US OPEN

August 27, 1997

Monica Seles

Q. You look like you're feeling better.

MONICA SELES: I feel a lot better. My temperature was gone for the last two days, that has helped. I still have a lot coming up. I feel good. Nice to have a pretty fast match tonight out there.

MONICA SELES: It's really a great feeling. It makes it even extra special for me. Really thrilled to be out there playing. That's one of the reasons why I decided to come back.

MONICA SELES: Well, I just got to practice on it a day, just yesterday, and tonight. It's really hard to say. Tonight the stadium looked beautiful.

MONICA SELES: There's a lot of wind down there.

MONICA SELES: For me at least. Tonight was not bad. Practice last night it was.

MONICA SELES: Yes.

MONICA SELES: Very unpredictable.

MONICA SELES: Great to see the past champions, the ones I haven't met before and the ones I met before. It was just very special. Very special night.

MONICA SELES: Well, I just wanted a videotape. I think down the years, 20 years or something, I can show my family or whatever. It will be really special. See all the champions out there.

MONICA SELES: No. There was about ten that I really wanted to meet, and I met almost all of them. And a few of them I haven't seen for a few years. It was nice to see them again.

MONICA SELES: No. I mean, I really believe every year I had a good shot. I got to the Open the last two years, into the Finals. I definitely have been playing better every year at the Open than a lot of the other tournaments. So just match at a time. I had some good matches, some good wins the last few weeks. I played a lot of tennis. The Open, I'm going to try to play every other day so I feel rested. As long as I get over this virus and Strep throat and get my full energy back, I'll be really happy.

MONICA SELES: That's always the case with the No. 1 player. That's normal. The year she has had, been quite unbelievable, losing just two matches. She just seems to have a very complete game. She's tough mentally, too. That's why she's No. 1.

MONICA SELES: I felt confident going into Wimbledon. Look what happened there. I just take it a match at a time. As long as I give it my best shot. I know I practice hard, that's what matters to me. The results will hopefully sooner or later come.

MONICA SELES: The second set I had a little bit of a hard time. I never played in this stadium with the lights. A little bit -- it took me a while to adjust to it. And she's also an unpredictable player. She hits the ball really hard and zooms these fast serves at you, so it's hard to get your rhythm a little bit. My first serves, the last four games of my service games, I started to struggle a little bit.

MONICA SELES: It was a great honor. When they told me, I said, "Wow." It's a very special night, one of those nights that it's a high. The same when I came back, the night match, the first night match at the US Open in '95. You maybe have ten moments like this in your tennis career.

MONICA SELES: Oh, definitely, both ways. Also I felt really proud playing in the Arthur Ashe Stadium. In 1991, when I was going through a lot of stuff, a lot of different things, he took the time out to come to one of my practices and talk to me. And that meant a lot of to me. It also brought back a lot of memories from that.

MONICA SELES: Yeah, definitely. I had a temperature till Saturday, pretty high one, like 100.8. It's definitely taking a toll on my body. But I also played a lot of tournaments, so already I was a little bit tired going into last week. But I pretty much just rested. I'm not playing doubles. I canceled that. That should help.

MONICA SELES: For sure. A lot of things were new tonight. First time playing in the new stadium, new Nike outfit. The other one, knowing -- it is a difference playing. And just to think that all the champions were watching your match. That's a little bit of pressure, sure.

MONICA SELES: That's hard to compare. I mean, a lot of them I haven't seen play. A lot I've seen play on the Classic matches. It's hard to say.

MONICA SELES: That's hard. The players I haven't played with, probably Suzanne Lenglen, Maureen Connolly, Billy Jean, Margaret Court, Evonne Goolagong, too, I'd love to play her. There's a couple there, yeah.

MONICA SELES: Well, mostly I was entered in three of them. So after I lost early in San Francisco, on my mind was, I should play some matches, I need to get some matches going. Then going into Canada, my main reason was really -- because each time, my bonus pool, because I pulled out, I lost a lot. I could regroup. It was a tier-one event. What decided for me, I won two years in a row. A lot of memories started in '95. I was afraid to go back because of that, so many things have changed since. So at the last minute, I didn't have too much time to think about it. I was actually very happy that I did it. It was great for me mentally.

MONICA SELES: At that point, no, because I knew I had to get to the Finals or win it and beat a certain amount of ranked players to get it. So that wasn't. At Wimbledon, I was also No. 2 ranked. My theory is: Whoever you meet at any point, except maybe the first or second round, till you get used to the court and the crowd, it doesn't make a difference.

MONICA SELES: Years or days?

MONICA SELES: Yeah. Mostly just try to rest a lot, get my practices in while the weather is pretty cool. Really rest, that's what the doctor says.

MONICA SELES: I did, yes.

MONICA SELES: Wow, it was so short. You say, "Hi, how are you? It's great to see you." Hard for me to judge.