U.S. OPEN

August 31, 1994

Lisa Raymond

LISA RAYMOND: I was nervous. I just wanted to come out and play real aggressive because that is what I had stopped doing the second. She started to get a little bit of a rhythm, and she became the aggressor in the second set and I knew that I didn't want that to happen in the third.

LISA RAYMOND: Yeah, I pretty much -- I knew if I got at least up one break that I could at least, you know, take a sigh of relief and kind of back off a little bit and, you know, because I knew I was going to pretty much hold my serve because I think I only lost it once the whole match.

LISA RAYMOND: No, I don't know what it has been. Just -- actually, the past month I have been off and on catching something, and actually today I felt a lot better out there than I did my first match. I was pretty sick when I played Carrie, and but, you know, I am okay now.

LISA RAYMOND: I played her a long time ago at the Virginia Slims of Florida when it was in Boca, and my coach watched her, so I mean, he will tell me what to do.

LISA RAYMOND: I know she is aggressive. She is definitely not your typical Japanese player. She is more versatile than maybe a Sawamatsu, but she is good. It will be a good match.

LISA RAYMOND: I had really never seen Fusai play, but obviously she must have been a very good player to beat Brenda in straight sets.

LISA RAYMOND: I have to say I was. That is the thing, you never really know when you play Brenda you know, which Brenda is really going to show up. She can come out out there and smoke her first serve and her big groundstrokes but then she can go out there and make 40 unforced errors and not get a first serve in, so...

LISA RAYMOND: That was my tendencies, yes, I did. But it is something I have been trying to work on and today, you know, I let it slide a little bit in the second, obviously, but the important thing was that I regrouped and was able to take the third.

LISA RAYMOND: Well, definitely been helping me. You know, I have been working hard a lot more -- harder off the court than I have even on the court the past couple of weeks, both with my mental game and physical part of my game, and, you know, I have been working with Jim for about a month now, and it is definitely helping me.

LISA RAYMOND: Just different things; just relaxing and a lot of -- one of my biggest problems has always been my nerves, and that is something that I am trying to overcome, and just taking my time and trying to be more focused out there on the court, and he is just giving me different techniques to help, you know, some of these little problems I have had.

LISA RAYMOND: They have helped my confidence as far as whether they will help me if I get into a third set with Date. Being as close to beating Steffi as I was, it has definitely help my confidence coming into this tournament, so.

LISA RAYMOND: Probably four, maybe.

LISA RAYMOND: It was definitely my goal coming into the tournament and, you know, I got lucky that I didn't have to face a seed, top seed in the first round; I definitely wanted to get past the second since I have done that before, so I am happy with that.

LISA RAYMOND: I have learned the hard way not to look at it, so...