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PACIFIC LIFE OPEN

March 12, 2005

Angela Haynes

INDIAN WELLS, CALIFORNIA

THE MODERATOR: Questions.

Q. I'm always fascinated by the kind of match where you're playing with somebody with a big reputation, you have a chance, you're on center court. In the second set you're playing real well, starting to move the ball around. What is going through your mind at that stage? "I have a shot here"?

ANGELA HAYNES: Yeah, actually I did feel I started playing a lot better in the second set. I just wanted to keep it close. I was just trying so hard to hold my serve. I was having a problem doing that. But my groundstrokes, I felt pretty good. I think if I would have got more forehands in, you know, I would have made it a lot tougher for her. But she played very well. I'm pretty happy about my performance.

Q. Do you leave a match like that thinking, Wimbledon Champion, a little better, I can beat her?

ANGELA HAYNES: Yeah, I do.

Q. Did you welcome that kind of a match? Going into that match, do you welcome that kind of a challenge?

ANGELA HAYNES: I do. You know, it's a chance for me to see where my game is at as far as my strokes and mentally. I know Sharapova is very tough mentally. She's out there, every point she's very intense. I just knew I had to match her intensity today.

Q. Tell us a little about yourself. You grew up in Compton?

ANGELA HAYNES: Yes.

Q. You still live there?

ANGELA HAYNES: Yes, I do.

Q. You play there, that's your home base?

ANGELA HAYNES: Yeah, pretty much is. I train at the new Home Depot Center in Carson.

Q. That's nice.

ANGELA HAYNES: It's very nice. I like it a lot.

Q. Where are you ranked right now?

ANGELA HAYNES: 105.

Q. Where do you want to be at the end of the year, besides No. 1?

ANGELA HAYNES: That would be nice. At least Top 30.

Q. At 105, it's hard to get in a lot of draws. You're playing a lot of qualifying, right?

ANGELA HAYNES: Yeah. Right now I'm at the point where I have to qualify for each tournament. But, you know, I also get a lot of bonus points. I'll go into most of the matches being the underdog. I like a challenge. I'm just going to go out there and take it one match at a time and hopefully come out on top.

Q. Winning around here is a big deal?

ANGELA HAYNES: Yeah, it is. It depends who you beat, you know.

Q. How did you start playing tennis?

ANGELA HAYNES: Actually I started -- I have an older brother and also an older sister. My father is the coach of all three of us. Was - my sister quit. He would just take me along to practice with them. One day I just picked up a racquet, and that was that.

Q. Where was that?

ANGELA HAYNES: It was in actually Lynnwood Park, when I was about three years old. I actually can't remember where, but I knew it was in Lynnwood, California.

Q. What is your father's name?

ANGELA HAYNES: Fred.

Q. They built you a great big stadium right next to where you grew up?

ANGELA HAYNES: Yeah, they were thinking of me. It was pretty nice. No, it's a very nice place. That's where we play the LA tournament down there. It's beautiful.

Q. What was the little town you moved to?

ANGELA HAYNES: Compton.

Q. I thought you moved from there?

ANGELA HAYNES: No, I didn't. No.

Q. Inevitably you heard about the Williams.

ANGELA HAYNES: Yeah. Actually when I was around four or five, I met Venus and Serena. And my brother and my sister would actually like play sets and points and things against them. We all like hit together every day for I think about two or three years, and then they went their separate ways and we went our separate ways.

Q. So how old were you when you hit with them?

ANGELA HAYNES: I never got the chance to hit with them. I actually hit with Venus a couple weeks ago, but that was the first time.

Q. So it was your brother and sister who were hitting?

ANGELA HAYNES: Yes, it was.

Q. You were how old at that age?

ANGELA HAYNES: Like four.

Q. Did you go to the Davis Cup matches?

ANGELA HAYNES: No, I didn't get a chance to. I actually got here early, so I missed everything.

Q. Venus and Serena, are they important people to you in sport?

ANGELA HAYNES: Yeah, they are. I admire like their determination, all the stuff they went through to get here. I feel they're great people. They have great personalities. They just bring a lot. I felt they bring a lot to tennis, you know. They're great players.

Q. You said you hit with Venus a little bit recently.

ANGELA HAYNES: Uh-huh.

Q. Any conversation with her afterwards?

ANGELA HAYNES: Not really. She was actually running late. She had to go.

Q. No inspirational words?

ANGELA HAYNES: No, no.

Q. Do you see all the soccer players at the Home Depot center?

ANGELA HAYNES: Yes. The men from the Galaxy team, they're amazing. That's all I can say.

Q. Tennis is such an individual sport. Soccer is the reverse. Do you wish sometimes tennis had more of a team element to it?

ANGELA HAYNES: Yeah, sometimes I wish, you know -- in tennis, you're right, it is individual. You have to think on your own and you have to think quick. But it would be nice to have someone like sitting there on the bench that will tell you, "Your forehand, you're not looking at the ball," something like that. It would help. But tennis also helps you mature quickly on the court and off the court really.

Q. What did you think of Sharapova today? How do you think she played?

ANGELA HAYNES: I think she played very well. Again, I knew she was going to be very intense. I was going to come out and try to stay on the same level as her. But I still feel I had a couple of chances, you know, at least for it to be closer.

Q. You never played her before?

ANGELA HAYNES: No.

Q. What is your biggest win?

ANGELA HAYNES: My biggest win? Would have to be against Maleeva at the US Open last year.

Q. Are you in the Miami draw?

ANGELA HAYNES: Yes. I actually got a wildcard into that also.

Q. What is the strongest part of your game, in your view?

ANGELA HAYNES: Well, today it let me down. I feel my forehand is my strongest part.

Q. It was erratic today.

ANGELA HAYNES: Yeah, I was shanking a lot of forehands, too. They didn't want to go in. So whatever.

Q. Were you trying to hit it too well? Were you overanxious?

ANGELA HAYNES: Yeah, I was a bit anxious. A lot of times I just wanted to hit through, but I also wanted to hit her like some heavy balls where the ball would jump, you know. It didn't work.

Q. You didn't out-grunt her either. She did better than you.

ANGELA HAYNES: Oh, yeah?

Q. She was louder.

ANGELA HAYNES: I was going for that, too (laughter).

End of FastScriptsâ€¦.

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