TMS - THE ERICSSON OPEN

March 24, 2000

Alexandra Stevenson

WTA: Questions for Alexandra.

ALEXANDRA STEVENSON: Yeah. It was my match, and I let it go. The ball just stayed in the court, and I hit the ball out. Just that's what happened. I mean, not much you can say. Still staying strong. There's always another week. I'm going to break out again. So hopefully you'll all be around to see that.

ALEXANDRA STEVENSON: Well, I think I'm doing pretty well in my progress. I'm a lot better than I was last year. I'm very close. It's still my rookie year. It's really tough. I'm having a tough rookie year. I guess you can't have your cake and eat it, too. Also, I just look to positive influences. Last week, Billy Jean King told me that lots of great players have hard rookie years. I'm just going to keep working hard. There's Amelia Island next. Hopefully I'll do well on clay.

ALEXANDRA STEVENSON: I think I'm a better player than I was at Wimbledon, actually. I'm having trouble winning. Wimbledon was a great experience. It was a great stepping stone to where I want to be. It's just going to make me better. It takes a while for me, I guess. I guess I'm that type of person, that I have to work really hard. It takes longer than others.

ALEXANDRA STEVENSON: Well, I'm a lot quicker than I was. I've lost a lot of percentage of body fat.

ALEXANDRA STEVENSON: Yes. I've been doing very well. I'm training hard. I'm on schedule with my progress of getting fit. I mean, when I came out of Wimbledon, I was just a high school student, not really worked out that much. I tried to do everything all at once. Now I'm really focusing on getting fit. I'm on schedule; it just takes a while. That's okay, I'm only 19. I still have ten more years.

ALEXANDRA STEVENSON: It's gone from -- it's dropped like ten percent. I've only been working hard for six months, so that's pretty good, I think.

ALEXANDRA STEVENSON: Yeah, I love it. I love to work hard. Yesterday in the match, it showed how hard I worked. I let it go. I had match points, and I should have closed them out. I think I did everything right. I just didn't end up closing the match out. From then on, it was hard. I'm the type of player that it takes a while. It was kind of hard to come out the next day and just start off really fast on the return of serves. I didn't do it.

ALEXANDRA STEVENSON: Well, I went to bed. I didn't get back till like 12:15. I just went to sleep. I had a positive outtake. I was just focusing and trying to win those four games. I only got two. I didn't succeed in that. I'll take this with me and put it down in my book, remember it, and hopefully it won't happen again.

ALEXANDRA STEVENSON: I guess because soap operas -- in television, they're based on reality turned a little crazy (laughter). I guess if you're an outsider in the tennis world, I would say it's a really good soap opera. Every day there's something going on, different boyfriends and girlfriends. Let's see. People losing in first rounds for four weeks straight (laughter). Then you have the young players, their first year on tour, including myself, and a couple other ones. Then you have someone like Martina Hingis who seems like she's 25 because she's just been playing forever. She's doing great. You have all these different characters. I think it's going to make a great story. Hopefully my mom and I will write it someday, something about this. I just think it's very interesting. I don't know if any other sports have so much interesting facts every day because you're at a different tournament, in a different city every week. Everything could happen all at once. Different cities have different aspects to them. Someone could get in trouble in that city or have a romance in the other city. It's pretty interesting.

ALEXANDRA STEVENSON: The new one is: get the Point. I should come up with a slogan. I think it's a great time in tennis for fans. To be an American, as myself, is really special because there's so many people interested in tennis now, especially women's tennis. I think it has to do with the personalities on the tour, the soap opera-like aura that surrounds us.

ALEXANDRA STEVENSON: The media always has to have something interesting to write about. I don't read that much what you guys write because I try to focus on my tennis. I think they focus mostly on the tennis. I just think when there's something really interesting, they have to add that in, too. If I was a writer, I would write everything because you want to get all the facts down. If you add a little spice to the story, it makes it more interesting, and more people read it.

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