KB FED CUP, FINAL ROUND

October 4, 1997

Miriam Oremans

Q. You never seemed to be able to get into the match. What was that? Was it because of Mary or because of yourself?

MIRIAM OREMANS: I don't think that is the truth because in the beginning of the match I was playing very well. I got three breakpoints right away. But, because we were both pretty nervous in the beginning, I couldn't hit the ball or, like, try to hit it and put some pressure on her. And, I couldn't do that in the beginning. That is why I couldn't break her. And, I got two breakpoints in her second service game and I think that is the key of the first set. If I break her once, then she is again behind all the time and then I can serve much easier, I think, and I can put some pressure on her in my return games as well. So, in the beginning, I think it was a good match. But, as the match went on in the second set, Mary started to play really well; didn't make any mistakes. And, it was pretty tough for me to put pressure on her in the second set because she made me run like pretty much. And, when I got one chance, I wanted to have or to make that point really badly, but then I missed it by 10 centimeters or five centimeters. And, that was just the key in the second set. And, that is why she is the No. 8 in the world and I am around 50 all the time.

CAPTAIN HEMMES: They were nervous like they were normally nervous for these matches, but not extraordinarily nervous. But, I think Brenda had her chances. She got to the third set 1-All, 30-Love; she had the chances and then she had a weak game. She couldn't concentrate very well. She got a little tired and what she did in the second set she was not able to do that in the third set. And, Sandrine played very accurate. She had very good passing shots and Brenda couldn't read each time these passing shots. So, it was a match with a lot of pressure for her. And, Miriam started off very well and Mary was still looking for her form in the beginning. After 3-All, around 3-All in the first set, she started to play very well; didn't miss many -- didn't miss a lot. She had some nice winners and, well, we were just hoping that she was playing a little less better. And, Miriam, yeah, was feeling a lot of pressure and couldn't attack that much. So she was better, Mary.

CAPTAIN HEMMES: Of course. We have to win three matches, of course.

MIRIAM OREMANS: We put in our joker tomorrow.

CAPTAIN HEMMES: Yeah, but it will be very hard. They were playing better today, the French, than us. But tomorrow is another day and then we will see again.

CAPTAIN HEMMES: Of course they are focused on winning, but if the opponent is better, she is better. But, we try to do our best. And, we work very hard for it. And, what else can we do? Then we might play a little better than today and then we have our chances.

CAPTAIN HEMMES: They were calm, yeah. They were calm - calmer than usual. But, not disappointed. But, they were a little calm, yeah. Actually, two years ago we started off, I think, with a thousand people everyday and now we have 8,000 people, so, I think it is a nice effort in two years.