OLYMPIC TENNIS TOURNAMENT

August 22, 2004

Virginia Ruano Pascual

THE MODERATOR: Questions in English.

CONCHITA MARTINEZ: Did we underestimate? No, never. No, never. I think they're great players. I mean, they beat some amazing double teams to get to the final, so we didn't, no.

VIRGINIA RUANO PASCUAL: Because they played very good today, so that's why they beat us.

CONCHITA MARTINEZ: I think they are great players. I mean, if you saw their match, you could tell that they can play tennis, you know. They just did great.

CONCHITA MARTINEZ: Well, I mean, I think, you know, we didn't expected to lose in two sets. But, you know, like we said, they just played a very good match to beat us. They were very aggressive moving at the net. They did everything right. I mean, they didn't miss. We didn't have much chance out there.

CONCHITA MARTINEZ: What's normal? What's abnormal?

CONCHITA MARTINEZ: Well, you feel disappointed at first, don't you, because you've lost the match. It's really quite tough to lose in a final, be it here, be it elsewhere. But, you know, we were in constant movement. We were quite tired. So we were disappointed at the beginning. Then when we stopped to think about it, we did think after all, it is a silver medal, and we shouldn't be that disappointed.

VIRGINIA RUANO PASCUAL: Well, yes, at the beginning, that's what you feel. You feel disappointed because you've just lost a match, so obviously you're not happy. But as the time goes on and you start thinking about it, you think, "Well, it's not that bad. We've got a silver medal at the Olympic Games." So we are quite pleased and we are very proud of that fact.

CONCHITA MARTINEZ: What, that we could win?

CONCHITA MARTINEZ: Well, yeah, sure. I mean, to be in the final is a great thing, and it always offers you that opportunity to win a gold medal. Well, you were disappointed, too. I know we're disappointed. You perhaps had greater expectations of us because you didn't really know the Chinese players. Well, perhaps we underestimated them just like you did. They played great. But, of course, a final is always a good opportunity to have to win a gold medal. But never underestimate your opponents. It's never going to be easy. I mean, they won the gold medal because they beat Williams and others, Venus Williams and other great players that were in the draw. You see, they're really good players. I don't know if they always play that well, but they did today.

VIRGINIA RUANO PASCUAL: It is a bit actually. I've given it to my mother. I haven't kept it (laughter).

CONCHITA MARTINEZ: I've kept mine. I put it over there with my things.

VIRGINIA RUANO PASCUAL: Well, you always think you could have played better than you did. I mean, you know, when you look back on it, you always think you could have played better. But they played really, really well. They really didn't give us much of a break. We had a few breaks, but we didn't make the best use possible of them. Maybe it was a bit of bad luck, too. But, no, no regrets really. What can you do about it? You can't go back in time.

CONCHITA MARTINEZ: Every time you come back and say the same thing (laughter).

VIRGINIA RUANO PASCUAL: Four Olympics.

CONCHITA MARTINEZ: No, three.

CONCHITA MARTINEZ: What was the question?

CONCHITA MARTINEZ: Should I now retire?

CONCHITA MARTINEZ: That's more or less what you were hinting at in your first question, wasn't it? Anyway, Olympic gold is a great thing. But, well, you know, silver's not bad either. Silver is also good.

CONCHITA MARTINEZ: You're asking me what I'm going to do next. You're saying, "You didn't win gold, so are you going to retire now? If you had one gold, would you retire?" That's more or less what you're leading up to, isn't it?

CONCHITA MARTINEZ: Yeah, I was a bit frustrated because I really couldn't do any better. I mean, we really hit the ball hard. I don't know, maybe I should have hit the ball higher or not put so much spin on it or tried to put more spin on it. But the ball comes at you so fast, I did what I could. I don't know, you know, we had some near misses. But, you know, they hit some shots that even they couldn't believe they had hit. I mean, we didn't have that much bad luck. They played well, that's all there is to it.