PACIFIC LIFE OPEN

March 8, 2002

Alexandra Stevenson

MODERATOR: Questions for Alexandra.

ALEXANDRA STEVENSON: It was good to get through it. It's a little hard to get a rhythm in the beginning. But I won, so that's a good thing.

ALEXANDRA STEVENSON: After 5-2, that long game that took over -- I was a little upset about that, so I decided to speed it up a little. I went up 3-0. That changed the rhythm. I was trying to do a Steffi Graf-style second set. I mean, she gets it over with. I needed to speed the girl up because she was just putting me to sleep, she was going so slow. But I guess that's her style, so I just had to pick up the pace a little.

ALEXANDRA STEVENSON: I was hoping to. Unfortunately, she got two games. It's all right, though. I focused well. At 40-Love each of the three games?

ALEXANDRA STEVENSON: That's good.

ALEXANDRA STEVENSON: Well, I lost to her in Moscow, so I need to beat her this time. I was a little upset. Moscow was very close. It was an okay match. I had my chances. But I think I'm a better player. But this court's slow, so I'm going to have to go out and really move my feet and play well. She's a tough player to beat, so I'm going to have to play well.

ALEXANDRA STEVENSON: I think they're good. The courts are slow, like I said. I think Stadium 2 and Stadium 3, I don't think people play on them all year, so they seem a lot slower than practice courts and Stadium Courts. That's what I've noticed. Usually I notice a lot when it's a bit slower. So playing this girl today, she really didn't have any pace on the ball, and it was hard because the ball just stuck. I really had to move my feet. So if I'm playing well, moving well, then the court's fine for me. I definitely like faster courts, though. I grew up in southern California, so those courts are very fast. I mean, it's southern California here, but they resurface them.

ALEXANDRA STEVENSON: I'm just happy that I'm playing better. It's not there yet. I mean, I have a while to go. A lot of people have congratulated to me. I like to say, "On what, I haven't won a Grand Slam yet." I still haven't reached my goals, but I'm getting there. It's a lot better than last year. I don't have any injuries. I'm physically fit. I feel better, like I can move on the court all day long. It's a big difference when you don't have an injury. You feel a lot better. I'm just going to keep working hard.

ALEXANDRA STEVENSON: I was just upset that I lost my serve. There is no reason for that. I just figured I better break her back and win my serve. I wasn't really worried.

ALEXANDRA STEVENSON: I practice in my hotel room. But mostly I'm kind of stressing because I've had this whole week to do my homework, and I need to go do it tonight because it's due Sunday by midnight. So I have two days left - well, a day and a half left. So I need to do that tonight and tomorrow.

ALEXANDRA STEVENSON: It always happens. It like comes up on you. I've done the reading, I just have to do the papers. That's always the hardest part. You get the reading done the first few days, the next few days you stress over what you have to write, then the last day you write it. College is very tough.

ALEXANDRA STEVENSON: I'm taking composition class. Actually, it's not a paper. I wrote a paper last week, so I have to evaluate my peers' papers and write two pages on what they wrote. That's always annoying. Then this paper for fairytales is on narrative poetry. I have to write a paper on what I read, two to three pages, well-written. Then I have to respond to my classmates. Then communications I have a short paper due on anything that I pick in the book. So I think I might pick conflict. I kind of like that. It's very interesting. Conflict in communication, non-verbal communication. You learn a lot. When you take communications, you learn a lot about the media. So it's helping me.

ALEXANDRA STEVENSON: I can't reveal my secrets (laughter).

ALEXANDRA STEVENSON: I'm just going to keep working hard every day, work on things, like volleys. I mean, I'm still a baby at serve and volley, if you go by years. I'm like maybe nine months old. I need to learn a lot about that. Just getting to the net and learning where to volley and how to bend, where to put it. It's a tough game. I mean, I don't have a baseline game like most of the girls out here who just sit on the baseline. I need to figure it out more because I have a one-handed backhand and I want to come to the net. It's hard to get to the net against these girls. They're very tough. I'm just going to keep working on that. When I get there, then I'll tell you, but I'm not there yet.

ALEXANDRA STEVENSON: Yeah, mental -- kind of cliche, "Mental toughness is 90% of the game." But it's a very important part of the game. If you can break the girls out here, you have a chance to win, if you're tougher than them. It's been hard for me to get tough over the last two years, but I've had lots of things happen to me, and it's made me a lot tougher. I'm glad they happened because I wouldn't be as tough as I am now. I just keep getting better each week.

ALEXANDRA STEVENSON: Well, it was frustrating to me because she took so long. I mean, I shanked it back, a return, she took like 30 seconds between serves. I guess -- I don't know. I guess it broke her because then I went up 3-0. But I think I changed the pace and went a little faster and got things going my way. So the momentum definitely swung a little.