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U.S. OPEN


September 4, 1995


Brenda Schultz-McCarthy


NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK

TRACEY ROBINSON: Brenda Schultz-McCarthy is the first Dutch woman to make the U.S. Open quarterfinal since Betty Stove in '77.

Q. Brenda, how unusual is it for you to win a match in which you had 16 doublefaults and 62 unforced errors? What was the difference?

BRENDA SCHULTZ-McCARTHY: I think besides the doublefault, I put a lot of -- I hit my second way to hard, let's put it that way, because I had the feeling that I wouldn't -- when I wouldn't hit a good second serve, she would return right on my feet and, you know, I guess I didn't have much confidence in my rallies and I had the feeling I had to come in every time, and I guess that is why in the second serve I wanted to do a little bit too much and I think most of the points that I did put it in, I would win a lot, either my first or my second, I would win points, but I wouldn't play a doublefault. But, yeah, I was overhitting it a little and then in the third set, that was the whole difference because I felt more comfortable in the rally. I felt like she had a lot of troubles with the high topspin, mixing it up with the slice and then I put less pressure on my serve because I was just like, okay, if I put it in, I am fine with her to rally. That high topspin was really working, since she starts with her shots really low. When it was up here, (indicating over her head) she wanted to put it down and she put it in the net a lot and that saved me.

Q. Are you saying -- people think of you as the big server, as your major weapon. Is there more to Brenda Schultz?

BRENDA SCHULTZ-McCARTHY: Today there was much more, yeah. Today I broke her twice in the third set. That means if you break somebody twice, that there is no serve involved. I definitely had a good gameplan in the third set going -- it was in the end of the second set, I'd actually broke her at Love. I felt really comfortable. Then I lost my serve on Love because my serve was kind of letting me down in the second. I was okay in the third set. If I'd keep my serve up and I can play those rallies like that and I can break her, then, you know, she must be tired. She played two or three, three-set matches. I played two, but, you know, I just knew that I had to hang in there and that really long game in that third set, I think was in the beginning of the third set, it was like going to 1-All or something. She had a lot of chances and she didn't, you know, convert any of those. And then I broke her right away to 2-1 and, you know, those games are just changing the whole thing. I was going for my shots more and especially if you are up a break, it is easier to go for them more because you know that -- you know you have already that break in the third set and, you know, she has to come out with the winners, so I think I played a very good game to get to 4-1 and I start guessing a little bit right with the passing shots. In the beginning, she was passing me left and right and then at the end I was just going for a corner and I guessed right a couple of times and I got the volley back. I had to play really good tennis, and I did in the third set. I played -- I mixed it up. I hit high topspin. I would slice it low and come in at the right times and I guess in the first and second I was kind of mixing it all up, but it wasn't the real steady game that I played in the third.

Q. Have you gotten to a point in your career where you can have a gameplan, like you did today and stay with it even though it is not working all the time? A lot of players will get out of their gameplan if they lose a couple of points, you sort of stayed with yours today.

BRENDA SCHULTZ-McCARTHY: In the first set, I thought she would have troubles with the chip and charge, when I would come in and I kind of stayed with it too long. I thought that slice, she would have trouble with, the low slice, but she was handling all those low balls really well. I really had to slice it like six times really low before she would miss it. Then in the third set, okay, I didn't stick with that gameplan because it wasn't working, but then in the third set, that other gameplan was definitely working, the high topspin. She really had troubles with those. She is not -- not that tall, so, you know, she had to take it on the rise, but she didn't really -- she let it bounce up and, you know, you have to stick with the winning gameplan actually. If you lose two points, that is okay, but if you lose two games, three games and you lose the second set like 6-3, how I did, you know, I knew I had to change something there and I just hang in there. I have been hanging in there the whole U.S. Open. I mean, I have never came that far. Always had some tough matches and, you know, just the first time they are going my way and maybe something has to do that I have been playing well. I came quarters in Wimbledon, so maybe the girls have a little bit more respect for me than they had before. Before they thought maybe, oh, Brenda, she can crack and now it is like, shoot, she is hanging in there and you don't get the freebies anymore. You have to work for every point and I think that makes a lot of difference.

Q. Did you crack in the past, I mean, Date says in her interview that maybe the big difference between you now than maybe a year ago, whatever it is, that you are stronger mentally or are a steadier player. Do you think would you have cracked in the past in this kind of match and now you are hanging in there as you say.

