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HOME DEPOT CHAMPIONSHIPSNovember 7, 2002Anna SmashnovaLOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA Q. Anna, you had a wonderful year this year. Will that loss cast a shadow on the past year? ANNA SMASHNOVA: No. I had a great year and the loss today had nothing to do with it. Overall, it's been a great year for me. Serena is No. 1 in the year and much better than me today. There is nothing I could do today. Q. During the match, why couldn't you do anything? ANNA SMASHNOVA: Why? She's No. 1 in the world. She barely lost this year. Q. Before the match, you told me you would try to play your own match, and did you try to do that? ANNA SMASHNOVA: Yeah, I tried to do it, but I didn't succeed. Q. What do you feel the toughest aspect of Serena's game is? ANNA SMASHNOVA: She has a lot of power, but on top of that, she also used a lot of angles. She makes me run, go back, but also cover the court from left to right and then end to end. Q. Were you trying to lengthen the points and trying to get into a rhythm? Did you feel your chances would be better the more shots, the more balls, you're getting into play? ANNA SMASHNOVA: We had a few long rallies, but she won all of them. Even that still didn't help. Q. Did she attack your second serve? ANNA SMASHNOVA: Yeah. I knew she was going to do that. That's also her power. Q. You mean she played -- you knew she would play aggressively? ANNA SMASHNOVA: Yeah, that's her game, yes. Q. Just how powerful is Serena? ANNA SMASHNOVA: Very. She's No. 1. At least for me, she overpowered me. It's another level. Q. Anna, you didn't have a winner in this match. Can you remember playing a match without hitting a winner before? Does that show how powerful she is? ANNA SMASHNOVA: I guess so. Normally my game is not hitting winners, and today it would be, obviously, more difficult for me to hit one. I would probably have to risk so much and hit maybe 50/50 shots, and I didn't want to do that. Q. Did she have you back on your heels? Did you always think that killer shot was coming? ANNA SMASHNOVA: I was not thinking that. I was just playing, and the points were just going by themselves. She was trying to win. She was doing everything she could to win. Q. Anna, you have a great one-handed backhand. You don't see a lot of females in the game with that kind of one-handed backhand. How hard was that to develop? ANNA SMASHNOVA: I think it was always my favorite shot. I used to play with two hands when I was younger. At the age of 9, I had to switch to one hand. I taught myself. From what I remember, it's just a very natural shot. I don't remember working on it very much. It just comes natural. Q. Coming into the match, what was your game plan against Serena? ANNA SMASHNOVA: Just I wanted to play my game. That's the game plan. End of FastScripts…. |
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