U.S. OPEN

September 6, 1996

Monica Seles

MONICA SELES: Compared to last year, it was very different, the conditions were pretty different. Much windier today. It was very similar style. Very similar game. I think it was a little bit closer this year. You know, overall there was a lot of long points. They were definitely long. We played a long time for a two-set match.

MONICA SELES: Well, I mean, the amount of tennis that my shoulder has taken really since the last three, four weeks has been a lot and I think it has a few more weeks to go, but, you know, that would be the one thing, as I said in the beginning, really after this whole thing started that I need to get back my 90 serves to play against the top players or have a much easier chance holding my serve against somebody like Steffi and, those players, I will need that back.

MONICA SELES: Well, I don't think she quite knew because she is standing so far back, personally I don't want to go that much too big of a serves because I knew I was not going to ace her. She was returning Brenda Schultz from back there. From back there you can return a lot of serves. As long as she was standing there, I was just going to throw there my first serve and play conservatively.

MONICA SELES: It has been great, I mean, that I got to the finals. Definitely coming into the Open, I knew I was playing a much better tennis than I had been in at the French and Wimbledon because I simply had more time to practice and I am kind of knowing what I can do and how I need to change my game plan because of my shoulder, so I got a little bit more experience which at the French and Wimbledon I was still struggling with that and I think the more matches I have been playing this summer, has been great. But it is just great to get to the finals and I played some good tennis. I think throughout the Open this year has gone by very fast, but, you know, it is good. So, I am happy.

MONICA SELES: I think it is great. I think it is much better that the women also have a set time because it is really tough to play your finals when you are not sure when you are going to go on, so I think it is a lot better that there is a Championship Sunday there.

MONICA SELES: Well, I think last year it was very different. Really my whole outlook about this tournament because it was my first Grand Slam back and I was just very excited about playing it. This year, I am still going to try to do the best that I can like I did last year. I probably have a little bit more matches. Maybe that will help me. I think if I play Steffi in the match like we played last year, it is hard to repeat that. If I play Martina, I have never played her, so I don't know what to expect.

MONICA SELES: I really try not to put any on myself because if you don't make them, then you feel really down. If you make them, then you are still not happy because, okay, I did what I was supposed to do, so, I just try to go with the moment.

MONICA SELES: We played some very close matches. Today also. The first set, how I won it, was really lucky. I mean, it was the same thing. She was lucky to hang in there in the second set when I had tons of breakpoints that I just couldn't convert them. I don't know what was happening with me, but I mean, I just -- I don't know, I tried to always have long matches. Today I think we were out there for an hour and a half for two-set matches. That is awfully long. I have to work very hard to win every single point which like against Coetzer I could hit much more winners, end the points much more quicker.

MONICA SELES: I will try to make up for it in the groundstrokes, but Steffi has a huge advantage, I think because she has a very high percentage of first serves in the 95s. That is a big advantage and that is the one that I am going to try to work towards. That is what I tried to do last winter and I maybe was pushing it a little bit too soon after not doing anything with it for 2 1/2 years, but after my shoulder is going back, I am going to try to do that. I find, for me, at my height, there is no reason why I shouldn't have those serves. You see some people who are 5'4", they are serving 102's, at 5'10". I should be able to serve 95s on average. I need to change it a little bit, my ball toss, but those things I cannot change until a point that whenever I swing I have no pain, so, I am not expecting anything else of myself that I know is not realistic.

MONICA SELES: I pulled it a little bit, but it is going to be okay.

MONICA SELES: No, I am healthy.

MONICA SELES: I can't believe that. Sorry, that was like, and I don't - I don't think I am volleying that well in this tournament like at least probably volley better -- I still wasn't coming in. It was a great way to end it. I was relieved today, final tiebreak, her serve -- after the game before when she was serving with many breakpoints and not converting it either.

MONICA SELES: Well, I mean, I don't know. I really -- personally the only two players that came to me and they both apologized at Wimbledon '92 was Martina and Nathalie Tauziat. Not a single other player has complained to me and those -- Martina and Tauziat couple of months later said it was just the heat of the moment and that is nonsense. So, I don't know. As I said, I mean, I do not do it purposely. I really don't believe that I win a match because I am grunting or not. And if I am out there (audience laughter) I really try to do the best that I can and I personally do not notice. That is what - when you tell me that it gets higher as it gets closer, I don't know, I really don't know. I definitely don't do it on purpose. I mean, gosh, no way.

MONICA SELES: Well, that is a tough one because I think - well, that is a tough one. I mean, see, in my mind, I don't think of it that way. That is just me. Maybe because I am still playing, I think of it as another tennis match. It doesn't matter to me if it is Steffi or Arantxa. I just look at the ball and play the ball. Definitely I know that Steffi, -- what Steffi likes and what her strengths and weaknesses are, so going to try to adjust to that, but I don't think in terms of, wow, is it going to be 5-1 for Steffi and lifetime matches or it is her 25th Grand Slam title, or anything like that, no.

MONICA SELES: I think some - I think women's tennis will definitely need more matches like Seles/Graf, Graf/Hingis, Seles/Sanchez, when it gets tough and that is what women's tennis needs. I think it is trying to do - make things happen, so, that will happen, but -- yeah.

MONICA SELES: Steffi?

