THE LIPTON CHAMPIONSHIPS

March 15, 1994

Brenda Schultz-McCarthy

Q. First time you have ever beaten her. What was different this time?

BRENDA SCHULTZ: I think the difference this time was that I believed I could do it. I played her a lot of times, but I always had my doubts, and we are very good friends and I was always, I don't know, this time, I wrote down last night ten times, okay I am going to beat her I am better, I am better, and I did it. And I think if I wouldn't have believed it that much, I would never have won the tiebreaker 6-1 down.

Q. You must have started to doubt yourself, though, a little bit after the first set?

BRENDA SCHULTZ: Not really. I lost the first set. I knew exactly what I did wrong and it was just -- it wasn't that I was playing her wrong, but I was just missing the setups. I was serving to her forehand coming in at the right time, but I was just like, balls right up at the net and I would play the volley out or something, so I was don't think, you know, she is beating you, it is just that, you know, you have very good chance in the second set if you keep playing the same thing. It was very good that I kept with her. I could hold my serve and I kept pressing her, and it was just -- she had to win every point to -- she had to play well.

Q. Brenda, do you say you wrote it down?

BRENDA SCHULTZ: I did.

Q. On a piece of paper?

BRENDA SCHULTZ: Yeah, Juan Nunez told me once like because I have a lot of troubles with confident and I don't believe that I could be top 10 or a lot of things that people telling me, I say, yes, yes, and right now, I really believed it. I was like, I am good, I am better. Made me feel really good about myself this last months. I have been working really hard these last three months. It has been paying off. I am working with Richard Ben fin. He is a very good guy. I practiced with him the whole month of January. We did a lot of physical. I think that was also one of the reasons I could hang in there with her because she brings a lot of balls back and we had a lot of rallies going. I felt physical really in shape. I was like, you are not going to tire me out or anything. If you want to stay here for four hours, I will be here. So I had a lot of confidence, and I always had some troubles in the past year with the coaches. I know it is hard to understand for a lot of people what actually a coach does and what it means to have a coach with you. I had a hard time understanding it myself, actually. And I guess a lot of girls have a hard time because a lot of girls are switching coaches a lot and, you know, alone, it is one thing alone you can't do it on this tour. It is very hard work. Especially me, I need somebody to motivate me, and as long as somebody said, do this, do this, do that, I will do anything somebody telling me, but I have a hard time doing it myself. I think it is very important to have a coach, but the technical part, it is sometimes hard to work on the technical part on the tour. So there are some coaches, they want to change something with you and you are nervous and it doesn't work, so you decide to take another coach, but that doesn't necessarily mean that that coach is bad. It is very hard to work on your game when you are on the tour. I was working with Juan Nunez for like three years. I started to-- I said to him, okay, I come to you whenever I feel a need to work on a shot. I did and we have been working on my forehand quite a bit now. When I am on the tour I just don't think about it. I just hit it. It has been going very well. Richard has been working on the physical part and Juan on the technical part. That is exactly what I happened. It took me six years to figure that out. I am very happy and gosh, this win means really a lot to me. I hope I can do it all the way. It is about time.

Q. Getting back to where you wrote it down, did you write it on a piece of paper last night?

BRENDA SCHULTZ: Yeah, I wrote it last night. Actually, my boyfriend told me. He is like, why are you writing it down, it is good, and I said, yeah, I wrote it down before and I never believed, even when I wrote it down I didn't believe it.

ARANTXA SANCHEZ VICARIO: Don't lie.

BRENDA SCHULTZ: I am not.

Q. Where is it written, on a pad of paper?

BRENDA SCHULTZ: Actually my diary.

Q. Ten times?

BRENDA SCHULTZ: Ten times. Actually 11. I said to Debbie, I said, I am going to write it one more time just to make sure.

Q. What exactly does it say?

BRENDA SCHULTZ: It says, I am better, I am better than Arantxa. Where is she? She is going to kill me.

Q. I am better than Arantxa 11 times?

BRENDA SCHULTZ: I think part of the thing is why Arantxa is so good and why she has a tendency to get the chance to get No. 1, maybe because after every match she goes like that, and, you know, girls see that, people see that and she has something over us that is, you know, we are like wow, she really believes she can be No. 1 and she is getting there. And I don't know if she has a lot of talent like a lot of other girls have, but she is just the biggest fighter, and I had it in my head because I knew in this match, I had to fight harder than she had. And it is tough, believe me because it is in your head. It is like, she can come back any time. So I was just -- I was, you know, I am still maybe a little bit I can't believe that I finally did it. It is great. I am going to keep writing every everything down now.

