WIMBLEDON

June 29, 2000

Alexandra Stevenson

ALEXANDRA STEVENSON

ALEXANDRA STEVENSON: Well, I love Wimbledon. I'm very saddened to have an exit so early. But the good thing is my rookie year is over. I'm no longer a freshman on tour. I'd like everyone to know that. I think being on tour for the first year was very tough on me. I learned a lot and I got stronger, but I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy. It was okay, but it wasn't great. I'll be back many years to come. I still have mixed doubles here, so I'm not out completely, but I'm out of the singles, which is very important to me. But hopefully next year I'll make a better showing.

ALEXANDRA STEVENSON: Well, there is a lot of hazing going on. It was just a tough year. I don't think any young girl should go through that.

ALEXANDRA STEVENSON: Just things happened that weren't very nice, and they shouldn't happen. Hopefully next year I won't be a rookie, so they shouldn't happen.

ALEXANDRA STEVENSON: Just certain situations with girls.

ALEXANDRA STEVENSON: Yeah, it shouldn't happen.

ALEXANDRA STEVENSON: Well, I got called a piece of shit black girl, I guess you could say that, on the court a lot of times.

ALEXANDRA STEVENSON: Yes, in French, so that wasn't very nice. Other things happened. A girl hit my mom with a hat. I think if that happened in your job place, you'd get in trouble. These girls didn't get in trouble here.

ALEXANDRA STEVENSON: No, not here.

ALEXANDRA STEVENSON: Yes, I told them. But they can't really do anything about it because the girls are pretty wild. It's hard to control people. It's not a perfect situation out here. You wish it was, but it's not.

ALEXANDRA STEVENSON: No, it wasn't a spectator.

ALEXANDRA STEVENSON: Well, I wouldn't call her a colleague - I guess a colleague.

ALEXANDRA STEVENSON: Yes.

ALEXANDRA STEVENSON: Sure. Sidot and Cocheteux. Cocheteux called me the names and Sidot hit my mom.

ALEXANDRA STEVENSON: Strasbourg.

ALEXANDRA STEVENSON: Well, yeah. I played Cocheteux. Sidot did it the next day. In the French, Cocheteux came up and hit me -- kind of bumped me in the locker room. Kind of brought back memories from Venus and Spirlea. But Cocheteux is a little shorter than me. She kind of just ran the other way. I had a match so I didn't do anything.

ALEXANDRA STEVENSON: Well, they better, because I'm getting tougher now.

ALEXANDRA STEVENSON: Not that I know of.

ALEXANDRA STEVENSON: I don't know. I guess you'll have to ask the other people.

ALEXANDRA STEVENSON: I think I kind of made a big splash last year. I don't think a lot of girls appreciated it. They have to grow up and have bigger minds, not be so petty. I'm moving on. Hopefully it will be okay.

ALEXANDRA STEVENSON: You beat them. I was down 6-1, 3-0, and I came back and won 7-6, 6-1.

ALEXANDRA STEVENSON: Yeah, it felt great. You don't get mad; you get even.

ALEXANDRA STEVENSON: Sure, I guess. I mean, I don't know why. I think I'm pretty nice. I don't harm anyone. I don't really talk to them because they don't talk to me. I just mind my own business. I guess because I've gotten a lot of attention and I have a personality, they don't like it. But that's too bad. That's me.

ALEXANDRA STEVENSON: Uh-huh, a lot of them.

ALEXANDRA STEVENSON: Monica Seles is very nice to me. She kind of has come up to me and told me about how when she was younger, kind of like. She's very nice to me. Mary Joe Fernandez, she really doesn't play that much anymore after she got married, she's nice. Mary Pierce is nice to me. A lot of the girls are nice. But the majority of the girls, I don't know how to explain it, I guess they just don't like me. I guess they see me as a threat. They all want to go out and beat me. The girl I played today played very good tennis. Brian Gottfried went out and watched her. I don't think he saw her play that well. She kind of played the best match of her life, I think. She served awesome. She outserved me. That's pretty hard to do on grass. But she served really well. She came out and wanted to beat me, and she won. She deserved the win. There could have been a couple calls another way, but she played well. I give credit to her.

