COMPAQ GRAND SLAM CUP

October 1, 1998

Nathalie Tauziat

Q. Did you find it difficult to close that match out? Was it a relief to you when you did?

NATHALIE TAUZIAT: Do you think? Why you tell me that? I didn't really play well on my serve at the end of the match. I returned better at the end of the match than at the start. I broke her many times. I have a close to -- I had a chance to close the match earlier. I didn't do it. I was lucky to finish at the end.

NATHALIE TAUZIAT: Well, you know, I'm very happy because I beat the No. 2 in the world. I don't think I saw about -- I don't think about the money. I was happy to come here to be qualified to play her. I think everybody -- I think all the others are very lucky, if is there a lot of money, it's good. But I don't think we're here only for that. Here you have the top eight players in the world, and I think that's the most important thing.

NATHALIE TAUZIAT: I start to play well when Judith stopped. I don't know why (laughter). Well, I don't know. You know, I would love to play with Judith again, but every time I play her, I lost, so I was happy when she stop. I say, "Okay, now that's my chance." My game improve a lot for three years. I work hard with that. With my coach, we decide to play a very aggressive game since four or five years. Today with my work, I think it pay. I get more confidence.

NATHALIE TAUZIAT: I don't think five years, for sure. But today I don't think to stop. I play my best tennis. I'm Top 10. I know one day I'm going to stop. Maybe I'm going to play one more year. Maybe I'm going to play two more. I don't know, maybe in three months I'm going to be injured and have a big, big injury, and I'm going to stop. I think one or two years it's going to be fine for me, if I still to play like this.

NATHALIE TAUZIAT: I struggled more than I used to in the other three matches. My game wasn't terrific today. I don't think it was my best tennis. I think I played better in Wimbledon. I was more aggressive, better serves, and more success. But I did what it took today to win, and that's it. The circumstances are more difficult in Wimbledon. This is our first time here, and we had to settle this. It's hard to meet in the first round. Automatically it wasn't a great match. I should have closed the match earlier, but I didn't take my opportunities. In the second set, I played slower than in the first. I rushed in on to many points and made a lot of direct errors, so I waited in the second and waited for her to move and to make errors. I had her run a lot more in the second set. It paid in the end. My serve and volley was aggressive. A good second ball, that's what saved me, I suppose.

NATHALIE TAUZIAT: 6-1 in the second. That's when I knew. She made a lot of mistakes. Then I said, "Well, it's now or never because my game was improving all the time." I had to take advantage of my opportunities.

NATHALIE TAUZIAT: I did drop out of the match entirely at that point in time. Two bad line calls when I was serving. The balls were good, and everybody knew that. This drove me a bit crazy. I felt it wasn't right. But when I was leading 3-2, serving again, I came back into the match and played decently, forgot about all this. My game again was aggressive and tactically okay.

NATHALIE TAUZIAT: Yes, but her returns were okay. Sometimes better on my first than on my second. I know her. So returning too many second serves was disturbing for her.

NATHALIE TAUZIAT: I might be an extraterrestrial.

NATHALIE TAUZIAT: No. I don't think about it personally. When I came here, I didn't even have a look at the prize money. I never do when I come to a tournament. I never know exactly how much I've won, if I've won. This is a tournament for me, as any tournament. Only it's hard to qualify, very hard to qualify. If I say hard, every tournament is hard today, but next week, for instance, in Filderstadt, the last in the draw is 22nd in the world. So tournaments are hard. Here it's even harder.

NATHALIE TAUZIAT: No. I think in terms of long-term. There are so many tournaments to play before the end of the season. I knew at the US Open I was qualified, so I prepared quite seriously. Then I was in a team contest on clay last Sunday. It may not be the ideal preparation, but I had some matches to play, which was good. Then I came here, with these matches behind me. I thought I was going to play on Tuesday, so I came on Monday. But after all, it turned out very positive so I could train with Novotna, Sanchez. You don't do that every day, do you? It's a very good preparation. But I don't know whether you noticed, but they were all here by Monday. They all took this tournament very seriously. Those who are in good shape at the right moment are the ones who win.

NATHALIE TAUZIAT: Well, every time I say I want to be Top 5, people start laughing. But I said Top 10, they laughed, and I'm Top 10. So I may be Top 5 one day, then we shall see.

NATHALIE TAUZIAT: Why not? Why not? I'm going to upset quite a few people because they know I have many points to defend, and they say, "Oh, she's going to go down; she'll find it difficult to defend her points." But for me it's easier to have to defend points, because then I have to play well, and I stay focused on my game. It doesn't really detract me to have to defend all these points. The way I practice on fast courts, indoors, I think I'm able to do the same thing again. With maybe just a bit more pressure than in previous years, but I can handle pressure quite easily. Then, of course, I have a changed label. Last year, Tauziat, "Who is Tauziat?" I was in two finals, now I'm Top 10. They have started taking me seriously, and asking questions about me.

NATHALIE TAUZIAT: Well, I beat No. 2 in the world. If I were to say I haven't got any confidence, it would be wrong. In order to get in shape for the remainder of the season, this was very good. Physically, of course, I have registered for so many tournaments, until the end of this year almost every tournament, so maybe according to the results, one tournament I'm not going to play. But we'll see that in light of my results and in light of my physical shape.

NATHALIE TAUZIAT: Well, she's a player as any other player. Venus is a very good player. She's No. 5. I've got nothing to lose. I beat No. 2, why shouldn't I beat No. 5?

NATHALIE TAUZIAT: I'm not afraid of her. You said I might do this in two or three months from now, but I don't care when.