US OPEN

August 31, 2002

Martina Hingis

MODERATOR: Questions for Martina.

MARTINA HINGIS: A lot better. You know, I think like if I wouldn't play the way I played today, you know, hanging in those long rallies, I probably would have had a lot of trouble against her. But, yeah, I was like trying always to be pressing and be on top. Once she made me running, I got into trouble. Yeah, I'm pretty pleased with today's match.

MARTINA HINGIS: Sure. Every time you go out there, you know you can handle the opponent. I feel like every time physically and mentally I'm improving, last longer. Yeah, everything starts coming together.

MARTINA HINGIS: It's like having two surgeries in less than 10 months, it definitely toughens you up in a way. You learn to be patient. You know if this tournament doesn't work out as you probably set the goal. But right now I'm not in a hurry. You learn to be patient, just try to do the best you can at this moment. You just try to get better in the next few weeks, month. Right now I'm looking almost into the indoor season, then into next year. You have plenty of time.

MARTINA HINGIS: Every day passing by, I feel like I'm improving, better every match. I think I played pretty good today. It's like those balls, you have long rallies, it's hard to make the point, it's hard to kill the point. With her, she's a very speedy player. She always gets the shots which sometimes would be a winner, but then she has nothing really to hurt me with. That's kind of nice. It was a good test today.

MARTINA HINGIS: Well, that's going to be a harder task. But definitely I'm not counting it out. You always have hopes. As a top player, always want to look forward to the next match and give the best.

MARTINA HINGIS: You've got to be realistic. I just came off surgery. I played a couple events, made quarterfinals. Maybe I wish I had done better there. I feel like I learn from the last two weeks, already playing a lot better here. But still there is a lot I have to catch up with. We'll see.

MARTINA HINGIS: Yeah, I watched her matches, especially against Schwartz. That was a close one. I mean, it was almost like my first.

MARTINA HINGIS: I watched it until 6-1, 5-1. I was like, "That's going to be over in a minute." I don't know what happened later. It's good. She's going to be tired.

MARTINA HINGIS: I know that she lost to her in Fed Cup. It's probably not her favorite opponent. You know, she came out of that, won it. That's all that counts at the end.

MARTINA HINGIS: I don't know. We'll see in the match.

MARTINA HINGIS: I think I have to -- I don't feel like at this point it's where I was in Australia. Maybe I'm similar, but the game has even gotten better. It's hard to say right now. The sisters have been playing very well. If you want to beat one of them, you really have to definitely step it up. There's still a few things I have to work on, especially the physical part. I have to maintain the routine, just work on that.

MARTINA HINGIS: Yeah. In a way, I think I almost rushed it. I just missed the competition. I thought I was there where I was supposed to be to play a tournament. I won the first couple matches. But it takes me a lot longer to recover right now than I thought it would. But with a Grand Slam, that's perfect. You always have a day off. My doctor is also here, so I do a lot of like exercises, rehab, massage, all these things to get me going for the next one.

MARTINA HINGIS: Well, I thought I could, you know, always like one day doubles, one day singles instead of almost practicing. I mean, you wouldn't think I would have a schedule like today. But it can happen. We kind of thought like, "Okay, give it a try, see how that goes." I felt like, yeah, I'm ready, for this tournament I would be ready.

MARTINA HINGIS: No, I'm not.

MARTINA HINGIS: A lot. I've been watching the tennis, even if I wasn't playing, competing. You just miss it, to have the routine, the discipline, to practice. Like two months, I had no plan, no schedule. I was almost going crazy. You like it for a few weeks, but then you miss that, just the competition.

MARTINA HINGIS: Well, you miss everything, the whole atmosphere of everything, definitely cheered on, applause. But that kind of came the last in my mind. I was happy to start practicing and start feeling better, then that would come along with it.

MARTINA HINGIS: In a way, I think it's great. It just got me that I have to play singles and doubles. I don't love that.