THE LIPTON CHAMPIONSHIPS

March 23, 1997

Monica Seles

MONICA SELES: I felt I played a little bit better today. It wasn't as windy. I always had some tough matches against Amy, so I was glad I could close it out in two. Obviously I'm missing match toughness, but at least I played better than the day before yesterday.

MONICA SELES: Definitely. I think the more closer matches I have, even going into the third set, just helps me, as long as I keep playing. That's the reason I'm playing doubles this week. I've just got to get to play some matches because I've been off so long.

MONICA SELES: No pain nowhere, no.

MONICA SELES: Oh, definitely. I think the last three, four weeks, I obviously missed it a lot, so many things happened. I just realized this is what makes me happy, even if it's tough sometimes off the court. Whenever I stepped on the court, I always had so much joy from it.

MONICA SELES: I think I always had it, but it was just frustrating to keep getting injured. Once I felt I started playing well, something would happen, I didn't play for three months. I kept getting these long breaks. I didn't practice as much. I started losing my confidence. Now the key thing is to just start practicing regularly, not have those months off. Pretty much that.

MONICA SELES: I need probably better court movement, better serve and return. Those are the key parts of my game. I need that back.

MONICA SELES: I do my special exercises pretty much every day. In terms of training, it's just really playing six days a week, not two days a week. Those are for me the goals. Better not play so much in one day, but be more consistent. For me the problem was I didn't play for two or three months. I'd be so excited that I'm playing, I would overdo it and get injured somewhere else. I learned from that, it's better to be in moderation.

MONICA SELES: With my brother?

MONICA SELES: No. He doesn't play tennis anymore.

MONICA SELES: I think a little bit, definitely. Also I didn't imagine I would miss the Australian Open. That was one of the toughest ones. In some ways I believe some things happen for a reason. Probably it happened for a reason, so.

MONICA SELES: Extremely young age, amazing. I played Martina in San Francisco. She beat me just off the court. For Martina, what's unusual at that age is amazing maturity. She has a great sense on the court where you're going to hit the ball and all. It's very hard to read her strokes. She's good at both sides. It's not like she has one weakness. She's a very good all-around player, tough mentally. She's a tough player obviously, to be No. 1. She just seems to have a great balance in everything. That's very nice to see.

MONICA SELES: That's hard to say. I think what Steffi and Martina has to do, it's going to be harder and harder. Everyone is playing good tennis now, and everybody is fit. Five years ago, Steffi was the only one fit. Now Martina. They're growing bigger. Venus and Lindsay, Venus at age 16 is 6'2". There will be changes in tennis. Only time will tell.

MONICA SELES: I don't know. That's not in my thoughts at all at this point.

MONICA SELES: I don't think that's Martina's personality, at least now, from what I've seen. When we play an exhibition, she likes to have fun. She doesn't take anything too seriously. I think that's great.

MONICA SELES: The only year I did feel it was that period after I missed Wimbledon, there was a six-month period that was very tough on me. Before that and after that, no, it was great. But that six months, they were tough.

MONICA SELES: I'm pretty sure I'm going to definitely play. If something major doesn't happen, yeah, definitely.

MONICA SELES: It's hard. I'm playing early matches. For me I know I only had 15 days to practice. You don't have the same confidence if you had two months of playing, not playing after literally Kimiko or Martina. That's the one missing a little confidence that I can control the ball wherever I want to. Obviously that comes from hitting a lot of balls. That I think for me, at least what I feel, is missing. Maybe from the outside it's different.

MONICA SELES: Yes, no problems.

MONICA SELES: I think rest and also rehabilitation, all those things.

MONICA SELES: Yes, pretty much, and could to keep in moderation the amount of serves I serve.

MONICA SELES: I'm getting better. Still struggling with the toss.