US OPEN

September 2, 2001

Monica Seles

MODERATOR: Questions for Monica.

MONICA SELES: Definitely she served really well, especially when she was down breakpoint. But I just made too many errors to stay competitive. I mean, I was having a tough time holding my serve. She was just holding hers really easily most of the match.

MONICA SELES: Yeah, definitely. It was one of those matches that, gosh, didn't feel comfortable out there from the first ball hit. She was playing really steady. She didn't give me any free points. She was serving really well. I was just having a hard time finding my range with my groundstrokes. I think I probably had a lot of unforced errors in there.

MONICA SELES: No, I mean, I practice with Daja at home a few times. I knew her game. I knew coming into the match what to expect. But I knew if I could stay aggressive and keep my errors down that I could be more successful against her. Today was vice versa. I think she was the one being aggressive and kept her errors down.

MONICA SELES: Nothing, no. I mean, it was just one of those days, "Gosh, I wish it didn't come today." Just really felt -- had a difficult time finding my range. I was hoping to find it in the match. Never kind of found it on my serve or on my groundstrokes.

MONICA SELES: A little bit. It's just frustrating when you have a day like today in a Grand Slam where you feel like you're making a lot of mistakes against a player that you really cannot afford to because she's so steady, she's a very good runner, you have to work very hard to win a single point. The match is really tight. I was just trying to not make those mistakes. I ended up making them anyway.

MONICA SELES: Today definitely it didn't happen. I mean, both on my serve and on my groundstrokes and returns, just kind of everything was not going the way that I want it at least to go. You have to give so much credit to Daja because she served so well at key times to hold off the breakpoints. That made the match a different type.

MONICA SELES: I don't know the overall picture. Right now it's disappointing to lose, you know, after playing so well coming into here, just really having the day that I had today at a Grand Slam is really -- it's a tough one.

MONICA SELES: No, it was just last year before The Championships I practiced with her a few times. She's a terrific girl. Her father. I knew her game, the same way she knew my game coming into the match.

MONICA SELES: I have no idea.

MONICA SELES: No. I think my coached asked her, at that time, Bobby.

MONICA SELES: No, she was very tough then, too. Obviously, she's improved. She's improving a lot, as you can tell, this past year or so by her results and stuff like that. She was very difficult at that stage, too.

MONICA SELES: I just said, "Great match. Congratulations." I just wished her a lot of luck. She's really a fantastic girl.

MONICA SELES: No, no, not at all. Really going into a match, I just try to worry about my own game, not worry so much about my opponent. My own game let me down today.

MONICA SELES: It was always kind of a fight, yeah.

MONICA SELES: I really don't know. I mean, just taking it a day at a time. But definitely when you have matches like today, when you come out in a fourth round pretty flat, are really difficult. Just, you know, try to learn from it and come back again.

MONICA SELES: Oh, I don't think it has anything to do with it, nothing.