FAMILY CIRCLE CUP

March 27, 1995

Lisa Raymond

LISA RAYMOND: Well, it was funny, when I saw the draw and I saw I had to play Nicole, we both kind of just laughed and, you know, but it is bound to happen. You try not to -- you try not to want it to happen two tournaments in a row, but same thing happened to me with Zina. I have played her a bunch of times in a row. You just have to go out there and just take it like another player.

LISA RAYMOND: I think a year.

LISA RAYMOND: We are pretty good friends. She trained a little bit in Gainesville while I was in college there, but she doesn't train there anymore. But, you know, she is a great girl. We get along really well, and she is a lot of fun, so, I knew it was going to be a tough match both -- just because it was a friend out there.

LISA RAYMOND: I am used to it, but you never get really used to it. There is always that little something out there that, you know, that your friend is on the other side of the court; you try and just go out there and just play and just take it like any other match. You are friends before the match and you are friends after the match.

LISA RAYMOND: She was just kiding around.

LISA RAYMOND: Well, I think that -- I think in her defense, I don't think she served as well as she did at Lipton, but you know, at the end, whenever you play Nicole, you never really get much of a rhythm. She really breaks up your game. She serve and volleys a lot; comes in with big serves, so you just kind of have to hang in there hoping that her serve might go off a little bit and I think I did a really good job of doing that today. Just hanging in there, really when I was down on her serve -- down on my serve.

LISA RAYMOND: I think that I played a loose game to go -- when she broke me at 3-All at 3-2 me serving, I played a very loose game and, you know, I think I was lucky actually. She got up 4-3; then I played two really good games after that, but, you know, I really didn't want to let her back into the match. I kind of was starting to. Being up 3-1 and getting down 4-3 like I did.

LISA RAYMOND: I don't know if -- I mean, I have been doing this for two years now almost, so I don't know if you really categorize me as up and coming. I am, obviously, starting to play better tennis than I did a year ago and my results are getting better, and, you know, because my results are getting better; my ranking is starting to improve, so I don't really know how you want to categorize that, but hopefully I will just keep improving on my ranking and keep improving period.

LISA RAYMOND: In the 20s somewhere.

LISA RAYMOND: Hopefully, higher than I am now, but as far as how high, I really --- I don't want to even put a ranking goal on myself. I just want to keep improving and hopefully the ranking will just take care of itself.

LISA RAYMOND: You really can't compare the two. They are two different worlds, and, you know, like I say, I have been doing this for almost two years, but I am still -- there is still a lot I need to learn, and I still need a lot more experience than I have right now. It is just so -- the mental aspect, the physical aspect it is so different than what I experienceed in college, so it was an adjustment; I am still adjusting.

LISA RAYMOND: No, I think what a lot of people don't realize is that, you know, I went to college not only to improve my tennis, but to mature off the court and to learn so much from the people there and to get an education and I think that -- even though I have pretty much achieved all I could achieve in college tennis, what I learned off the court probably was more -- has helped me more on the Tour than my tennis has. And I think that a lot of people don't really realize that.

LISA RAYMOND: Definitely. I think that, you know, a lot of the girls now, they only they look at it only as a tennis aspect, and they think that maybe if I don't turn pro and I go to school, then I am going to miss out on playing tournaments and my ranking I wouldn't improve or "BLA BLA BLA", they don't realize that there is a lot more learn to learn in college than just on the tennis court.

LISA RAYMOND: Well, I think I have been playing pretty well. I have been putting some good matches together. I started off pretty well in Australia and then in Chicago and I just think with each tournament I am just -- my confidence is building. I am just getting better.

LISA RAYMOND: Is it really?

LISA RAYMOND: I didn't know that.

LISA RAYMOND: I don't want to say I like clay more than Nicole, but I don't mind playing out there. I love sliding and I'd rather be on a grass court or a hard court, but I think that you have to play much -- in order to establish yourself you have to play on all surfaces. You can't avoid the clay, so I like it out there. So --