Q. Brenda, would this be the most dramatic comeback you have made in a match?

BRENDA SCHULTZ: I have been down 6-Love, 5-Love in one match and still won it. But I think against Arantxa who is, you know, the biggest comebacker of the whole tour herself, you know, to be 6-1 down in the tiebreaker, I think it is a shock for her too, because I mean, after that, you know, it is like it is so hared because she knows she needs only one more point and then the match keeps getting close and she is like, gosh, I could have finished already, like an hour ago, and I am still on the court. So it is mentally very tough for her. For me, it is like, hey, I won seven points in a row, so how did I do that? Just keep trying to do the same thing, so for me, I was up in confidence and something broke in her probably, that is why I probably was able to beat her in the third set, because normally she is very strong in the third sets. I think now I kind of got her in the corner, that is very unusual for her.

Q. On her second matchpoint in that tiebreaker you kind of caught a hit, a passing shot that was kind of high, you caught it with your back to the net and you hit --

BRENDA SCHULTZ: I hit a backhand overhead.

Q. It went straight across landed right.

BRENDA SCHULTZ: Thank you, God.

Q. Was that a point where you said, all right, I believe my game is actually working for me here because you have been netting a lot of volleys to get though that point.

BRENDA SCHULTZ: I am kind of unlucky on the net game. I have been working on it a lot the whole months, practice on serve and volley and still I am hanging on the baseline. I think it is just so hard. I really have to go in, but then again, I am pretty good on the baseline, so I get away with it a lot. When I am on the net, sometimes I don't really finish the volley. I push it back and then they pass me in the next shot. So, I don't know, I think it got to be my game in the future to come in more, but right now, I feel really confident from the baseline still, so.

Q. Brenda, is your memory good enough that you can remember all six points of the tiebreaker?

BRENDA SCHULTZ: No, I was zoning. Because somebody told me I remember that backhand. Actually, that was pretty lucky.

Q. Can you recreate the set point, 8-6?

BRENDA SCHULTZ: No. I just -- no, I normally can -- I am normally really good at remembering points. I think that tiebreaker just went by me. Only thing I thought about is you have to hit it harder than she does. You can't stay in that rhythm of hitting moon balls, because I broke her back and at 6-5 with moon balls, I would say I call them moon balls, the high topspin, and suddenly she got in a groove, she didn't make the mistakes anymore. That is how I got 6-1 down because she wouldn't make the mistake on the easy shots, so knew I had to do a little bit more. So I took a lot of risk. At that 6-1 I hit my backhands, I just hit my forehands, I really went for it. And it went in. You know, I think that is my game, but sometimes it doesn't go in.

Q. You said that you guys are pretty good friends, how long have you known each other on the tour, and do you do things outside together, eat dinner together?

BRENDA SCHULTZ: We were been friends for a while. Like when I was 14, so like ten years I would say, and we haven't -- we had a year that we did a lot of -- we went dinner together after she won Paris. We were pretty close. And it was awhile because she is a lot with her mom and her mom doesn't speak English, so sometimes I have the feeling I wanted to learn Spanish for a while, but I am sitting there and all the friends from Arantxa are Spanish, so it was kind of hard for me to understand the conversation. So -- but we played Hamburg Cup together, we went out together. She is very nice. If you are top 10 or if you are No. 2 in the world, you don't have much privacy. You don't have much time to have a boyfriend or whatever, so, you know, it is hard for her. It is a lot of sacrifice. It is tough.

Q. You sound like you kind of hold her in esteem as someone you want to play like, you were talking about how she held her finger up after every match. Have you sort of modeled yourself mentally after her trying to be --

BRENDA SCHULTZ: I have a hard time doing such things. Because I am kind of keeping a low profile, you know, I am kind of easygoing, and when people say you are good, or whatever, I am always like, I am all right, I am doing my best that is all I can. I kind of admire Arantxa how she is so confident from herself. She is always, I am the best, I am good, and, you know, nobody is going to beat me. That is why nobody is beating her, but I admire that from her. I am totally a different person. I admire that she can really say that and she does it. She is just the biggest fighter. I really -- I definitely want to be the same fighter that she is. That I have it in me, but sometimes it is tough to come out every time like Steffi, every time beating everybody and just everyday, you know, it is very tough. I think I would -- I really admire those two players a lot.

Q. Do you think for a long time your reputation -- for a long time your reputation on the tour was tall, great serve, but if you can just get it back, no problem you can beat her?

BRENDA SCHULTZ: Yeah, my reputation were a lot of things. My reputation.

