U.S. OPEN

September 8, 1992

Gabriela Sabatini

Q. Gaby, lately you became a better player when you became more aggressive. You came to the net more and such. Do you think Mary Joe is doing the same thing now?

GABRIELA SABATINI: Yeah. I think that is the reason why she is beating me sometimes. She has been playing like that, trying to come to the net and I tried to do that too, of course, she didn't give me many chances. She was playing very deep. Especially at the end in the last set. I have few chances there and I was a little disappointed, I couldn't make those games. She was smarter at the end.

Q. The way you reacted at the end, it looked like you have a lot of respect for her, you have known each other a long time?

GABRIELA SABATINI: Yeah, I mean, we are good friends. I think she is a great person. Yeah, we have -- we are friends.

Q. Gaby, do you wish you had played more tournaments, looking back now over the summer?

GABRIELA SABATINI: I don't know. I think, you know, both things are good. Probably to take some time off, and probably next time I will try to play one more tournament or something. But it is good to try, and I mean, I am not regretting anything.

Q. Looking back at the match, what would you have liked to do differently?

GABRIELA SABATINI: Probably I would try to change the beginning of the match. I didn't know what happened. I felt I was there mentally, I was eager to -- I was prepared and suddenly she was 5-Love and I didn't know what was happening. So that is the thing I would change.

Q. What did you do different in the second set?

GABRIELA SABATINI: I don't know, I guess I was -- I tried to hit a little bit more my serve, my first serve and I tried to come in a little bit more, but it was a strange match. I don't know.

Q. How disappointing is it for you?

GABRIELA SABATINI: Well, it is disappointing, of course, you know, this is a good tournament for me. I like it very much, and I wanted to do well here, you know, it is a big disappointment.

Q. How do you think she will do against Seles?

GABRIELA SABATINI: I guess Seles, she will probably be aggressive; she is going to try to go for the shots. I think she was very close to beat Monica a few times, and if she take risk, she could play a good match, she could win, yeah.

Q. She says she has used you as a model of being more aggressive, coming in and trying to change her game because she feels like what you did two years ago is a perfect example of what she needs to do. Have you two ever spoken about it? How do you think she is progressing?

GABRIELA SABATINI: No. We don't talk about it. It is not usual to do this. We never talk about it. But I think she has improved a lot, her game, she is coming more to the net and she knows that she needs to do that against some players, against me.

Q. Thank you.

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