WTA TOUR CHAMPIONSHIPS

November 14, 1995

Brenda Schultz-McCarthy

BRENDA SCHULTZ-McCARTHY: I think it was very similar to the match I played against Conchita. I started off like 5-0, I won the set 6-3. I played very similar, very calm. And when I was ready to hit the ball, I hit it. But I didn't overhit many balls. And I felt I was kind of getting the same way. Going the same way, the second set a little -- a couple of times a chance to break and I didn't. But this time I hang in there and I won the tiebreaker. And of course, it's a little easier for me to win my serve points on this service than it is hard court outside, in the rain a little bit, in the sun in the U.S. Open. But I think I played a very similar match, quiet wise and smart wise. I think I played very smart today. I hit a lot of short cross court. Magdalena is very good on the base when you let her run, right at the baseline. But when she has to move in it's a little harder. I tried to bring her in and play the ball short or pass her or hit a hardball, hit a short ball, really mix it up.

BRENDA SCHULTZ-McCARTHY: My dad.

BRENDA SCHULTZ-McCARTHY: No, no. My dad cannot play really good tennis. The only thing he can really do is serve. And since I was a little kid, we would go to the beach and throw balls. And I always liked baseball. And just throwing balls, I love it.

BRENDA SCHULTZ-McCARTHY: Yes.

BRENDA SCHULTZ-McCARTHY: Not too much, but the kids do, like the men do. Not women too much. But I just played with the boys at school, you know.

BRENDA SCHULTZ-McCARTHY: Yes, they had a lot of baseball in Holland for boys and guys. It's like soccer, a lot for boys, for men, but not for women too much.

BRENDA SCHULTZ-McCARTHY: I don't really have a coach. I just have a hitting partner. And every tournament I'm pretty much going to have somebody else. In Australia I'm going to have somebody else. I like it that way. For a long time I had coaches on and off. Best coach I had was Juan Nunez, he helped me out a lot. But sometimes it's pressure on the side. I was able to do exactly what he said, but sometimes on the court I was a little nervous and it didn't quite work out as it did in the practice matches. And I realized when I just have a hitting partner or somebody hits with me, I'm more relaxed in the court, as I can play better. That's what I've been doing the last two years, and it's been going pretty well.

BRENDA SCHULTZ-McCARTHY: Definitely. Most girls they cannot throw a ball very well. So if you get that down, we would do games like who could throw the hardest. I'm not talking about throwing half an hour, two hours a day I was throwing balls, and I loved it. It was one of my favorite things to do. And we would have goals, like it was 40 yards or 50 yards or whatever. And my sister did the same thing. She still cannot throw. It's really, I guess a talent and if you do have it, I think that's the best way to develop it. I mean if you ask most girls to throw a ball, they don't get further than the baseline.

BRENDA SCHULTZ-McCARTHY: Yeah. Now I'm throwing with my husband, footballs, because he played American football. He's like forget the baseball, throw with footballs.

BRENDA SCHULTZ-McCARTHY: It's pretty similar. It's a little different, but it's better for tennis, the football, because baseball is more from here, and the football is more straight. But I guess I have a fast arm.

BRENDA SCHULTZ-McCARTHY: I don't do it correctly.

BRENDA SCHULTZ-McCARTHY: University of Cincinnati Bearcats.

BRENDA SCHULTZ-McCARTHY: He played for one year and then he hurt his back.

BRENDA SCHULTZ-McCARTHY: He was the guard for the -- how do you call it -- the guy who throws the ball, like Dan Moreno.

BRENDA SCHULTZ-McCARTHY: Yeah. He was the guard for the quarterback.

BRENDA SCHULTZ-McCARTHY: He was a big guy.

BRENDA SCHULTZ-McCARTHY: Yes, but I lost the first point of the tiebreaker, and on the other hand it's hard again. Because if you have -- in the games I'm Love-30 down, I can hit a couple of aces and get myself out of it. I can hit a couple of good serves and get back in the game.

BRENDA SCHULTZ-McCARTHY: No, I didn't. Because that's what I was trying to explain. In a game you can get away with some loose points, but in a tiebreaker every point is important. So the pressure comes up and you have to serve well. And for Magdalena it's the same thing, she puts her first serve in and I know I have to play a good first serve. And at the end of the tiebreaker it was obvious my first serve helps, because I hit two aces. And suddenly I break a couple of her points with her serve, and it's 7-4 for me. In the tiebreaker I know every point is important. I don't want to be over confident, because you have to be confident. It was 2-Love down, and I have to pump myself up. Before you know it the tiebreaker is over. And that kind of happened against Conchita, and I played -- I played last week, I lost the first set against Gabby, 6-3, and I second set a tiebreaker and I lost at 7-4. So I was kind of like scared to go into the tiebreaker, I really wanted to finish it up earlier. But unfortunately, I went to the tiebreaker and I played a good one. So that helps for the next match.

BRENDA SCHULTZ-McCARTHY: That's hard. Sometimes that's the problem with my serve. Because I win it easily, but I don't get the -- when it does appear in the game and suddenly it gets tight, I'm not used to playing those points. So sometimes it's better to have a couple of long games and get through that and then, you know, cruise, than just a very easy game. And suddenly she hits a couple of returns in, and every point -- it's like suddenly it's, oh, shoot, it's 30-40, it's breakpoint. And I don't know how that happened. But my serve is in and she gets her racket on it. Sometimes she hits a good return because it's so fast. On the 30-40 point she played a good return at my feet. And I couldn't do anything with it. Then you break back 40-Love right away, also. You kind of letup sometimes when things are going too easy. That's one of the best points of Steffi Graf, she never let's up.

BRENDA SCHULTZ-McCARTHY: The first time? No, I got married in April. And played a lot of tournaments. I played the French, Wimbledon, U.S. Open.

BRENDA SCHULTZ-McCARTHY: Yes.

BRENDA SCHULTZ-McCARTHY: I don't know, because I know how they teach in Holland, but I don't know how they teach in America.

BRENDA SCHULTZ-McCARTHY: Only thing what I think about Europe in particular is that they teach a little bit more variation. It's more like teach your slice, top spin, a drop shot. It's not like America. It's double-handed backhand, flat strokes and very good from the baseline. Because it's a game that's been played, you know, it's easy to play that game. It's harder to play a slice and a top spin. But because it's very competitive at a young age in the states, in Holland everybody goes to school until they're 18 and there's no tennis in school. There's really not much competition.

BRENDA SCHULTZ-McCARTHY: Most of the Europeans who start early like Hingis or Monica, or, they have that type of game that it's pretty much hitting from the baseline. People who are mature, older, they most of the time have more variation in their games, because it takes longer.

BRENDA SCHULTZ-McCARTHY: I think so. I think Stan Franker, the coach of Holland, is a very good coach.

BRENDA SCHULTZ-McCARTHY: Yeah, he helps me out right now. Because I don't have a coach.

BRENDA SCHULTZ-McCARTHY: From Surinam. It's the Dutch Antilles. He went to college at UCLA.

BRENDA SCHULTZ-McCARTHY: Yeah.

BRENDA SCHULTZ-McCARTHY: Yeah.