is and how it looks like. Of course I watched it on TV but being a part of it is a lot different to what you see on the other side of the screen.
Q: You secured your team place finishing on top of European ranking after the Holland Eurotour stop in Weert. You've been leading the rankings for three months by that time. Did you know that being number one guarantees Mosconi Cup team place? Did that influence your mind during the season?
KS: No, I didn't think about that at all because I didn't know the regulation. Only when I learned that before Weert event which was declared decisive I was anxious about that a bit. But in general I didn't link these things directly, being Europe number one and being included in Mosconi Cup team.
Q: And being on top of EPBF rankings you traveled to the USA to take part in straight pool world championship (because you were runner-up to Niels Feijen at European 14.1 championship).
KS: Yes, and that was one of my worst results during the year, despite I didn't lose any of 7 games at the group stage. I must admit my group wasn't tough, it was actually one of the weakest in my opinion. Two girls, though one of them mighty Jasmin Ouschan. My straight pool knowledge turned out to be better than that of the majority of my group players. The hardest match was vs Allen Hopkins. Diamond tables are hard for straight pool because you tend to play slower and more pragmatic there. But nevertheless I played relaxed at the group stage and it was all right until play-offs. There my game was down, I was tired of multiple tournaments by that time and wasn't motivated enough to perform. Additionally the tournament wasn't organized well enough, and perhaps one looking from aside could hardly call that a world championship. They were clarifying the rules of the game for several hours just prior the tournament start. There was no clear regulation, the score was kept on boards with markers... Organization was not at high level.
Q: You didn't go to the US Open again, why was that?
KS: I played there twice, in 2001 and 2002. Since then I didn't play there because the tournament is too long and it costs me much. On the one hand, I would like to play there again, but on the other, there are a lot of tournaments in Europe now which are similar to Eurotour events in terms of format, and they are 3-4 times cheaper to visit than the US Open. The prize fund is less there of course, but chances to win prize money are bigger.
Q: Next in tournament schedule is World Pool Championship 9-Ball. What do you think about new format of preliminary stage where round robin was replaced by double elimination groups?
KS: Every system has some drawbacks. In round robin there is room for meaningless or fixed games, and you can do nothing about it. New system eliminates that. But it in turn is not perfect in regard with strong players often facing one another in the same group and some players who you would like to see in play-offs get eliminated. So-called "groups of death" are drawn often, and that's what is not very good about new system, but in terms of fair sports it is quite acceptable, so I would prefer it stays like that.
Q: The rest to cope with should be soft break, right? Though some say you can't force players shoot it in a certain way since it's just the same shot like others.
KS: Yes, soft break is the thing to beat and they officials work on it, I think they will come with some decision sooner or later. Breaking restrictions are enforced only to make our sport more watchable and popular, because every event promoter wants his product to be appealing and interesting for the viewers. Soft break makes the game look boring and predictable, thus killing all the interest. I have never been using soft break and will never be. I think if it can not be eliminated when playing 9-ball, in time it will be replaced by 10-ball at the WPC, I'm not the first to come out with such an idea. But at the moment positions of 9-ball are strong enough, it has been a symbol of the game for long time and it's hard just to throw it to trash.
Q: How did you feel when it became clear you were going to face The Magician himself, best cueman ever like the majority believes, Efren Reyes?
KS: I can't say I was absolutely self-confident. Certainly I was very nervous before the game. But it went in such a way that I started playing good from the very beginning. As soon as the match started my nerves settled down and I started to keep this feeling through the game. I managed to do that, and what helped me along was that Efren made several mistakes. Having seen that I realized something was wrong with his game and I had to add pressure to use that in my favor. And when the score came back to even at some moment (3-3) I well knew that after several racks I became mentally stronger than before.
Q: What did you think before a game against another strong Filipino fighter, Jeff De Luna? He seemed to be very confident if not self-assured during the tournament.
KS: He is a very strong player, crazy shooter, very powerfull energetically, he is a tough opposition. I caught a glimpse of him during practise, and I knew he won a local tournament with all mighty Filipino players present just before the WPC. But after I defeated Efren it was easier to prepare mentally for De Luna. And again, my opponent started making mistakes, Jeff struggled harder than before when he played me. When facing a strong opponent you usually feel if his game is tuned well or there is some problem, and so did I when watching him. I noticed his uncertainty and led the game like I needed to the very end, running out last three racks. It was easier to play De Luna than Reyes for me.
Q: What prevented you from overcoming the next hurdle, namely Karl Boyes? Hardly anyone expected that it would be him to beat you after you passed two strong locals.
KS: It is some sort of a paradox, because it happens quite often when the strongest of the two - in the majority's mind - doesn't win. I was preparing mentally to face the Filipinos as if it was my last fight to survive, and I can't say the same about my match vs Karl. I didn't need to beat thousand percent of it, I just needed to play good, that's it. Because actually at that WPC there was no any difference between Reyes and Boyes. Karl played almost perfect, very good, he didn't make any single mistake in open layouts. In this game it was me to be nervous from the beginning, I played without confidence and made several errors, last being quite an easy ball missed, and that was it.
Moreover, he was using soft break which killed me completely. I just don't have mental ability to play against soft break, because with soft break you face a system, as if you hit a wall. It like switches you off, your will to fight - because when you break strong you rely on luck to some extent, and at the same time you know that your opponent eliminates luck factor. That kills self-confidence and will to fight to the end.
Of course we can mention opponent's soft break as a key factor to my loss but there also was some underestimation - not by me personally but by the majority of people. They considered Boyes to be easier rival than those I defeated before, and it was hard for me not to listen to them because I lived in the society and communicated with other people.
Q: After your defeat some supposed that when you were playing Filipinos you were an underdog, but in match with Englishman it was you who was a favorite and you couldn't cope with that role, is that correct?
KS: Probably it is. At the world championship where you are involved in only one match (at the play-off stage) the most important thing is mental preparation. The match will go the way you tuned yourself. Most probably in this particular game I was destroyed by huge volume of irrelevant information. But we should also give credit to Karl who was almost flawless throughout the tournament.
May be I will give it another title later so that the content is more clear to everyone.
Even by thread starter. Time to ask for assistance 
Okay, it's not about green I am concerned here, but what really worries me that people who like such stuff and would like to read could miss the topic anyway. 