BRENDA SCHULTZ-McCARTHY: Yeah, I might not have found that -- the high topspin -- it is tough. I had a lot of close matches in the past, a lot of 6-4 in the third, 7-5 in the third. I think also the difference is that right now I am 14 in the world and I am not that player who is 30. People go on the court to me now with a different attitude. They go, oh, Brenda, I mean, she is winning those three set matches lately. It is just -- it is a change on both ways. It is in my head and I have been winning those matches and she knows it too. And I have played match against Mary Joe and, you know, they just -- they would tell coaches, oh, I knew she was going to hit that doublefault at that moment and stuff, you know, and I just kept fighting and I think the whole tennis, the whole thing is just to hang in there; don't get discouraged when you lose. One year I lost 13 first rounds in a row. I was ready to say, come on, you know, what is this. And you just keep on going, keep on practicing on the things that -- you try to learn from every match. If you learn every time something, then there is going to be one stage that it is all going to come out and you put it together and, you know, right now, at the right times I have been able to put it together.

Q. I missed -- when did you lose all the first round matches? How many was it?

BRENDA SCHULTZ-McCARTHY: That was in 1989, I switched from the, you know, from Stan Franker who was the Federation coach and Davis Cup coach. He travelled with the girls that time from Holland and he is a real good coach. I believed in him a lot and I switched to another coach from America and he was just not the same and a lot of girls go through that. They play with the Federation; then suddenly they have to switch; they have to pay for their own coach. It is more pressure. I used to win a lot of three-set matches when I was a kid and people always say, oh, Brenda, she is dangerous when it comes to three sets; she can pull it out. And the minute I had to, you know, all the pressure was on me, you play the second tier on the Tour, you know you have to win those two matches. You have to defend your points, you have to -- what I said, you have to have your own coach. All the pressure is on you, suddenly, and a lot of girls go through the same thing. They start losing a couple of those tight matches and it is just tough. It is -- suddenly you realize that, hey, it is not the end of the world if you lose a match. I think you start looking a little bit different and, you know, it is no big deal if you lose sometimes.

Q. Your husband is not a professional tennis player, but does he have a philosophy or life or athletics that he passes on to you that you are using?

BRENDA SCHULTZ-McCARTHY: He is very optimistic person. He is very -- very, I don't know, how to say it. He believes in me a lot. Let us put it that way. He is always -- he just says when I am on the court he says, hey, I am very proud of you if you win this match, good luck, and we talk a lot about other stuff, like in life, just not too much about tennis because he doesn't know too much about tennis which I am happy for because you talk about tennis with your coach and not with your husband, I think, and we would talk about different -- what he was doing. He was a stockbroker and, you know, we just -- different things in life, I mean, past months a lot has happened and he has helped me out in a good way.

Q. Put some consistency to have somebody there everyday for you?

BRENDA SCHULTZ-McCARTHY: It is nice. It is nice to -- like the other day, I played first match like this and we just we went to South Street Seaport; just walked around and it is nice to have somebody there and not that you are always alone in your hotel room. Now there is somebody there you can talk to and somebody who means good and it is not there because you are winning or losing. He is always going to be there. And that is very good for me to know.

Q. Have you been -- we have been informed and perhaps you are, that you are the first Dutch woman to reach the quarterfinals of the U.S. Open in 18 years. Since Betty Stove. Any reaction to that?

BRENDA SCHULTZ-McCARTHY: I don't know. I guess the Dutch people are not too good in the U.S. Open. I haven't done myself lately -- this is the first year I do well here and I have been in a lot of fourth round like a lot of times. I came to the round of 16 in all the other Grand Slams; never made it here and now I come through to the quarters, it is great. Betty was actually watching my match and when I would walk up to that corner she would say, "stay calm and fight." It is great to hear that from somebody who was there because sometimes your coach is sitting all the way there and, you know, you don't have much support from them because it is such a big court and Betty was sitting right there in the corner; she is like, "come on, fight, stay calm and fight," you know, it is good. I think, you know, she was once in three finals, I think, in Wimbledon and right now still in three events, and it is almost like you have a role model and she did it before. She came in three finals. I don't think she won one, but too bad, but I think it is a real effort to get to three finals and I know that now because my body is kind of tired and I am only in the quarters, so, you know, I think it is great to be the first Dutch woman to reach the quarters, but I think Team Tennis helped me a lot. I played three weeks -- four weeks of Team Tennis, and with all the crowd and it is music going on. People are shouting in between points and, you know, the U.S. Open is a different Grand Slam as all the other ones. It is much more noisy. The crowd is talking more, and they are much more involved than in England or in Paris. They know when to be quiet. They know when to clap and the American crowd is just like it is a basketball and a baseball and a football crowd. It is like, yea, they really get into it. I guess after the Team Tennis, I understood that that is the way the people are here, and I was more ready for it than I had ever been. I think it was a good move to play that. I was real tired afterwards, but...

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