MONICA SELES: Well, not too much really

(audience laughter) Not too many -- I mean, Steffi, there is not a weakness that you would just say if you keep doing this, that you are going to win the match. That is why Steffi is, you know, what Steffi is. I mean, she is winning constantly tournaments and the consistency she is having is amazing. I mean, everybody thinks her slice backhand is a weakness, but I personally don't think it is because on grass and fast courts like the stadium, it is actually an advantage because the ball stays so low compared to some other shots had. You really don't think about that. And her speed, she is an amazing athlete and of course her forehand everybody knows. Maybe her volleys are little bit weaker from everything else from her game, but she has been working hard on that and she is coming in a little bit more, so I don't .....

MONICA SELES: I don't know. I think that is going to be up to the doctors. I am no expert in this. Whatever they will recommend, I am going to go with their recommendations. I am sure they have seen tons of cases of what I have with baseball players. It is really common and whatever they recommend, I will go along with their program.

MONICA SELES: And losses.

MONICA SELES: I could not pick between these two, the one was 1991 when I beat Martina in the finals and one of the main reasons because I lost in the third round in 1990 and I never imagined that one day I would win the U.S. Open. I don't know why. I imagined more the French, but never the Open and after I won that, it was like, wow, okay, I can do this, and the other one was when I played Jennifer in the semifinals. I think that match was definitely, in my career, probably one of the hardest hitting matches and the closest one that I played and the one that I still remember just very vividly, a lot of points, so those two matches would stand out in my mind and the one I played was definitely against Linda Ferrando, so....

MONICA SELES: I never played Martina. It is really tough to talk about somebody you never played, but from the little that I have watched, she has an unbelievable sense of the court and she is very mature for her age which is unreal. She just feels where the ball is and she places the ball and she plays very effortlessly. I think it is beautiful to watch Martina play, and she is also a very strong competitor, so I think for age 15, when I look back at 15 to my career, I mean, she has amazing poise, amazing mental ability, and just a great sense of court. So, if she keeps going at this rate, well she already is unbelievable, so. ....

MONICA SELES: I think I enjoy every -- well, I almost -- I can't say I enjoy every match, but I love the matches that are close because as a player, that is one of the things you work hard for, so when it comes down to close matches, a couple of points will decide it and you love that. That is the excitement. That is the rush that I think a couple of the top athletes in any sport are very lucky that you can experience that in your life, those moments that you cannot reproduce - there is no way. They just happen and the whole crowd is there. That is like when I played Jennifer in '91 or when I played Steffi last year, those are the moments, I think that will stay with me forever, and that I will look back very fondly on.

MONICA SELES: Oh, definitely. I think even before the match started, there is, you know, a lot of happiness. A lot of nervousness. A lot of different things going on in your mind, but I think once you step out on the court, you just try to focus on the ball pretty much and doing the best that you can be. That is all you can ask of yourself really.

MONICA SELES: I leave that for my coach to do that. I think that is his job, and, you know, I don't like to think about it until I do know who I play. Once I know who I will play, I will try to focus on that person and then I will hear what my coach has to say and if I played them previously, I will try to remember and then go from there on. I think for me, it is really important that I play my game and that is the only game that I know to play.

MONICA SELES: A lot of people say she has a great sense of the court like Chrisy had and she just feels she almost like hits the ball here, hits the ball there. It is very hard to read it and she can wait until the last minute, and she can hit it hard, but then she can just hit the soft. She has such a great feel of the ball and of the court. I have never seen any player, let alone for a 15 year old, to have that. And I don't know, I think parts of it you are born with probably and parts of it is she worked very hard to have that and parts of it is just your style of game, so, I think that is just -- that is unbelievable.

MONICA SELES: Well, I pretty much just going to practice, be with my friends like I have been the last few weeks, and play my match Sunday, go home, have a few days off then go onto Tokyo, so.... Pretty boring.

(audience laughter).

MONICA SELES: No, you have got to focus on tennis. The next couple of weeks are really important, I think, especially, I mean, I would love to do well, but of course

Fed Cup, you know, there is going to be tremendous pressure and I just want to be fresh and I don't want to be tired and the Open has been two weeks. It has been long and, you know, just mentally, I want to clear a lot of things after Fed Cup, so, I have some weight lifted off my shoulders that I can just know where I stand with myself when I wake up in the morning and just go on from there and really think about 1997.

MONICA SELES: I think definitely I was today pushing a lot of balls back. I had a very difficult time with the wind because I felt it was just swirling and she would sometimes have this slice that would have some weird stuff on it and sometimes she would give me a clean slice. She was hitting it long and short and I had a very hard time getting my timing. I tried to come in a few times. I think whenever I came in I was pretty successful, and I kept telling myself to do it more often or be more aggressive, and as soon as I tried doing that I was okay, but there were a lot of points that I stopped doing that and I got into trouble.

MONICA SELES: I really treat them all equal and I love them all equal. I love to play in Grand Slams, that is why this year has been a little bit tougher at the French and Wimbledon because I always enjoy playing in them and I had a lot of doubt if I made the right decisions a few times and that I promise myself I will never have again, but I like each of them. I mean, each has its big pluses an each has its own minuses, so... But I love the two-week format.

MONICA SELES: No, I did not. My dad watched it and told me it was an unbelievable match.