THE LIPTON CHAMPIONSHIPS

March 25, 1996

Gabriela Sabatini

GABRIELA SABATINI: Well, I think it was a little obvious. Yeah, I got a little tense. I don't think I played bad when I was 5-2. I thought she started to play very well. She seemed like to just -- she let go of everything and started to hit the ball. I guess she realized she was going to lose, so at that moment she said "okay, I'm going to hit it" so she played really well. At 5-4, I think we both got a little tense. She missed her returns. I double-faulted a few times. But it was enough to win it there.

GABRIELA SABATINI: I was surprised the way she was playing. I mean, you know, she's just playing pretty much the same except that she doesn't have that many matches now. You know, she seems to be very fit, you know, and she's hitting the ball very well. Her rhythm was very good. She was just not missing. I had to play a great match to really beat her today. I mean, I really had to play well and mix it up a lot; do a lot of different things. That made her miss a little bit, but she's really playing great tennis.

GABRIELA SABATINI: Not any different than other places. I think it's great to have the crowd, you know. I mean, this is a great place. I'm just so motivated when I'm here because I feel like this is home. I live a few blocks from here, so it's just very convenient for me. To have that support from the crowd, it helps me, I think.

GABRIELA SABATINI: I remember it was in Boca Raton at the finals there. I didn't know anything about her, but I knew everybody was talking about her, obviously playing great tennis at the age -- she was only 13 years old. It was amazing. I remember that first match was one of the toughest matches I had against Jennifer, just fighting each point, very intense. Just being at that level, same level, you know.

GABRIELA SABATINI: I think it is very important now that Monica has come back and Jennifer. I think that's very good. It brings more excitement to the game. Even though, you know, there are still so many young players that are coming up and also playing great tennis, Chanda Rubin, Anke Huber, Martina Hingis. I think it's very exciting, women's tennis, today.

GABRIELA SABATINI: I mean, today she did, you know. That's how I felt. I felt like she was right there. She wanted to be there and to fight. She was giving everything, you know. She was trying to give you a hundred percent. You know, she seemed to be mentally focused and really being there, you know. I guess she did a lot of things because she seemed that she lost some weight; she seems to be really fit, in shape. So I guess she did a lot of things to be back. You know, that means something. Those things don't just happen, you know, you make them happen.

GABRIELA SABATINI: The what?

GABRIELA SABATINI: Well, it does. It does bother me because I think we make the same effort as they do. We prepare the same way as they do. You know, that's why I don't think we deserve less.

GABRIELA SABATINI: Huh?

GABRIELA SABATINI: Well, I think we are trying to work on that. I think they're trying to make some changes. We might have to do some tough decisions. But there is, you know, a big fight today with the tournaments. If we have to do something, you know, really hard, like not play a tournament, not play some tournament, a lot of the top players, then that might happen here if we have to.

GABRIELA SABATINI: It doesn't matter what tournament.

GABRIELA SABATINI: It came probably at one point, but I worked it out very well. I didn't think about it again, you know, just for a moment when I was 5-2 probably. But I was still able to focus and do what I needed to do in that moment.

GABRIELA SABATINI: Yeah. Well, I mean, I got a little tense at the end, but that had nothing to do with last year.