WIMBLEDON

June 28, 2003

Mary Pierce

THE MODERATOR: Mary Pierce, questions, please.

MARY PIERCE: Hot weather?

MARY PIERCE: I thought you said "hot." Sorry. Yeah. Yeah, it was a battle, definitely. Lisa served really well. She is a tough opponent on grass, and, you know, I just feel I think the difference for me was in the beginning, wasn't really feeling quite settled in yet. The important points, I wasn't winning those. Missing shots by very little, if any. You know, I think the second and the third set, I just tried to stay calm and little more relaxed and have fun instead of taking it too serious and putting pressure on myself and really wanting to win so badly and doing so well. So I just tried to, you know, take that pressure off myself, say, "Mary, just have fun, relax, enjoy the match and try to do your best, but don't worry about winning or losing." I think that made a big difference and I started to play much better.

MARY PIERCE: I look shocked?

MARY PIERCE: No, I was just happy, relieved. Yeah, I think it's a match, for me, that really meant a lot. It was very special in a sense that I just fought really hard and played with my heart and, you know -- because I still feel that, you know, my game is there, I'm playing well. But, you know, I'm still not back to the level of where I want to be. So it's more difficult to go out there and play matches not being in that level where I want to be. So all I really do is just use my mind a lot more, so... And just be mentally tough and fight.

MARY PIERCE: Maybe. I don't know. I mean, I wasn't sure if I was going to come here or not. After Roland Garros, you know, I took some time off to think about things. Started working with Sven and went to Amsterdam, had a lot of discussions, practices, and kind of just took things day by day, really, and decided to come here and play without any expectations, using this as part of the process of me getting back to the level that I want to be at, and, you know, just taking things match by match really.

MARY PIERCE: What I need to add to my game?

MARY PIERCE: Yeah, well, I mean, I think the first thing that's pretty obvious is physically I'm not in the shape that I've been in in my career. That's pretty much the biggest thing. I didn't realize how far off I was or how bad things got, really, when I took all that time off with my injury. It was really like starting from zero. I didn't think it was going to take such a long time to get back. But actually I've accepted the fact that it does take time, and so I've accepted that. I've accepted to be patient. I've accepted to put the hard work in because I know what I want and I believe in myself and, you know, that's the only way to do it.

MARY PIERCE: Well, there's not really any secrets. Just hard work and good nutrition and good rest and, you know, things that I've done before.

MARY PIERCE: I had a lot of fun working with him. He was very funny. He's very entertaining.

MARY PIERCE: I think what Brad's really good at, among other things, he was a great player and he still can hit the ball really well, he plays very well. I think he was very smart and intelligent with the way he played the game. You know, I never used to think when I played, just hit the ball really hard. So he tried to get me to use my brain a little more.

MARY PIERCE: The pros and cons... Well, basically, after the French Open, I did not want to go and play another tournament the way that I played that one, and I didn't feel like I was ready to go play a tournament. I thought if I went and played, I would have done the same thing, which was not an option for me. You know, and then just -- you know, things just happened really quickly while we were training. I just started to feel every day better, and hitting the ball better. You know, also with the ranking system that we have, the way the points come off after every tournament, you know, I only have I think like 14 tournaments, and I think they take best of 17 or 18. Every tournament I play is kind of a bonus. It didn't really matter what I did here , if I lost first round or quarters or won the tournament. It helps. I had some points coming off because I did decent last year. It was really a win-win situation if I came. No matter what I did, it would help my ranking; it would get some match practice and help get me in shape.

MARY PIERCE: No, I mean, once I made the decision, I didn't think like that at all.

MARY PIERCE: Seven months long.

MARY PIERCE: Oh, physically it hurt when I walked, you know. I had pain in my hip and everything. I couldn't do a lot of things. I watched a lot of TV, read, was on the computer, played with my dogs, hung out with my friends. So, you know...

MARY PIERCE: Yeah, in the beginning just rest. It needed to heal. Not even any kind of rehab or anything like that, any exercises. So it was long. You know, seven months is a long time. I didn't really realize how long it was. Sometimes they say it takes double that time, however long you're out, to get back. So, you know, I've just accepted that I'm going to be patient and do whatever it takes.

MARY PIERCE: It was my back.

MARY PIERCE: Well, you know, everything always happens for a reason, I say. I definitely would have preferred being healthy and being out there playing, but I didn't have the choice. So I, you know, basically made the best with what I had and the situation that I was dealt with, and I just took it day by day.