CHASE CHAMPIONSHIPS OF SANEX WTA TOUR

November 19, 2000

Monica Seles

Q. Monica, you were really fighting the whole game. I'm so proud of you?

MONICA SELES: Thank you very much.

MONICA SELES: Yeah, definitely. Especially when I lost in the second set and still tried to come back and stay tough in the first -- third set, sorry, for sure.

MONICA SELES: Well, yeah, definitely, coming out today I was hoping I would not play as badly as I had done the past few times against her. It's just key for me to steady my nerves and really try to play the game that I play, and I got lucky there in the first set. And then I let Martina back during the second set. It was just too tough at the end.

MONICA SELES: I think both of us were pretty tired at the end. For sure. I think both of us -- we were just talking in the locker room, we were both happy we only had to go -- we didn't have to go three out of five.

MONICA SELES: There were probably a couple times where I reached a wall, but I knew I really wanted to win this match, and I just tried to push through it.

MONICA SELES: Yeah, definitely this year has been really great. Probably the best year since '95 or '96 I had. It's been nice. I also had some tough loses, both, like today to Martina, a couple like that to Venus and Lindsay. In that sense, it has been a tough year, but in the other sense it has been really great to have that year and finish it off. And hopefully, I have one more week in Las Vegas and just try to get up for that and then take a little break and then refocus the next year.

MONICA SELES: Oh, no there are a couple of tough ones. It's kind of our fifth Grand Slam tournament. Any time you play so long and it's a 6-4 and it's a couple of points here or there, and I've lost quite a few close matches the last couple of times, so in terms of that it has been pretty difficult.

MONICA SELES: Yeah, it was really strange. I think it is a combination of Martina returning so well and putting pressure on me, and I was probably pressing for more than I should have, and my serve broke down a little bit. And then I knew that I have to break back, and a few times, I was able to do that, and a few times I wasn't.

MONICA SELES: It sure seemed like it, yeah.

MONICA SELES: I played well in Wimbledon against Lindsay the first set, and a couple of times against Venus. So it is hard to compare. Each match is so different, each surface is different, different circumstances. But I definitely started off really well and that was one of my goals, and not to come out and start off like at the Open this year, and at least I achieved that part.

MONICA SELES: Closure. Ah. The story of this year. But I think just my serve let me down a little bit and Martina picked up her game. That's what champions do and that's why she won today and that's what I missed today.

MONICA SELES: No. I don't think I lost the match because I was tired. Martina was simply a better player. I was feeling fine out there. I was trying to run to the balls and stay aggressive and stay mentally really focused on every shot.

MONICA SELES: This year I have lost some really tough three-set matches at some key tournaments, which I feel I should have won, at least finished the matches off against a couple of the top players. So that would be one goal to try to work on.

MONICA SELES: I don't know. It's been such a great thing, really, throughout my career as I mentioned in my other press conference I don't know. I think probably it is my game style, maybe my personality, I don't know. But it's great.

MONICA SELES: Well, I was very emotional. Just because, you know, you feel, gosh, this is -- well, this is it, in terms of a tournament. Hopefully, they will have an exhibition and, you know, you come back and stuff like that, which would be great, to be able to get a chance to play once more here. And, you know, hopefully, maybe in four years time, you come back and the tournament will be here and obviously it was just emotional knowing that the CHAMPIONSHIPS are not going to be here for at least three years.

MONICA SELES: I don't know. I mean, I just take it a day at a time, really. So I have no idea. As long as I enjoy it and I enjoy the challenge, definitely. I mean, it is a game that I love, regardlessly if I played professionally or not.

MONICA SELES: Well, I think my serve has improved this week, which was a surprise. I really didn't do anything to take a compliment on it. But at the same time today, at key times, it just absolutely broke down with all of those double-faults; so it was kind of like a double-edged sword. But that's the way women's tennis is going; everybody has big serves, big girls, that I know that I have to improve that.

MONICA SELES: Not at all. My feeling, always, is just really be in the present. I mean, I don't look back at the past, don't worry about the future. Just try to be in the moment in every part of my life, and that applies to my tennis career.

MONICA SELES: No, because that match was very different, just because I was feeling so much pain. And maybe, looking back, it was not the smartest decision to go out, but I'm a very competitive person on court and I've wanted to give my best. You know, it was semifinals. A lot of people will come out to, and you just want to play, as an athlete. And I've been off before that for probably six and a half months and I didn't want to default. So, it was definitely -- it was one of the toughest press conferences that I had after that match, but I bounced back from it.

MONICA SELES: One more week.

MONICA SELES: That's a tough one. Depends what standards you go by. Obviously, if you go by the Grand Slams, you have to look at Venus. If you go by the whole year and consistency at different tournament, it's Martina.

MONICA SELES: That I'll keep private. (Laughs).

MONICA SELES: We have a very well difficult time. I think we are playing Wednesday. It is a very tough match. I'm not sure how it goes under this format. I've never played Fed Cup under this format. So you guys have an unbelievable team with Kim Clijsters and Dominique and then Justine Henin and Els Callens. It is going to be a very difficult match. I think that's how we're approaching it, talking to Billie, and then the beginning of the week to Lindsay. So we're going to get really psyched up for it, and hopefully we can defend our Fed Cup title.

MONICA SELES: Yeah, definitely. As I say, it was just a really wonderful surprise how well I played, and just the great -- the great feeling to have the crowd so behind me. And it just was really a fantastic week.

MONICA SELES: No. I pulled my groin. So, that's why.

MONICA SELES: It was fine. It's fine.

MONICA SELES: I think it happened at 3-2.

MONICA SELES: After a tough loss like today, I just kind of try to regroup, and then get up and really be focused, for, obviously Fed Cup. After that, probably take about two weeks off, and then my year starts at Hopman Cup in Perth, and then I'm playing in Melbourne, Australian Open.