OLYMPIC TENNIS TOURNAMENT

August 15, 2004

Ai Sugiyama

Q. Seemed like quite a difficult match. Can you talk a little bit about it? Also, with the wind, being a big nuisance.

AI SUGIYAMA: Well, yeah, it was really tough match for me today. Well, first round is always tough. But she was hitting the ball really deep and then really aggressive whole match. I was kind of back up a little bit. And it's kind of tough to enter the match. But mentally I tried to be there and then try to be aggressive, but it just didn't go well today. But even though she had couple of chance for serving for the match, I just tried to hang in there. Then luckily I got through this match. So hopefully I play better next round.

AI SUGIYAMA: About the wind, uhm, it wasn't bad as I expected. I mean, it was not that bad. It's just hard to get into the match. And the heat wasn't also that bad.

AI SUGIYAMA: Sure, yeah, this was the second time I played her, and the first time was Fed Cup in 2003 probably. But I think she's really great player, and she's still young. So she's coming up. And I think her (inaudible) is footwork and also groundstroke. Yeah, I mean, I think we are similar type. Yeah, she's really fight. She fight really good. Yeah, she's going to be better player.

AI SUGIYAMA: Asian players?

AI SUGIYAMA: Well, I think the Chinese player practicing a lot, when I see them practice, and that's a really good thing. And then also they start to play a lot of tournaments. You definitely need for experience. Jie Zheng was out of top hundred, but now she's Top 50. She's improving a lot. She's on the right track. And then other Asian players also playing a lot of tournaments. And that's the first step. Then you play -- when you play against a better player, you know what you have to do, and that's what you have to work on. Everybody doing the right thing, I think. They are young. They have some years to go, a lot of good future, I guess.

AI SUGIYAMA: For Japan? Well, it's a great tournament. It's kind of hard condition with the heat and wind and everything. But still we very happy to be here. It's a little different, of course, compared to the other tour tournaments. But it's great experience, honor to be here. And also spending some time at the village, it's a lot of fun, something that you can't really experience. It's unusual lifestyle, but it's great experience.