U.S. OPEN

August 28, 1995

Monica Seles

MONICA SELES: Oh, very much. I think the whole match. I was very nervous. She just tried to slow me down so much, and my adrenaline was going so fast that it just, like, it was, like, I had so much energy in me and, then she just slowed down almost every point. But I just told myself just concentrate, concentrate, concentrate. It was a very quiet match.

MONICA SELES: I don't think, I mean, today is very different obviously because it is the first time you are going out there to play at the Open. I mean, there is so much excitement, so much nervousness, not just walk out to the stadium, with you the whole day, really thinking about the match, and never having -- never really seeing her play or at all, so I was just real nervous that I was going to play the Open really tonight. I mean, wow, but gamewise, I don't know, I mean, I was -- I went out there today just trying to focus on the ball and I wasn't focusing on the ball. I was hitting them as they were coming. I was missing them as they were coming. I had no plans, so...

MONICA SELES: I know Erika DeLone, I know, I think actually I played her one time and she is a very good backcourt player. So we will have a lot of long rallies.

MONICA SELES: It is great. It is very nice, and there is so much energy in there, and it is just really sweet. And the kids and -- they are -- there is one girl behind on that side, that like four times during the games she told me "Go for it, Monica," and I was like, okay, and she -- when you get that from a little girl - she might have been seven, eight years old - that is what makes your day. That is like, wow, okay. I said, "Well go for it, Monica" you are just pushing them back, you were standing two feet behind the baseline, but I wasn't conscious, really out there today. I just went out and hit one or two great serves, then I hit one or two bad serves. That was the same thing with my groundstrokes. I would hit a winner that was going so fast, and then I would just push something back, so -- but it is just great to play.

MONICA SELES: I just said, "Here we go again." I was just so nervous and it was pretty windy out there today and I haven't played in windy conditions for quite some time, and also what made it even harder that I never seen Dragomir play. I didn't know what to expect. I said I am going to try and test out her game in the beginning. But hopefully, luckily, I think it went well. That is the most important part.

MONICA SELES: Not at all this time, no. I just went with today's match, I pretty much, I mean, the whole day -- I slept about, oh, I came out here very early this morning and then I just went to sleep for about four and a half hours. I woke up like at 4:00 something, and I had maybe like an hour to get ready before the car came to pick me up. So and I just went out there today just to play, and it was just great to be playing, no plan, or nothing, and just I was just like --

MONICA SELES: 7, I think, 7:15, something like that.

MONICA SELES: Not 'til 8, around 8 something. But I think around 8:30, it was more and more people coming.

MONICA SELES: I love to practice in the morning because it is so quiet and early on, although, at home I practice a little bit later, 7:30, but I just like it because it is very quiet and I can just focus.

MONICA SELES: Yes.

MONICA SELES: I took a nap probably the time finished my stretching and my therapy, probably about 10, so, like from 11 'til about 4, I just went to sleep. I wanted to go walk the city a little bit, but none of those things happened. It is the same thing after Martina's match, the amount that I slept, but it was just such a relief to get the Martina match out. I am sure this one was such a relief also just go on and think about the next match now.

MONICA SELES: I love my one-handed forehand. A lot of times when I play with different people they think that, oh, you know, you are just not wanting to run and you are kidding, but I love to hit that forehand. I think I can hit it pretty well, if I don't get too nervous and don't get too anxious that I want to hit a great shot, but as a two-hander I need that because there is -- so much harder for me to cover the court if somebody is hitting wide, so I need that one-hander on my forehand and my one-handed slice on my backhand.

MONICA SELES: About the game? Wow...

MONICA SELES: About myself, I think, to make the most of everyday and to do kind of what you want to do everyday, that is the one thing that -- and I try to do that. And try to have fun out there more because I think when I was playing before I was very competitive and very focused and I am trying to have more fun out there. I think I was able to do that later on in Canada. Tonight I was having fun, but I don't think -- my face was so serious, I did this to my face, I said, relax, Monica, your face, you are so tight. I was like everything -- my muscles were just like so tight, but that is normal, I think. As the matches go on, I will be more relaxed.

MONICA SELES: I think after this tournament because -- well, Atlantic City was very exciting because it was the first tournament. Canada was the first tournament and this one is extra special because it is a Grand Slam and I always love playing in Grand Slams so, so hopefully after this one, everything will go back to the usual first round routine stuff.

MONICA SELES: My main thing was after Canada really didn't have too much time to think. Because I was like very happy about that one, but not really. I didn't think one way or the other, but my main thing was I told myself that Monica, you have to find a balance where you are going to have fun and enjoy it, but also where you have to go out there and play a great match because -- and from what I heard from my dad and everybody that she is a good backcourt player; you are going to have a lot of long rallies. I knew that I have to be out there. Because it is a match you have to play well. It is not like I don't know sometimes when you just go out there you wave, that is different. You don't have to do anything after the wave. But here you have to play. So it is a little different.

MONICA SELES: I think I was very nervous from all the first matches that I played Atlantic City, Canada, I think I was the most nervous here. I think a little bit -- I was just nervous. I was so stiff. My God, I was just so stiff.

