WIMBLEDON

June 27, 2000

Lucie Ahl

MODERATOR: Lucie Ahl.

LUCIE AHL: Yeah, very pleased.

LUCIE AHL: Yeah. It's my third time here. Yeah, first match I've won.

LUCIE AHL: Not for me, no. I think she still played pretty well. I guess there was an injury there, but I played a good match. No, for me I won. Looking forward to playing my next round.

LUCIE AHL: As in?

LUCIE AHL: Importance, yeah, hugely important. I mean, Wimbledon for me is one of the biggest tournaments. To get past the first round is always a big hurdle. No, it's up there. Playing here is big. Now having won one match, the way I'm playing, I can certainly go further.

LUCIE AHL: I've got to play a Yugoslavian girl, Sandra Nacuk.

LUCIE AHL: I hit with her this morning actually. I didn't actually, no. I hadn't looked at the draw. My coach just said after, "You have to play the girl you hit with this morning." We both know a little bit about each other. I've seen her before at tournaments.

LUCIE AHL: The way I've been playing today, the past couple weeks, I can certainly beat her. She's playing well, as well. I mean, it's always on the day. But, yeah, I've got a good chance, feeling confident.

LUCIE AHL: I don't know. I always listen to their morning show. I think it would be quite good fun really if I didn't play tennis. At the moment I'm playing tennis. Maybe in the future. You can plug that. If they're looking for any budding young DJ's.

LUCIE AHL: I actually like Zoe. A lot of people didn't. I think Sarah is pretty good. Better than some of the others. Good to have a woman on there.

LUCIE AHL: Yeah. They sound as though they have a bit of a laugh. Sounds quite good. I guess it's early morning, so that would be the only thing.

LUCIE AHL: Kind of. I mean, you know, the girls get a lot of stick, and the guys. I don't know. We do this sort of day in, day out. Unfortunately, a lot of the public think this is the only two weeks of the year that we play. It's just really not ignoring it. You're aware that it's there. It's just trying to not think about it. A lot of the girls played good matches yesterday, have been playing well. Because they lost, it's kind -- they did badly, whereas I've spoken to them, they played well. We all try and just support each other and focus on getting on playing our matches. We all know how well we can play and how well we've been doing. Sometimes it's playing a good match and having a tight match against one of the top players for us is good. It's keeping that in our minds really.

LUCIE AHL: Most of them seem to have been here actually. Caught up with the rabble upstairs drinking a lot of wine. Kind of ignored them because they're all a bit drunk now (laughter). I guess when I get home, catch up with my sister, who didn't come over. She's in Germany. I'm sure via few messages on my phone. I hope so anyway.

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