CHASE CHAMPIONSHIPS OF THE COREL WTA TOUR

November 18, 1998

Monica Seles

Q. We heard beforehand that you had a bit of a stomach upset. You looked a little wan to put it mildly. How are you feeling now?

MONICA SELES: Not too good. I have been really sick really since Sunday afternoon, I haven't eaten anything. I just throw up everything I put in my stomach so, not good. Really lucky I pulled out tonight's match.

MONICA SELES: I was lucky to pull it out tonight.

MONICA SELES: Well, definitely. I really didn't hit a ball, so, I wasn't sure how I am going to play today. I just said give it my best shot. If at some point if I feel - I will just default. I just said: Just take it point at a time and go from there on. I was lucky that I didn't have to do that.

MONICA SELES: I don't know, they can't figure it out yet. Food poisoning usually goes out away in 48 hours max. This has been a long time now, so, I can get some food in me a little bit.

MONICA SELES: I don't know.

MONICA SELES: I think she went for her shots. That is the way Anna has been playing the last few months.

MONICA SELES: I think all of us go through stages; she is at that stage. She had a wonderful playing time 'til I think something happened to her wrist, I think in Eastbourne, and it is very difficult coming back from an injury or from a time you don't play for a long time. I know that feeling. So it is tough, but I think she has a good month or longer to really work hard on it and I think knowing her, she is a very hard worker that probably she will repair that.

MONICA SELES: Definitely, yeah.

MONICA SELES: I think she will keep on playing as long as she can.

MONICA SELES: We probably would have played a lot of each other more often, that is a tough one to say. What is in the past, I don't think about it. I just hope I can show up tomorrow and give it my best shot.

MONICA SELES: I mean, knowing Steffi she is such a perfectionist, I just think she has played this well really in a lot of her matches; maybe not this consistently throughout the year, I don't think people have given her enough credit for that. Obviously she loves to play indoors and the surface suits her game very well. So I mean --

MONICA SELES: I have slept the last 50 hours, non-stop. I have no problem. That is all I have been doing. That is my problem. I am so lethargic.

MONICA SELES: I haven't overcome it yet. I mean, for me it was terrible timing. I felt really good in Philadelphia and everything just seemed to have some bad luck happening to me at the Championships and really this year I felt coming in really good and then it is just unfortunate that that had to happen now, but, you know, not much I can learn from this.

MONICA SELES: Oh, I mean, anyway it is going to stay the same. It is not even important to hear my thoughts on that issue.

MONICA SELES: Yeah, we have been saying that for the past ten years, I think. I am sure it will be the same next year answering the same questions - the season is too long. The season is always too long.

MONICA SELES: I just hung in there. I really didn't play much. But definitely couldn't run as well and not much strength, but I just hung in there really; just fought for every point and I think that is really what helped me win tonight's match.

MONICA SELES: I have seen -- I mean, I have seen Anna in Moscow and I played doubles with her. I knew she would have problems with her serve. It is not the first match she has been doing that to me. So I mean you go through that. You go through different stages in your career. She is having a tough time with that. But I really believe she will correct that. She is really a hardworking person, I think she gets credit for that.

MONICA SELES: Yeah. I visited Austria a year and a half ago with my mom and I really loved it. So I never been to Linz before. I am looking really forward to it.

MONICA SELES: I really loved the country. I visited Vienna. I absolutely fell in love with the place. Obviously not having been to tournaments, but if it is anything like what I had experienced there, it was really fantastic. That is really one of the reasons I want to come and play.

MONICA SELES: I am definitely going to play the Australian Open, I think at this point, yeah.

MONICA SELES: Oh, I just had terrible luck here the last four years since I have come back. '95 I couldn't play. '96, I had to default in the match. Last year it was one of the worst matches of my career kind of type deal. So really haven't been lucky, kind of a bad streak coming in.

MONICA SELES: That is a tough one. The field is really tough. All depends I think on my preparations going into Australia. First of all, I have to get to Australia to play the tournament. Last two years I never got a chance, so, that is really just kind of my goal to get there. Once I get there then I will worry about the tournament.