THE LIPTON CHAMPIONSHIPS

March 23, 1999

Monica Seles

Q. Monica, how hard was it to try to even establish a groove out there the way Serena looks at you?

MONICA SELES: I started off pretty good and then I think, you know, every time that I had a chance, I made a mistake or there are times Serena just hit unbelievable shots. There's no in-between. When she needed to come up with a great shot she did. She's just playing some great tennis out there.

MONICA SELES: She's up there with the fastest players; Venus, her sister, and probably on clay, Aranxta. I mean, still have to play tennis no matter how fast you are.

MONICA SELES: That's a tough one. Obviously they are a couple -- you can't count out Martina and Lindsay. Martina is not going to make as many mistakes as I did tonight. Martina is playing with a lot of power and confidence, they are maybe going to meet in the semis. There are so many matches that would be so great, but I hate to speculate.

MONICA SELES: It was good. I played some good matches today, obviously. I played, you know, okay at times. I played some great shots and times I just made so many mistakes. The past couple of tournaments I haven't played that well, obviously. Indian Wells was very disappointing, this one not as much. So now I have the clay court season and I'll try to do better there.

MONICA SELES: I got so much slack for that, but if you went to juniors, even when I was playing, and if you had a lower ranked player they were all doing that. I think at that point that was the only fault they could find with me, that's why they gave me such a hard time. I don't see that nowadays. Serena does it, Venus does it, Arantxa does it. It's just part of the game. But she is definitely a very focused player out there, no question.

MONICA SELES: I don't know, don't ask me that one.

MONICA SELES: I don't know. I think probably now she's probably playing better than Venus, I think. But Venus has beaten Serena the last two times they played. That's a tough one. Right now Serena seems to be playing better, she won two tournaments.

MONICA SELES: Well, no, I just think some things were very obvious for me today. It's just got to be a decision if I want to do something about that or not. That's pretty much it.

MONICA SELES: Well, it is a great feeling. Personally, if you ask me, I always felt Serena was this close (indicating with fingers). She just won a couple of key matches and it gave her extra confidence. With her power and her groundstrokes, that's a very tough combination. I think most of the -- all the players are seeing that. So I think it is a tremendous feeling. She's obviously going into every match full of confidence and so -- and that's showing definitely in her game as well.

MONICA SELES: You just go in with some confidence. Even if you are down 5-1, you still believe you can pull out matches. You just feel you can't miss. It's when you lose confidence you make more mistakes and make errors that sometimes you think are stupid, but they're just in your game. And I think when you're doing well, those errors are a lot less.

MONICA SELES: Not at all. It is not that dramatic.

MONICA SELES: Well, I think the problem when I was attacking, I was making too many mistakes. Obviously my return was way off today. I just gave her so many free points at times when I shouldn't have, if I had a window of opportunity, or she had an unbelievable shot or serve, and I'd make a mistake. I had a lot of break chances, and if that happens, I don't deserve to win a match against a caliber player, like Serena is playing the caliber of tennis today.

MONICA SELES: I think it all depends how obvious you want to be. If I wear my hair like I wear it right now, yes, more people recognize me. If I wear my hair down and I'm dressed, nobody recognizes me. It all depends. I think for Venus it is very difficult, she's so tall and with the beads, everybody recognizes her, so it is different.

MONICA SELES: We'll have to see, that's all I can say.

MONICA SELES: Uh-huh.

MONICA SELES: I don't think I'm going to play next week because I'm playing four tournaments in a row, and I obviously might have Federation Cup and all that. I'm very happy playing with Mary Joe, she is one of my best friends on the tour. Yesterday we had a tough match, but I don't think I am going to do that that often this year, I really don't think so.