MONICA SELES: I think both. I think it is going to be a test for my game and stamina. As I said, I really decided I am going to come back very -- after Lipton -- I have been back and forth with different injuries. I couldn't get physically ready as I would like to be. I think I will see that. But I think him right now, I am just very happy to be playing. For a long time, I mean, I dreamt of this, but I didn't envision it. So just that, for me, right now is the main thing. Hopefully, now it is just do your best, and early next year it is going to be more going back to that really competitiveness and trying to get back the routine that I had before this all happened.

MONICA SELES: No. Because -- well, always expectations are always high on me even in the juniors and all my life. I just learned something, early on, that I just have to live up to my own expectations; not my father's; not anybody's or . . . And that is the same thing I am going in with, but I think Canada because when I played Canada there were no expectations and after I did so well in Canada, everybody is, like, wow, she is going to do so well, but Canada was very different, and this is the U.S. Open; it is two week tournament and anything can happen, but for me it is just great to be playing. I personally have no expectations of myself as usual. I am just thinking of my next match.

MONICA SELES: I don't know. I believe in that as they come you have to accept it and think as that is the best. I think winning Canada, I have to look, that was great. It brought me because I had a little bit of -- well, actually, a lot of match play; maybe not a few close matches, but I played against Anke a close one. It brought me getting used to the crowds to everything again, to the time changes, the five minute warmups, but and I was very -- It was a huge surprise to me. I was like, wow, and I just didn't think I would play so well. For me, I was very surprised after Sunday that the whole week went so well and everything about it was just going grand. I felt very comfortable going into the matches and playing, and, but I told myself, this is different, and that is the thing that I am just going to keep continuing.

MONICA SELES: Last year the Open I did not watch, no.

MONICA SELES: Yes. I think the closest I was at the time was really Huber and maybe Martina - when I played Martina the first set. My thing is it is going to come, definitely. At this tournament I just think to play point by point as I used to do and not think ahead. And probably one of the best matches I have played here in terms of closeness was when I played Jennifer in '91 and that was the same thing, I just went out and took it point by point. That is the same thing I am going to keep continue going because it has worked in the past and whatever happens, happens.

MONICA SELES: It is just great, you see these kids. They are so nice. I mean, a lot of times I look back when I growing up in Yugoslavia, I would go to tournaments and to this day in my parents's house, I have an autograph of Bjorn Borg enclosed in glass, and hopefully maybe one kid will do that with mine. But it is just great -- they are so nice. I could -- if could I stay out there; sign them all, I would always do and I have always done that in the past also, so I am going to keep continuing doing that.

MONICA SELES: I think that will be seen. Right now, I think I am just trying to take each match individually. And try not to think that I haven't played any matches, or I haven't competed for a long time and just go with the excitement of actually playing again and competing. That is my philosophy.

MONICA SELES: For me, the weirdest one was Friday; Friday or Saturday, I am not sure, when I shot a commercial in Forest Hills and I never been there, been to nice to go back to the place where you heard so much about, but you never played in and usually doing a commercial you have a long time shooting; it -- you have a long time to sit. I was sitting in the stands and I had this feeling that I played here before, just so weird, but it was also another point very hard to see something that had so much -- 20 years ago be so let go. I thought well, time goes by very quickly, I guess, and I am sure maybe this will be like that also, then the same evening I came out to practice here, and I was walking to the stadium. I was like, wow, I am -- the first five minutes everything was new. Looking way up, I didn't remember that it was so high up and after hitting for about five, ten minutes, then everything just started coming back; all the memories of where my father and my mom sat during the tournaments; where you held the trophy; couple of passing shots against Martina and one or two shots against Capriati in 1991, all started coming back.

MONICA SELES: I have to -- one second. Three places I might have been. I might have been in Reno, Nevada or Sarasota and I might have been with my dad in Italy because he was getting some cartoon award something that he did. I think during the two weeks I was almost in everyplace. I started out, I think, in Italy; then I came home to Sarasota;

then I went to Reno.

MONICA SELES: Now? Now I am having fun,; then, I didn't. That is why it is so great. That is why I said it is just so exciting to be playing. It is so simple for me. The simpler I keep it, the better it is. And it is all about just playing great tennis; that is why I am here; that is what I love to do; that is a why I started this whole thing. I played -- as long as I love to play and every time I step on court be it a match or practice court, I love it. That is what matters. I think if you work hard, the rest of it all comes.

MONICA SELES: No, I don't think so. I think after I became No. 1 like very early on, I think it was very hard because suddenly there were so much pressure I felt that every time I would have to get to the finals or defend every point, each time you go into a tournament it is like, oh, if you don't win the tournament, you come out like a loser, I said, wow, you can't expect to win every tournament, but then in 1993 Australian Open, I felt that was one of my best Grand Slams, and on and off the court, I kind of said, well, okay, you are No. 1, that is great. But, you know, you don't have to feel that much of a pressure. It doesn't matter. And that is why it was so hard for me after Hamburg because I felt I finally found the balance and then from one day going to practice and think about tennis, you are totally different reality so....

MONICA SELES: Time will tell that. I am not sure what I am going to play after the Open. Right now for me him just concentrating on the Open. Thank you.