Q. Maybe not so hardworking?

BRENDA SCHULTZ: No, that was never the case. I was working my -- I was working actually especially the three years, I was running, practicing six hours a day, I mean a lot I was always too nice. Everybody was like, Brenda, she is too nice for this tour. Seems like she doesn't want to and I have been trying to change that because I am a nice person, but I think you can be nice off the court and on the court. You just come in. It is business. It is not like, I mean, people don't want to see a nice person on the court. They want to be seeing good tennis and I think I finally start realizing that I have to just focus and do my thing on the court. And off the court I can be nice and be myself. On the court it is just, it is just work.

Q. Do you feel nice on the court, or when you go out there do you feel a little bit mean?

BRENDA SCHULTZ: Against Arantxa I was like, maybe, sorry, or even today, sometimes I was laughing. I shouldn't. I like to -- I like to be spontaneous. Sometimes I like to kind of joke around and this game is being so mentally tough and you have to concentrate so much, that is why a lot of people like Jim Loehr in the business says, look at your strings and focus and do all these things. I am kind of like I, want to joke around and have fun with the public. You can't, it is too hard.

Q. What would you rather do, would you rather go out there and have fun to relieve pressure off yourself, or do you want to go out there and say fight, fight, fight?

BRENDA SCHULTZ: I got to the point now that I want to fight, fight, fight, and maybe at some points like, you know, when she kissed the net or whatever, I knew she was going to do that because I have played her so many times, she always does it. I said, no, don't kiss the net. Do it. She did it. It releases some pressure probably, but I just -- I think sometimes for tennis the crowd, I mean it is nice to watch tennis, but when I was young, I always loved to watch Ilie Nastase or Connors, they really made it a show on the court. I think right now that is kind of missing. I want to change that, but it is going to be very hard. At first I have to win to people are going to say, yeah, there is a different way to approach the situation, but when you lose, they are going to say, no, you have to concentrate. That is the only way. So I really miss those persons. I mean, I had so much fun in Paris just watching them, Ilie, that is, that is play Tom Okker and they were just having a blast out there. And when I was watching yesterday, I was watching Becker against Agassi, and Becker gave the racket to the ballgirl. He was just like having a blast. I was like, wow, this is how it should, be and the whole crowd was enjoying it. And I know Agassi missed like two serves, he was totally out of it, but I was like, yeah, this is how -- this is tennis.

Q. Do you think the women's tour needs that?

BRENDA SCHULTZ: Definitely. They need somebody like that. And I don't want to be -- it is like, me, I just, you know, it is the men's tour also losing it a little bit. Because the simple reason to play your best you have to focus, you have to concentrate, and like a person like Chang or a person like Sampras, they are so focused and so mentally tough, that they don't have time to joke around, or it is just the game has become too good to lose one point it can -- the match can be hanging off one point, and that is why everybody is so focused, and it is going to be tough. You are going to see a lot of good matches, good tennis matches. I don't know if it is going to be that much fun as it was in the earlier years.

Q. Have you ever done anything outrageous on the court or even kissing the net or anything similar to that?

BRENDA SCHULTZ: Kissing the net? No, I didn't. No, I have been --

Q. Not yet.

BRENDA SCHULTZ: I have done a lot of crazy things, that is for sure. But I have never kissed the net yet. But I really -- I think Arantxa is one of the most fun necessary players to watch and you know, she really -- when I watch somebody play and I like to have excitement, I love to watch Becker, Connors, Agassi, I mean, they are really keeping the game going and in the women's tennis probably Sabatini and Arantxa I really enjoy watching. It is because they just fight and they make it fun sometimes.

Q. This has been a big week for Dutch, players like Siemerink. Are the women and men from Holland, are they close on the tour?

BRENDA SCHULTZ: Yeah, very close. We always watch each other's matches. You know, it is-- I think Krajicek helped it a lot, Richard. Richard really, I mean, I remember when I was the first player, kind of came up and I was like ranked 30 and there was-- after me the next player was like ranked 90, the men, they were all out of the top 11, maybe Koevermans and Haarhuis who sometimes did something special but not really and suddenly, Haarhuis beat McEnroe in the U.S. Open and there were some other girls who beat me sometimes and they really thought, hey, it is possible; there is some-- it is really possible to do well on the tour. Now we have so many Dutch players, it is so much fun. At this tournament I think there are like 15 Dutch players, and Haarhuis, Siemerink, all got to the quarters. Siemerink is playing, but I know Haarhuis just lost, but it is too bad that Richard Krajicek is injured with his knee right now, and I hope he comes back quick because it was our dream to win Wimbledon together. We were like-- we both have the fastest serve on the tour; he in the men's and I on the women's. He was like, you know, we are going to win a Grand Slam together like Steffi and Boris did and you know, it is far away, but if you keep working hard, I think it is possible.

