U.S. OPEN

September 5, 1995

Steffi Graf

STEFFI GRAF: Yeah, absolutely. I mean, when you are in the quarterfinals, you know, you better concentrate. I think just being there makes it easier too because obviously you want to take the next step and, you know, you are excited to be there and you want to do better.

STEFFI GRAF: Well, I guess it is the city, sort of. I think my game suits every surface. I don't think it has a lot to do with the surface. I think it has to do with the city.

STEFFI GRAF: I thought it was just like time to get it over with. I mean, that is maybe how I felt today sort of, you know, because I wanted to win this one badly and to be there on the weekend. I think it has always been a big goal for me to get there and so I am pretty happy that I can be there.

STEFFI GRAF: A long time.

STEFFI GRAF: Well, it is definitely the one person that I have my longest record with, her and Mary Joe, we go back playing, I don't know, the 12s and under, Orange Bowl, so... I played both of them there, so I think that is going far beyond. On the other hand, we have had so many incredible matches over our careers that it is just that kind of where you look at, you know, this is a person that you can look back at a lot of matches.

STEFFI GRAF: Not really. No. I don't know how many times.

STEFFI GRAF: Well, I think that maybe she hasn't had her confidence where she used to have it and I think that I just played more aggressively and at times when we played, we played a lot of three-setters, close matches, and usually I was sort of ahead and then she came back. So, I think it had to do a lot on the way we thought on the court; the way confidence shifted and I think I have done a little better lately about that.

STEFFI GRAF: I am at the point where I really haven't thought - really haven't been asked about it and I haven't personally thought about it too much. Obviously, she has taken part in it, but I am so focused on myself. I really haven't thought much about that, really.

STEFFI GRAF: A little bit, yeah.

STEFFI GRAF: Yes.

STEFFI GRAF: I don't know yet.

STEFFI GRAF: A very good feeling.

STEFFI GRAF: Yeah. I think of the circumstances; how everything kind of was falling together this year, I think so, maybe it is not the year where I played my best tennis - I definitely can't say that. I think it got beyond playing tennis at times and that is why it has been so great to get a streak going.

STEFFI GRAF: That is a good question. I guess it is a difficult one to answer. I think it is what is in me and it is what drives me to be out there and my sort of Love for the game, but also the fighting spirit I have in myself.

STEFFI GRAF: Yeah, you always need that once in a while, sometimes you tend to forget that, especially if things don't go as well so he kind of puts that in perspective. Yes.

STEFFI GRAF: Like you said, she is somebody that suits me really nicely because she plays flat. She -- and obviously hits very much my -- she doesn't like if somebody plays really low like I did tonight. So I didn't really have the feeling out there tonight that I could lose this match, so...

STEFFI GRAF: What do you mean same --

STEFFI GRAF: It is my own place. It is, you know, doing different things during the week, I mean, you get to do and see different things, I mean, you don't -- you see sometimes all these crazy people walking around. It is just the pulse of the city.