ALEXANDRA STEVENSON: Well, I wasn't there, but she hit my mom. I mean, my mom told me. I don't know why they do it. I guess they take it out on my mom because they're scared of me or something because I'm taller than them or something.

ALEXANDRA STEVENSON: It was just a big mix-up on the court. After I beat Cocheteux, obviously they don't like me, they kind of ganged up on me, the French. She just did it.

ALEXANDRA STEVENSON: She pulled her hat down.

ALEXANDRA STEVENSON: Yeah. It wasn't like a punch, but it was stupid.

ALEXANDRA STEVENSON: I think it's silly that they ban the coaches. I mean, the lady coaches, I think they did it because there's a lot of moms coming up on the tour. Melanie is the top mom/coach. She's a great coach. She doesn't get a lot of credit because she's not a man. A lot of girls don't like to see her in the locker room, I'm sure they don't like to see my mom. Hey, they work hard. Before I had Brian, my mom was on the court picking up balls, telling me what to do. Melanie has worked really hard. She deserves to be in that locker room. She has to shower, too. I think it's kind of silly that they banned it. One of the reasons why I think the ATP and the WTA should join together - that's my next quest to try and get to work. I think it would be great to have the men and the women together more often. Look at Wimbledon, the other three Grand Slams, the Ericsson and Indian Wells. Those are the major tournaments of the year. They have the men and the women together. I think it would make a big world stage and make tennis more popular. More people would like to see it if the men and women join together. Hopefully that will happen.

ALEXANDRA STEVENSON: What, the coach's rule?

ALEXANDRA STEVENSON: I think it's more towards Melanie and Martina. I guess my mom and I were in it, too. I guess maybe some of the girls didn't like to see the other Federation coaches coming in or something. But I think it was mostly just Melanie and Martina. There's a lot of young Russian mothers coming up -- girls coming up and their mothers are coaching them. Chesnokov's coach, she's a well-credited coach, she's coaching some of the young Russian girls. She deserves to shower, too. It's just the locker room. I understand the training room because that's your place where you go to get treatment. You don't want anyone in there. It's too small anyways. But the locker room issue, I mean, you just shower and change. There's nowhere -- you don't hang out there. I don't hang out in the locker room. I guess they don't like it.

ALEXANDRA STEVENSON: Today, let's see - that's a tough question. Probably a dramatic actress. Let me think. I'll have to think about it. Let me get back to the freshman year. What was the other question?

ALEXANDRA STEVENSON: I learned that you have to be really tough out here because I think I came out kind of as Southern California clueless girl. She had her mom with her. I was used to high school and people being nice to you. But out here, it's a job. I learned that. It's your profession. You have to be very professional out here. You don't make friends on tour. This is not your life; it's your job. You're out here for tennis, and you want to make history and be a champion. It shouldn't consume you, because if you get caught up in all that, you get eaten alive. The other people don't want you to succeed so you just have to stay with your inner circle, pray a lot to God, have Him on your side, just take a lot of confidence between a small group of people that surround you, be tough, keep playing.

ALEXANDRA STEVENSON: First of all, I played doubles with Jelena in Hilton Head. I kind of made amends with her. We were going to play. She wasn't very nice to me before. We played, and her dad showed up drunk. My mom said, "You're not playing with her again." I don't think he counts as most of the parental influence because he needs help. That's what I think.

ALEXANDRA STEVENSON: I think it's sad. It's the year 2000. Everyone should grow up. America has gone through a lot. Europe has gone through a lot, all over the world. You shouldn't have to do this. No matter what colour you are, if I showed up pink, blue, purple, yellow, black, brown, white, you're still a person. You eat, you breathe, you walk, you do everything alike. There's no difference. I think that's really sad that people today see there's a difference, because there really isn't.

ALEXANDRA STEVENSON: I haven't seen it.