Q. Do you think your game is at the point right now where you can go to Wimbledon in three or four months and make a serious run at the title?

BRENDA SCHULTZ: Yeah, I really have to keep working on my serve and volley because I still stay a lot on the baseline and the way I played today, I wouldn't -- it will be tough for me on grass to play that way because my grip and my forehand is very western and maybe I even have a better chance in the French than in Wimbledon the way I played today because I was very steady and I was very patient. But Wimbledon you know, it is my -- yeah it is a good tournament for me. I really like to do well. Last year, I did well and I lost to Capriati. It was a very tough match, but I don't think I was really ready yet with my game and this year I am getting closer because I am just working on my serve and volley game a lot and that is going to be the case in Wimbledon.

Q. Brenda, how tall are your mother and father and do they have careers?

BRENDA SCHULTZ: Yeah, my dad is-- my dad loved soccer. He was soccer teacher when he was younger and he is in weather forecasting. Actually he is retired right now. Okay. They are a little bit older than all of you.

Q. How tall is he?

BRENDA SCHULTZ: My dad is my height. Same height.

Q. Your mother?

BRENDA SCHULTZ: My mom is like 5, 10.

Q. Does she have a career?

BRENDA SCHULTZ: She is 71 right now, so she is retired, but she had a good career. She was a nurse and they were not very into tennis at all and it makes it kind of fun, when I call them, they are like, oh, you know, another round and it is tough.

Q. Your mother is 71 you say?

BRENDA SCHULTZ: Yes.

Q. You are what, 25?

BRENDA SCHULTZ: She is going to kill me if I tell you that. Never tell my age, okay, how many people are in here?

Q. You are what, 25 or 26?

BRENDA SCHULTZ: I am 23.

Q. You were born when your mother was 48 years old.

BRENDA SCHULTZ: Yeah. It's a miracle I am here.

Q. Are you going to be calling them tonight?

BRENDA SCHULTZ: I am going to be calling them in ten minutes as soon as this is over.

Q. What do you think they are going to say? What are you going to tell them?

BRENDA SCHULTZ: They are going to be very happy. I called them last night. They said wow, we never heard you be that confident before. They are like if there is a time, it is going to be right now. And I told my dad like two weeks ago I was like I am not sure if I am going to play the Lipton; it is always windy and my serve is kind of you know, everything eagles out in the wind and I can't serve it that fast. He is like, who knows, you can play in the wind and you kind of gain some confidence with it. I said, okay, I am going to go for it. It is so weird how things go. This week has been terrific for me because it is almost no wind and the weather has been great. Facilities been really nice. So it is a great to be here and they are going to be very happy for me.

Q. What is your dad's first name; can you spell it?

BRENDA SCHULTZ: JAN. Very simple.

Q. You are going to watch the match between Novotna and Zvereva?

BRENDA SCHULTZ: Yeah, I am looking at the score. It is 5-All and Natasha is 5-3 up, so -- I don't know who I rather play, I don't know. It is very hard.

Q. You have played both of them?

BRENDA SCHULTZ: I have played Novotna before and I beat her before and I think she is very-- she is beatable and Natasha, kind of like Arantxa, we played each other quite a lot and she always comes out with the good shots at the right time and she also has that fighting spirit and you know, I mean we also are pretty good friends. I think Arantxa and Natasha are my best friends on the whole tour. So I don't know, I hope Natasha wins. It would be great to play each other in the semis.

Q. You rather play a friend instead?

BRENDA SCHULTZ: I hope she wins. It is my friend, so I hope she wins and it is going to be tough to play against each other, but I definitely hope she wins because she is also a great player out there and you know, she is just very talented and very fun to watch too.

Q. Just to clarify the coaching, you are still going to want Nunez for technical things, but you are working with mostly with Benvin?

BRENDA SCHULTZ: Yeah. Rich Benvin he is best guy, very relaxed and everything. He does a lot of things with me. He works physical. He works me mentally. Just doing a lot of things and Nunez is just helping me out technically because I think he is the best coach walking around with technical things. But I just don't need it really on the tour.

Q. When was the last time you felt this truly good about yourself?

BRENDA SCHULTZ: I guess when I beat Capriati in Berlin. That was one of the highlights. Then after I-- in Paris I beat Manuela Maleeva 6-4 in the third, I played a good match; kind of broke my heart that I lost to Mary Joe. That could have been a breakthrough and it just didn't, but I definitely had an opportunity there.

Q. Thank you.

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