CHASE CHAMPIONSHIPS OF THE COREL WTA TOUR

November 20, 1996

Conchita Martinez

CONCHITA MARTINEZ: I pulled my left hamstring two days ago, and I was really tired during the match. And I just had to stretch it out a little bit.

CONCHITA MARTINEZ: Well, we'll see how it goes. I don't think it's a big pull, but I pulled it out a little bit and I think with good treatment hopefully it will be fine.

CONCHITA MARTINEZ: You know, like I said, it's not huge, but it still bothers me.

CONCHITA MARTINEZ: Well, I think she's a really good fighter, and the points were very long, and I think I ran out of -- she just played well. And I think I wasn't as aggressive coming into the net, and I think that was the key to it.

CONCHITA MARTINEZ: I was trying to do that anyway. I think it caught her by surprise that I was coming to the net. I won a lot of points and I think it was good to take it to the net.

CONCHITA MARTINEZ: I think that the season is too long. We play a lot of tournaments this year with the Olympics, Fed Cup, it's really a lot of tournaments, way too much. And I think we are -- one of few sports that we don't have an off season, and we're fighting for that and hopefully one day we'll have an off season and we'll have time to recover from injuries. At the end of the year everyone is injured for some reason.

CONCHITA MARTINEZ: Well, we'll keep our fingers crossed and I think we are working on it, our trainers are working on it and we'll see what happens.

CONCHITA MARTINEZ: I'm not sure.

CONCHITA MARTINEZ: Well, I would like to have three months off where you can have a month off and then some taking care of your injuries and taking care of getting ready for the next year. We really don't have that. If we take two weeks off at the end of the Championships you really don't have any time to practice and get your muscle or getting fit for next year. So you carry on your injuries to the next year and on and on, and that's not good I don't think.

CONCHITA MARTINEZ: Well, I'd like to have three months off, I don't know when. For me I'm going to try on my next year schedule to try to, after the U.S. Open, have some time off, yeah. So hopefully they can change that so we don't have to play around with our schedules.

CONCHITA MARTINEZ: Yeah, I pulled my left hamstring two days ago during practice. And like I said it's not huge injury but I was feeling tighter and tighter during the match.

CONCHITA MARTINEZ: No, it's not that I couldn't move, you know, but I just wanted to stretch it and make sure that it didn't go worse.

CONCHITA MARTINEZ: Well, the points were really long and I was trying to come into the net and make a shorter shot and not run so much.

CONCHITA MARTINEZ: Yeah, I started during the third set to be more aggressive, which I didn't do in the second set. And that's what I was trying to do.

CONCHITA MARTINEZ: Well, yes, it's amazing that they're going to slow down, a 26 year old. But my reaction is weird to see two players go like Gaby with her charisma and Kimiko, she's in the top 10 and she's playing really good tennis. But I try to respect their positions. And our life is not easy, some with happy moments and sad moments. And I thought it was good they want to do something else and hopefully they'll be happy and have a lot of success in whatever they do.

CONCHITA MARTINEZ: Well, I don't know. If somebody would come to me and say come on, think of it, something like that, I think I have to think about it. I would like to, I don't know, probably be healthy, that's the most important thing and my family, I wish them to be healthy, too, and play good tennis and be happy and probably win a Grand Slam next year.