THE LIPTON CHAMPIONSHIPS

March 19, 1999

Monica Seles

BROOKE LAWER: First question for Monica.

MONICA SELES: I'm working with Zoltan, the same person I worked with for the last two and a half years.

MONICA SELES: Jimmy still plays with me a lot, he is helping me tremendously at home. He can't travel, so.

MONICA SELES: It felt fine. I mean, it was a very close match. It's always a tough one in the first round to play. I haven't played that great of tennis in the last couple of weeks. I'm just really happy to finish off the match in two sets.

MONICA SELES: I got to No. 3 without any coach. I definitely would like to find a coach. I want to make sure I find one that is going to work for a little longer period of time. I just don't want to keep changing. I tried somebody; it didn't work out. I'm still looking for it, definitely.

MONICA SELES: That's not fair. Really the only long-term coach I had was my dad. It's a different relationship because he's my parent, my father. But obviously he has to help me add some new things to the game. But also he would have to help me with my strengths that my game is built upon, be able to play really good tennis, know most of the girls. The girls are changing so much. Every six months, you have new girls. There are a lot tougher matches right now.

MONICA SELES: Harold offered to help me, talked to me a few times before a couple of matches. I love Harold. I still talk to him. He's a great guy. He didn't work with me in terms of playing and that stuff.

MONICA SELES: No, no, no, no. Just the opposite. I think most people are really nervous when they start out. But once they get to see my routine, not really.

MONICA SELES: I don't know. You've got to ask them that.

MONICA SELES: Not really. It was a mutual decision. There were a couple of issues. I think that's between Gavin and I. If Gavin wants to talk, that's fine. I still love Gavin. I still talk to Gavin. It just didn't work out on both sides I think.

MONICA SELES: Well, Amelie impressed me a lot last year at the US Open where she played a very tough match against Hingis. To me, it really wasn't that big of a surprise getting through to Australia. Obviously, she had one great win, which was Lindsay. I think that's what brought so much attention. I just think she's a great player. She's very strong physically and mentally. I really enjoy watching her play.

MONICA SELES: It's getting better. I think to be really strong mentally on the court, you have to have a pretty simple off life. When you're a child, it's a lot easier than when you're an adult. Obviously the last couple of years have been really tough for me. Really, it's been so many new things. I'm still having a tough time with certain things. But mentally, I'm trying to get stronger and stronger. But there are some days that it gets tough for different reasons. I think anybody who loses a parent, and at the same time a coach, is thrown into that situation, staying at a high level of competing, it's very difficult. There's not a book that I can read that can help me through. Thank goodness I have my mom to help me through that. I'm still finding my way.

MONICA SELES: For me right now, it's just really trying to stay focused out there on the court. Last week, ten days ago when I played Indian Wells, I had a hard time doing that. Today I actually felt I was in and out of the court. That's one area I have to improve upon. I was really improving that last year and the beginning of this year. I had a little bit of a tougher time with that the last few weeks. Hopefully I can get it right back on track.

MONICA SELES: No, no, unfortunately not.

MONICA SELES: No. I didn't talk to my dad about that in terms of my tennis or in terms of my life, what decisions I could take. A lot of times I'm at a point where I have different decisions in my life that I have to make. It was always nice to be able to call my dad or have him there and ask him, which right now I won't have that. I've got to decide that myself, with my mom's help, just try to do the best that I can. I'm sure I'll make plenty of mistakes.

MONICA SELES: That's a tough one for me to answer.

MONICA SELES: That's for sure. I would love to win Grand Slams. That's one thing that I'd love to do. I'd like to be No. 1, but it's not to me the biggest thing if I be No. 1 one day. To me if I'm No. 3 two years ago, last year I'm No. 7, that's great, but it doesn't give me joy. Doesn't give me joy when I'm No. 1 seven years ago. But I think to win a Grand Slam, just because you're there for two weeks, and at the end of the week just to hold that trophy, I really don't think there's any other feeling like that in your tennis career. That would be my choice.

MONICA SELES: I still love to play tennis. I mean, I don't think I would be out here -- I hope I wouldn't be out here if I didn't enjoy it.

MONICA SELES: I really try to just put expectations on myself because I put high ones on myself. I put enough pressure on myself. I sometimes think I put too much pressure on myself. I think that's the worst pressure, when it's within. I'm trying to lessen that a little bit.

MONICA SELES: Well, I like playing here. Obviously I'm used to the heat because I live here. I think it's a very windy tournament, but if you're playing on the stadium court it's a lot better than on the outside courts. It's a beautiful tournament. I'm lucky to be staying on the island. I have a few friends that drove down from home. For me, it's one of the easiest tournaments in terms of logistics.