HOME DEPOT CHAMPIONSHIPS

November 7, 2002

Magdalena Maleeva

MAGDALENA MALEEVA: What happened this fall?

MAGDALENA MALEEVA: Something that I've always wanted to have happen.

MAGDALENA MALEEVA: I have lost against her this year, and she's a good player. I have a lot of respect for her. To me, it's great to beat her. I don't know if it's an upset. Obviously, she's a top ten player and so maybe it is. I don't care if it is. I won the match. There is not a huge difference. What is happening now, it's something that I have always been working on, and sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't, but the main thing is that I'm concentrating on my matches and I know much better what I want to do with the game. I know what I want to try in the game, and I stay focused much better than I used to. My mind doesn't wander as much, only sometimes.

MAGDALENA MALEEVA: It is a matter of experience. It is a matter of knowing what you want.

MAGDALENA MALEEVA: It's been kicking in all my life slowly.

MAGDALENA MALEEVA: I have been feeling quite good since after the French Open. The summer I was feeling okay, even though I didn't have unbelievable results. I was very happy with my matches. Just generally, I was looking forward to trying to do the matches that I'm practicing on, and I don't think I'm going to win the tournament every week, but the fact that I can stay concentrated in a match and work at what I want to work on is the most important for me. I'm a bit not very clear.

MAGDALENA MALEEVA: I was very happy, but last year this was my goal, and last year I wanted to make -- I just wanted once before the end of my career to make the championship. Last year, the last six weeks before, I was totally kind of nervous, and it was really hard to play, and so I was happier last year. This year it kind of came out of nowhere, so after Moscow I went to 14. It's great to be here. It's always an honor to compete with the 16 best at the end of year. I'm very happy to be here.

MAGDALENA MALEEVA: It feels great. It was not the most exciting match. We were both kind of -- there was not much rhythm. Every once in a while we'll hit a great shot, but I really don't care. I'm really happy -- actually, it feels better to win those matches where you're not really playing that well.

MAGDALENA MALEEVA: Maybe she shouldn't play every week before Spain. I looked at her schedule already before Spain, and I was wondering why she has to play every week. Everybody is tired. I'm dead. You just deal with it.

MAGDALENA MALEEVA: This was really my motivation after the surgery, and it has always been my dream to be able to compete without injuries. Ever since I can remember, since I was 15, I always thought it would be great to play without having pain, so this is -- I think I won't have pain anymore. You always have a little bit, but this was my motivation to get healthy.

MAGDALENA MALEEVA: Did I?

MAGDALENA MALEEVA: Maybe there isn't an explanation for everything. Just take it as it is. I mean, I worked really hard mentally and physically, but I have always, so I probably had more peace of mind. Probably that's the main difference. As I said, I know what I want to try and I try to try it every time.

MAGDALENA MALEEVA: Oh, that's such a long story. Just knowing what you want to do. You don't ask yourself so many questions and you don't doubt yourself so much. You accept that maybe your decisions will not always work, but you are believing to take your chances and you just have more peace of mind in what you want to try to do.

MAGDALENA MALEEVA: I only want to play the game. That's all.

MAGDALENA MALEEVA: I wish I was so much above everything, but I'm not. They do matter and at the same time they don't. I mean, I feel better than when I was 19 or 20. They did matter much more then and they matter a lot now, but if you lose, it's not such a big deal.

MAGDALENA MALEEVA: Yes.

MAGDALENA MALEEVA: I think so, it would be okay, but I'm saying this now when I'm having some of my best tennis. I wonder if I could say that again if I'm losing four first rounds in a row. I hope I will always be able to keep my peace of mind no matter what the situation is, because this is just a game. You can learn to approach it this way. It's just a game.

MAGDALENA MALEEVA: No, I don't say it to myself. This is going to be very, very hard, but who knows, maybe I can get to the final of the Gland Slam. I mean, what happened in Moscow doesn't happen very often. I realize that, but at the same time, I don't expect that I'm going to do that every week. To win against three top-8 players in one week, except Venus, Serena, Lindsay and a few more, not many people do that, but I still try to remind myself that it's just a game.

MAGDALENA MALEEVA: I used to like to draw.

MAGDALENA MALEEVA: Artist, no. I try to be an artist on the court, but that sounds really cocky. I used to make those shirts. I used to have the shirts with two flags, the American Flag and the Russian Flag. It said, Save the Planet. I like to do things with my hands. I just like to sew, but I'm not very good at it, but one day I will learn.

MAGDALENA MALEEVA: Probably. Many things grew out of those injuries, but, probably, you can say that. I, obviously, grew up in the time when I was injured. I, obviously, saw different sides of life and all those things. Yeah, it was quite an experience not to play for 15 months, and not to have obligations and not to have to be very stressed, and it was a very good experience, and it was the worst experience to be injured. It's the thing I feared the most, but it's the thing I have learned from the most, so if I have to do it again, I probably would, but I hated it. So that's how it is.

MAGDALENA MALEEVA: Yes.

MAGDALENA MALEEVA: No, I have only one Home.