THE LIPTON CHAMPIONSHIPS

March 22, 1995

Rachel McQuillan

Q. You had a good run in the tournament. It looked like Sabatini kind of caught you flat in the first set and you weren't able to get back in the match?

RACHEL McQUILLAN: That is right. She start off; she didn't make any errors. I think I pushed a little bit too hard and I started to make a few mistakes, and the thing I wasn't happy with today, I wasn't hitting the ball clean. I was miss-hitting a lot of balls and taking my eye off it and against the top players, you can't; you got to be playing well all week. It is a shame to play off today. Then again she played great.

Q. What was it about her game that gave you problems?

RACHEL McQUILLAN: Well, you know, I haven't played with her for like two years now. I think definitely her serve is a lot better. Definitely, she is trying to hit it more, which I think is good and caught me a little off guard. I didn't watch her play. I have just been trying to take each match at a time. That took me by surprise; a lot of topspin; gotten her groundstrokes, which most of the girls in this tournament have been hitting very flat and hard. She just really hits the ball with a lot of topspin, and maybe that was giving me the problems. I was miss-hitting a lot of the balls; couldn't get into a rhythm and, you know, it was just tough out there today.

Q. Do you think Sabatini is playing better now?

RACHEL McQUILLAN: I think so. Yeah, I think just generally her serve is just making. She is serving more doubles by doing it, but I think with that serve, I think she has got to try and go for it more. I think she is doing a lot better doing it. She can only get better, I think. A lot of the serves, first serves down the T and out wide; she mixed it up really well.

Q. What is it like to play against someone like Sabatini who is such a crowd favorite here?

RACHEL McQUILLAN: It is always -- obviously, the crowd just love letter. A lot of people were trying to help me out too because I was having a hard time out there. I think they sensed it. That was great, I thought. And it is just --- I mean, for me it is just great to play at this place. Obviously, I don't win enough matches to play them. I hope in the future I can keep winning and keep playing and hopefully still play better.

Q. When you were serving at 3-4 did you feel you had like a mental let-down or something?

RACHEL McQUILLAN: Well, I mean, I did have a lot of chances, I thought, because I felt like my game -- I was on the verge of coming and changing it -- that was the change of the match, 2-Love, and I had a few chances. I think she felt it. She started to get a little uptight. Maybe I just didn't take the chances. I just didn't play well enough to do it today and all week I have been and just today, I couldn't seem to do it. I don't know. I never -- I still enjoyed it today. Perhaps next tournament I play, I will play better.

Q. From the time you played her two years ago 'til now, is there any change in her, like, emotional makeup or the way that she is approaching the game or anything like that that you noticed? How about her confidence?

RACHEL McQUILLAN: Yeah, I think she hasn't changed all that much, I don't think. If you let her get ahead of you, she is hard. Of course, every player is like that; they just get more confident. She hasn't changed that much. Just like I said before, I think her serve improved a lot. I think the coach has done a great job with her serve. With that, it makes her a better player. I think the results in this tournament are pretty good. Let us just see how she does going into the next round and see how she performs.

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