THE LIPTON CHAMPIONSHIPS

March 23, 1998

Monica Seles

Q. Monica, what do you think about Kournikova's game?

MONICA SELES: It's hard for me to say what I think, just coming off. It's really fast. I haven't played too many balls. But she played really good, both sides very good, running very well, all-around good game.

MONICA SELES: Not really. I just think I'm not feeling the ball as well, so I'm trying different shots. But not really, no.

MONICA SELES: Well, I think I gave too many easy shots on key points, I think; too many unforced errors. That's not playing a few times. I left the ball and let the ball bounce. I had no feeling of whether it is going in or out. I'm happy with the amount of preparation I got. I definitely improved over the day before yesterday, and the more I'm going to play, you know, the better chances I will have.

MONICA SELES: I think I'm just not serving enough. The timing is not there. It's a little bit more windy. I got shaken, a lot of second serves. Her return is so great, so you're not going to get away with that. That's what happened on those points today.

MONICA SELES: Well, I didn't work much on it. Hopefully it's not my top. You know, we'll just see. I think time will tell that.

MONICA SELES: At this point I really don't know.

MONICA SELES: I really don't think anything is happening. It's just that I'm not hitting enough balls. I don't have that confidence to finish the match off, which has been happening the past year, since I really took my practice hours down. But that's one part I tried to improve upon. Today I had the same thing happen to me, in the second set also, just too many free points. When she needed it, she played some great shots. I think that's why she won the key points today.

MONICA SELES: I think the more I play, I notice that I got better. But it's really hard not playing for a month, playing those key points well. You feel so much pressure on me, you know, if I make this point or I don't, which I think like last summer when I played more tournaments, I felt more comfortable. Hopefully I'll get to do that.

MONICA SELES: I'm just going to take it really a day at a time. That's what I kind of decided coming into Lipton. I hope so. I really love both tournaments, but just a day at a time.

MONICA SELES: Not really. I just think, you know, probably -- I don't know if I lost weight a little bit. Maybe that has helped. But I haven't really worked much on anything the last few months. I did feel pretty good. I can't say I'm tired now or anything like that.