TMS - INDIAN WELLS, WOMEN

March 7, 2001

Iva Majoli

IVA MAJOLI: Sleeping (laughter). No, I was out almost two years. I played a few tournaments, but I had lots of problems with my right shoulder, started at the end of '98. I really struggled the whole '99. I didn't play too much. At the end of '99, I did surgery. It was rotator cuff on my right shoulder. I took almost the whole year 2000. Just play again a few tournaments. It's really been lots of injuries. I had stress fracture on my ankle for three months. So not the greatest time the last few years. But I'm healthy now. I'm feeling great. I'm really enjoying. I feel like I'm more mature now. Maybe in a way these two years that I didn't play much helped me. I'm 23 now. I feel like a veteran in a way, but I think I still have some years to play. I think I could play some good tennis still.

IVA MAJOLI: I think I need quite a lots of practice at the moment. I'm feeling good, but I've been missing a lots of practice because I tried to play as much as I could at the end of last year and the beginning of this year, because I couldn't get my special ranking, because I did play like two or three tournaments, so my ranking dropped to like 300 or 400. I really had to play a few tournaments. Luckily I was getting some wildcards. I'm back to like 45 now. Nothing to defend for the next few months. I hope I can get to Top 20 by the summer.

IVA MAJOLI: At the beginning, the court is kind of slow, the balls are pretty heavy. I think it took me few games to kind of get my rhythm and my game together. I think later on I started to feel more confident.

IVA MAJOLI: I just think it's from playing a lot. You change balls every week. You change surfaces. It's not easy for the shoulder. It's my right shoulder, so I use it a lot (laughter).

IVA MAJOLI: It was rotator cuff.

IVA MAJOLI: I did it in Switzerland at the end of '99. Before that I spend like four months in Munich with Dr. Miller Wolford (phonetic). He was giving me like 30 injections every day, like three times a week. It was really painful. When I was going there, Goran Ivanisevic, Boris Becker, they all went to him. They said, "We call him Dr. Needle." I said, okay. When I came there, I saw the needles. I thought they were for lots of patients. They were all for me. I just start crying. But those days are behind me. I'm really feeling great at the moment. I think Jennifer is the great example. I mean, she struggled a lot. She's my best friend on the tour. We kind of the last five, six years, been talking a lot. I'm really happy. I hope I could come back and do the same thing.

IVA MAJOLI: -- So much pain? His name is Miller Wolford. He's a very good doctor. He's a doctor from the German soccer team and Davis Cup. Just so many needles. At the end it didn't help and I needed the surgery.

IVA MAJOLI: All those needles. It got a little better, but not enough to play.

IVA MAJOLI: I'm working at Bollettieri's. I practice there with different people. I'm still traveling with my brother when I'm in Europe. I'm here with my father. He hasn't been on a tournament for a long time, so he wanted to come and see how I was playing.

IVA MAJOLI: I don't think so. I mean, it came unexpected. I think so many things change. I mean, I won tournaments, big ones, before that, but nothing is the same as a Grand Slam. I think I even worked harder because I knew that everyone was going to try to beat me even more. I got to the quarters of Wimbledon that year. It was the first time I won a match at Wimbledon. That was good. I mean, also in '98 I had some good results. I was Top 10, Top 15. I think so many things happened too quick that I was just mentally very tired and burned out. I wanted to take actually a little break. I took two weeks. It wasn't like I didn't work hard, it was just I think mentally I wasn't prepared for what was happening. I think lots of players, except maybe Martina and a few other, have problems when they win a Grand Slam because everything kind of changes. There's so many other things, people call you, they want to do interviews, shows, this. Maybe you focus more on those things than on tennis. As soon as you focus on something else, I mean, you go on the court, and of course everyone wants to beat you. It's not easy if you're not a hundred percent in tennis.

IVA MAJOLI: It was hard. Everyone says, "Oh, you had good holidays." I traveled so much. I went to Mayo Clinic in the States, I went to Germany, Switzerland, all these hospitals, didn't know what to do. Somebody say, "You need the surgery." Somebody said, "We give you injections." It was a very difficult time. At the end I realized how much I love playing, how much I love tennis. I wanted to be back so bad, so I'm really happy that all these things are behind, that I hopefully stay healthy (knocking wood) and keep playing now.

IVA MAJOLI: Yeah. I mean, I saw a few doctors at the end. They said, "We could give you cortisone injections, you could maybe play for a few months, but we don't guarantee it won't come back." I already at that time wasted so much time that I said, "I guess I should do the surgery." Three or four more months wouldn't mean that much because I already wasted like another year. It was a good decision I think because I didn't have any pain since then.

IVA MAJOLI: It gets sore if I have a tough match. They say it's normal. Maybe I have to ice and stretch, but no pain.

IVA MAJOLI: I did a lots of work, those boring rehab exercises, like five hours a day, really simple ones, but they helped.

IVA MAJOLI: They said I was going to be able to play, be fine. I trusted them.

IVA MAJOLI: I don't know. I was in Paris at a tournament.

IVA MAJOLI: Yeah, last year. It was one of my first tournaments. I saw him in the lobby. I guess he really likes tennis. The next thing, he called in the room. There was a message. It's like from Carlos. I'm really good friends with Carlos Moya. I thought it was Carlos calling me, maybe we have dinner. Then after he called and he said, "It's Carlos Santana." I was like, "Whoa." It was nothing. He invited me for the concert, but I couldn't go. I was playing. I had to disappoint him.

IVA MAJOLI: No, I didn't, but I will try in Miami maybe. I'm just moving to Miami, so hopefully after Ericsson I'm going to have my place in South Beach. There is U2 coming up during Ericsson, so that will be nice to see. I haven't been to many concerts.

IVA MAJOLI: I have a place in Florida which we sold now. We are still staying in that place, but I think by the end of Ericsson, I'll have my apartment ready in South Beach because I already saw a few, so I just have to decide which one I like.

IVA MAJOLI: Well, I think it's always hard to win the first match. It's always the toughest one. I'm playing Lisa Raymond next. It isn't easy. I played her second round in Tokyo, Japan Open, I won 7-6 in the third, like after I was down five match points. It's going to be a tough match, but I'm looking forward. I hope I can get past that one.

IVA MAJOLI: Yeah, it's much slower. I was at Bollettieri's last week, and they're so quick there. You come here and the ball kind of stops. I'm like, "Move forward." So, yeah, you need a little time to get used to it.

IVA MAJOLI: I don't know. We'll see.