US OPEN

September 1, 1999

Jana Novotna

WTA: Questions for Jana.

JANA NOVOTNA: It's been a long time ago.

JANA NOVOTNA: '96, yeah. It was on clay. We played on my least favorite surface, on clay. Of course, I wasn't very happy playing her. At that time, I didn't know her. I guess just knowing what to expect from this player, I lost. But I played a couple times in doubles. I have learned much more about her. That's why coming into this match I was much better prepared.

JANA NOVOTNA: Well, I think that Steffi had many qualities because she's been playing for such a long time, you know, it's hard to remember all of them. What I can remember about Steffi, from my very first beginnings on the WTA Tour, she was a great athlete. She just brought the women's tennis to another level. She played faster than anybody else. She was very quick around the court. She just pushed and killed all the opponents in half hour, 40 minutes. I think in a way she has made all of us better. She will be remembered as probably - I don't know - just for her toughness, mental toughness, for her consistency over the years, as one of the greatest players of all. I just hope that she will find the same happiness that she had on the court also off the court, no matter what she's going to do. I think that's going to be very important.

JANA NOVOTNA: I think the one thing about Steffi, that she was a hard worker. She was working, I would say, the hardest from all of the players.

JANA NOVOTNA: You know, it's really hard to tell. Maybe this isn't the right thing to say, that she worked harder than anybody else, because you can't really know. I'm not there to judge. You don't know how everybody else trains. But she was a very intense player. Every time she stepped on the tennis court, she gave hundred percent. She didn't hold back. She just kept on going. She always gave hundred percent.

JANA NOVOTNA: What I feared?

JANA NOVOTNA: I feared her overall game. I mean, her forehand, her quickness on the court, her mental toughness, just the speed and accuracy that she was playing with. I think that was pretty amazing about her, that you knew no matter what the score was, she kept going for it. She was just a great athlete who never gave up and just mentally very, very tough.

JANA NOVOTNA: You're talking about '93?

JANA NOVOTNA: Yeah, I think she did right after the finals on the court. I mean, if I can remember well, I remember when I was standing there, she came over and she put her hand on my shoulder, just wanted to tell me that she feels for me. I've been playing so well, had a wonderful tournament, but at the end I didn't win it. That was very nice of her to do. I think that was the only moment that she really showed me, not necessarily told me, but showed me that she felt for me, that I didn't win the Wimbledon title in '93. I guess she went through this, as many other athletes, many, many times, when you are up and you lose at the end. She knew very well how that feels. She was overwhelmed by winning Wimbledon at that time, but also she felt for me. I think that was a very nice gesture.

JANA NOVOTNA: What do you mean by that?

JANA NOVOTNA: Right.

JANA NOVOTNA: You know what, not at all. I think it's never important how old are you on the paper. I think it's important how you feel inside. Although I have times when I feel very tired, and as you said, very old, when I'm playing or after some practice session or after some of the matches, I still feel very young at heart. I don't think about it at all, going into the locker room, feeling any older than any other players. As long as I'm at the top and compete with these players, it doesn't really matter what age you are, as long as you can do it. If you can't do it, that's too bad and you have to recognize the sign that you are older and you are getting to that point when they are just being better and faster and quicker, that you have to think about leaving. But for now, I don't feel that.

JANA NOVOTNA: That's right.

JANA NOVOTNA: Well, you know, I think it's hard to tell. Playing on a hard court is different than playing on the grass. It's going to be very difficult to compare again. But I think that Venus has improved since Wimbledon again. I think she's much more focused. I think that she is finally going into this tournament mentally prepared to do better than she ever did. I know that she's been in the finals here, but she still wants to prove to everybody that she can play well at a Grand Slam tournament. I think this time she had a great hard court preparation. She beat Lindsay last week. I think she is just very focused. That's the only thing on her mind, to finally do well and possibly win a Grand Slam over here.

JANA NOVOTNA: That she is just focused. I saw her last week New Haven, saw her play against Lindsay, and I saw her play in previous matches of the tournament. You could tell that even after, when she won the tournament, she wasn't incredibly excited. She just went to the net, shook her hand and was just ready to say, "Fine, who is next? I'm ready to go on." It wasn't like, "Oh, I won, this is so exciting." She was just very focused. She won, said, "Okay, this was a good preparation, but now I have something else on my mind." I could be completely wrong, but that was just my impression. I know that players, when they are like that, instead of being overexcited by winning, they are very focused, you can tell that she has set her mind on something and she will go after it.

JANA NOVOTNA: You're looking too much into it (laughter). You need to take a break, and that's it, step outside a little bit, and come back. I'm totally just kidding.

JANA NOVOTNA: You've been hanging around too much. I don't know. I didn't see much of the interviews she made afterwards.

JANA NOVOTNA: Yes.

JANA NOVOTNA: A different person; a different player. She was at her best, you could tell, and she still didn't do it. I know at the time Steffi was very, very good. But, again, she maybe has played one of her best grass court tennis and yet wasn't able to do it. Can she get any better or was it just a bad day, a tough opponent to play? Definitely, as I said, it's not only that Wimbledon match against Steffi, but it's just the whole hard-court preparation that she's really starting to be more focused and just trying to really do well and prove everybody wrong.

JANA NOVOTNA: I think she is already one. I think she already is. She will continue to be better and better because she has everything. She has a great serve. I mean, she has very powerful groundstrokes. She can play at the net. She has proved that she can play on any surfaces. She has that whole package. Don't forget her physique. She's very tall, she's very quick around the court. That's what you need to have nowadays in order to play well. She has that. She just needs to stay focused. I just don't want to sit here and tell her what she needs to do. That's the easy thing. Serve, do this, do this, it's over with. But she definitely has the package, and she will become possibly the No. 1 player at the end of the year. Maybe she will stay No. 2, maybe she will be No. 3. We will see. But this tournament will be a great step towards something that will give us a better idea of what kind of a player she will become in the future.

JANA NOVOTNA: This was intense. I won 6-Love. Nobody is asking me about that.

JANA NOVOTNA: I don't want to talk about it. I don't feel bad. It's okay. Let's talk about other players. I love to talk about other players (laughter). I don't want to talk about tennis. I didn't come here to talk about my game. Look, the Czech press is waiting. Be nice. It's really hard to tell. I mean, my opponent wasn't very good today. I played all right match. Still too many double-faults. Going for my second serve too much. Still a lot of improvements to make. You know, it was quite all right. Another victory, which is fine.

JANA NOVOTNA: I don't know. We will see. I don't know. Every match is different. Depends who I have to play in the next round. We'll see.

JANA NOVOTNA: Where do you want me to start (laughter)?

JANA NOVOTNA: I just had the ankle sprain, that's it, from Paris.