WIMBLEDON

July 1, 2000

Monica Seles

MODERATOR: Questions for Monica Seles.

MONICA SELES: Definitely. I think it helped that her serve wasn't as powerful. I could really use my groundstrokes to much better force than my previous two matches.

MONICA SELES: Well, I think the first one was hard because I haven't played on grass. It was my first match. I was nervous. Second one, she was just serving well. But today I knew coming in that she's going to have mostly back court points. It's nice to have a match that's a little bit easier; not as close as the first two.

MONICA SELES: I never played Arantxa on grass. Last time we played was Amelia. It's going to be a tough match. I mean, it's probably going to be back court tennis. It's going to be a close match.

MONICA SELES: I don't know. I really don't know. I mean, I've never talked to players about that. That's very nice.

MONICA SELES: I really don't think I was unconsciously not nice. I think first year on the tour, there were two players on the tour for whatever reason they disliked me. They were the players who talked a lot on the tour to other players. I was 14, 15, really in my own shell kind of. Just said, "Hi," "Bye," looked down at the floor. I was very shy. I think that's how people perceived me I think in the beginning. Then by like when I was 18, they realised that I was different. I changed probably as a person, too. I was much more open. I wasn't as shy as I was when I was 14.

MONICA SELES: I used to read them. I had a lot of long talks with my dad about that, because obviously he was a journalist, too. Nowadays, I really don't. I just don't open a paper like that, whether I be in them or not. Thank goodness I haven't been in them. That's really it.

MONICA SELES: I mean, any championship would be unbelievable. Winning Wimbledon would truly be amazing. You can't really even put that in words. But I'm in the fourth round, and I have such a long way to go that all I'm doing right now is focusing on my next match.

MONICA SELES: I mean, coming into the tournament, my personality is that I would not enter a tournament if I would not believe I could win it. This tournament is no different. I understand that I have limitations maybe. But I've talked to a lot of people and tried to improve upon it year after year, improved a little bit my fitness, which has helped. But really any tournament, I felt I had a good chance at the French. You play someone who's in such a good form like Mary, and you're out. The same thing goes here. Just really have to take it match at a time, almost ball at a time.

MONICA SELES: Well, I would not want to say that, just let the other players discover that (laughter).

MONICA SELES: About the stabbing?

MONICA SELES: How would you want me to explain that once more?

MONICA SELES: No, because I'm very clear what happened in my own mind. I have no feelings about that. It's unfortunate that that's not how things are perceived. I've moved on. Certain things are not going to change. But I have no anger or bitterness over that, no.

MONICA SELES: Well, there was so much injustice in there that maybe one day when someone really looks into it, they'll realise that.

MONICA SELES: Well, it was hard not to read them when you're on the front page about the "gruntometer," the bomb threat, different things. It's hard not to miss articles like that. So those were times when you're forced to read them. Going into the press conference, you know those will be the questions asked. In those situations really my father helped tremendously.

MONICA SELES: I think looking back now, I would not let certain things bother me. That's probably growing as a person. At that time I was I think 17 years old when those things were written about me. For sure, I would not let that affect me as much as it did in '92 Wimbledon. That's past. I learned my lesson from that.

MONICA SELES: There's not paper in the locker room, no.

MONICA SELES: No, huh-uh.

MONICA SELES: I think it's different, totally different thing. Mine were outside factors involved in it. I mean, the grunting was something that I never said. It was just while I was playing. The other articles written on me in '92 were also things that I didn't cause and didn't do. It's very different. I can't relate to Alexandra because her life and her experience are totally different than mine. It's very hard for me to comment on that. I really like Alexandra as a person. I got to know her a little bit. She's now at the academy. I think she just really needs to focus on her tennis and really that should be her priority, if she wants to be the best tennis player. She surely has the talent. I think she's a hard-working girl, but she needs to focus I think all her energy on that. I can't speak for her really. It's hard. I don't know what has been going on, as I said. I just know in the past, last year at Wimbledon, she had a fantastic run. That's hard to live up to, I think, to expect. She hasn't had a great year. But in some ways maybe that's good, that's going to make her work harder. Definitely she'll have less pressure, I think, this year. Same for Mirjana, too. Sometimes that's not a bad thing.

MONICA SELES: For me it's difficult because I have quite a few friends here. Obviously when you have friends, you love to come back and visit. I love the countryside. I just love the lifestyle. I mean, the only thing I really am not too crazy about is the rain just because it's difficult to plan something. Besides that, I really like it. I come back to London quite often in the year.

MONICA SELES: I really think all the young players, they're all mature nowadays. We're all there before our matches. Each of us in our own little hole getting ready for the match. Of young players I've talked to, a few who have asked to talk to me for advice, I'll do anytime. But for me to go up to someone, I would not feel comfortable doing that.