WIMBLEDON

June 28, 2001

Kim Clijsters

KIM CLIJSTERS: I played good enough to beat this girl. I didn't play my best tennis, but I played good enough to beat this girl easily. Still I was pretty happy with the way I served today. After my first singles match, I went and hit a few more serves, practised my second serve, and today that was well. So it was a good point, yep.

KIM CLIJSTERS: You have to ask those. I don't know.

KIM CLIJSTERS: No, no, nothing different, no.

KIM CLIJSTERS: They know my game better and they know the way I play and they know what I'm like personally as well. I remember when I came here two years ago, no one knew who I was and no one knew the way I played. And they all know. So that's the only thing that has changed I think.

KIM CLIJSTERS: Well, no, I was doing the same things then that I'm doing now. I was preparing the same way for a tennis match as I'm doing now. Of course now I play some bigger courts, I play on like show courts. That's the only difference. I'm still the same as I was four or five years ago, yeah.

KIM CLIJSTERS: Well, I really like coming back here. I'm always looking forward to coming, and had that since I played the final of the Juniors here. I really enjoyed it. I liked the atmosphere here, although it rains sometimes. But I like it here. And it's still close to Belgium, a lot of friends can come. My family can come. I love the atmosphere at Wimbledon. It's probably one of the nicest Grand Slams for me, I would say.

KIM CLIJSTERS: That's what she just asked.

KIM CLIJSTERS: No, no. I think all of the top players, they respect everyone. I think that's what makes them top players. I mean, of course like I've got respect for everyone and we all have respect for everyone. So there's not really anyone that we don't like or that we don't have any respect for.

KIM CLIJSTERS: Well, I think I showed that I can play good tennis. But I think that I have to be a little bit more consistent. But I've got a game that is very aggressive. That means I'll make more errors than Aranxta Sanchez because she'll be on a practise court making ten errors in those four hours - that's probably not even good for her, ten errors in those four hours. I'm the type of player that will try to finish off the ball quickly, even though sometimes it's not on the right ball or the right point. Yeah, that's probably the difference between players like me. Like Jelena Dokic is the same, like Bovina, like Krasnoroutskaya, those girls.

KIM CLIJSTERS: Yeah, you get -- you have to. Like in the tennis, you have to be a little bit selfish towards yourself. I mean, you can only look after yourself. Yeah, I mean, I've grown up quicker as a 16- or a 17-year-old girl, I think. I've seen the whole world. I've travelled. So those are things that I've learned quicker than other 17-year-olds.

KIM CLIJSTERS: Well, I don't know. I didn't even see anything of the match, so I don't know if he's playing well or if Lleyton is playing bad. Or is Dent playing unbelievable? I don't know. But I don't know what I would say to him. I don't know. Just "Keep trying," probably. But I saw Dent hit like a 147 miles-per-hour serve or something, so that's ... Lleyton is a good returner, but that's like probably a little bit too fast for him.

KIM CLIJSTERS: Yeah, that's what I heard. I heard like in a few clubs they had like four or 5,000 more people like writing -- like coming into a club, becoming members of a club. So that's good. I mean, I really like that. That means that they've enjoyed it. And, yeah, maybe they're gonna try it as well. Yeah. That's what I like, yep.