US OPEN

August 25, 1997

Tamarine Tanasugarn

Q. How does it feel to win the first match at this new US Open?

TAMARINE TANASUGARN: I feel very happy that I played in the stadium, to be the first -- no, two players in the first stadium. So, pretty happy. It's my first time to play in a big, like, stadium, say, centre court, so I'm pretty happy to be on that court.

TAMARINE TANASUGARN: First time, no. See, I never play on the biggest, like, courts, so maybe a little bit nervous in the first time.

TAMARINE TANASUGARN: For me, I just play my best. I didn't expect anything. I just play my best. Because, Chanda, she's very good, top players. She's got lots of experience, so she play a lot of top players before. So I just go and I hit the balls and I play my best in the game.

TAMARINE TANASUGARN: I was playing better, better in the second set. And then I just try, like, not to hit, like, a lot of unforced errors, so I just put the ball in the courts, try to play hard to be tough, to get all the balls back, so.

TAMARINE TANASUGARN: Maybe. I'm not sure. But I think so. But I play Ruxandra Dragomir in Canada, first round there.

TAMARINE TANASUGARN: I play on Court 1 in Wimbledon two years ago, final junior Wimbledon, so that's my biggest at that time. So probably this is the biggest that I play.

TAMARINE TANASUGARN: Where was I born? States, California. At that time my dad works in California. When I was five, I moved back to Thailand with my dad, then I was practicing. First time I started in LA. Then we continue to play in Thailand, then start to play the tournaments there. At that time I played the junior's tournaments in Asia, then we just come up for professional.

TAMARINE TANASUGARN: Who is the best? They have a lot of good players from Thailand, but long, long time ago. The most best player; I think they played like juniors Wimbledon, probably five, six years ago.

TAMARINE TANASUGARN: Maybe. I think so.

TAMARINE TANASUGARN: Right now I'm staying in Bangkok, Thailand, with my daddy in Thailand. We move from LA since I was five, now I'm staying in Thailand right now.

TAMARINE TANASUGARN: I'm pretty happy. It was a lucky day for me. I was lucky to play in the first match in the centre court, because normally for me, I'm not going to play in the stadium for sure. But lucky that I play with Chanda. That's why I have to play on stadium maybe, uh-huh.

TAMARINE TANASUGARN: I didn't expect this much. But I just one by one, play my game, try my best on each matches.

TAMARINE TANASUGARN: The first time I feel like, "Wow, I'm playing the biggest courts for myself in my life." But after that, I tried not to think anything. I try to like concentrate on my games, playing my games. But everything is perfect. Everything, it's nice.

TAMARINE TANASUGARN: Court No. 1 in Wimbledon. Probably it's good for me because it's no more, the old one.

TAMARINE TANASUGARN: Probably I feel normal. Try to like concentrate on my game more than the courts.

TAMARINE TANASUGARN: What is the big stadium? Probably 100 people. But anyway, we going to have Asian games for next year. I hope they have bigger.

TAMARINE TANASUGARN: Yes.

TAMARINE TANASUGARN: How many people?

TAMARINE TANASUGARN: Probably 100, 200. I don't know. It's very small.

TAMARINE TANASUGARN: It's going to be built? I don't know. Probably 10,000, 20,000. Still small