XXVI OLYMPIC GAMES

July 27, 1996

Gigi Fernandez

Mary Joe Fernandez

MARY JOE FERNANDEZ: No. The only thing we got on our beepers is that we can't bring any visitors into the village today. That is the only thing that we have been told.

MARY JOE FERNANDEZ: Yes.

MARY JOE FERNANDEZ: I hope so.

MARY JOE FERNANDEZ: I heard about it this morning when I woke up; saw it is on the news.

GIGI FERNANDEZ: Same.

MARY JOE FERNANDEZ: It was hard this morning. I think it just shocked everybody. You know, you feel a little bit scared and sad for the victims, but, you know, once we got out there, we focused and just played the tennis match.

GIGI FERNANDEZ: I think that it helped that it rained because instead of starting at 10:00 we started at 1:00, and we had -- you know, we found out like 7:30 quarter of 8:00 this morning. So during the warmup, I was thinking about it, and the fact that we could change the TV and not listen, not hear it all the time. We put the volume on in the locker room -- our TV in the place had everything and we had to concentrate on the match, so we turned it off. Got into the games and kind of tried to forget about it for our match.

MARY JOE FERNANDEZ: There was a great atmosphere out there.

MARY JOE FERNANDEZ: It was very festive.

GIGI FERNANDEZ: It was incredible. When we got here, it was somber, the security guards and everybody was quiet, and -- but I think once we got on the court, it was great. Best of a first round crowd we have ever had.

MARY JOE FERNANDEZ: I don't think so. I think --

GIGI FERNANDEZ: Moving out?

MARY JOE FERNANDEZ: I think they feel pretty safe.

GIGI FERNANDEZ: I think that is the safest place. It is impossible -- it is like -- nobody is -- even the -- I just think that it has happened in a public space and didn't happen in a place where there was any kind of security, so..... I might move into the Village now because I am not staying there.

MARY JOE FERNANDEZ: I stay in the Village the nights I don't have to play the next day.

GIGI FERNANDEZ: No.

MARY JOE FERNANDEZ: We got here - we stayed here last night. It was early when we got here. We really didn't see too many people.

MARY JOE FERNANDEZ: Yes. But we really didn't talk about it.

MARY JOE FERNANDEZ: The scare, no.

MARY JOE FERNANDEZ: She seemed okay.

GIGI FERNANDEZ: She is okay. NBC was standing there when we came in, she had said she couldn't believe it. And that was it. You know, put it behind you and concentrate on your match. And, you know, we are all professionals, so we go on the court; you just have to block it out. It is terrible a shame we have to do that because in a way you feel like it should stop, but if you stop then it gives -- that is what they want; you can't let them win, so to speak, so the games have to go on.

MARY JOE FERNANDEZ: I don't think so, no, we are far away from where it happened, so.....

MARY JOE FERNANDEZ: Gosh, I don't know.

GIGI FERNANDEZ: I guess they are so safe. We can't even drive our car down to where the buses are. That is how --

GIGI FERNANDEZ: No, I can't drive my car into the Village. I have a parking pass for here, but I cannot park anywhere near anywhere the sites and I can't drive into the Village. I have tried. I get dropped off and turn around and come back no chance, I have tried, so....

MARY JOE FERNANDEZ: I think so.

GIGI FERNANDEZ: Yeah.

MARY JOE FERNANDEZ: Yeah.

GIGI FERNANDEZ: No. In Barcelona we did.

MARY JOE FERNANDEZ: They make sure you just have your badge with you.

GIGI FERNANDEZ: In Barcelona we went through metal detectors and X-ray machines, but not here.

GIGI FERNANDEZ: Just wondering the same thing.

MARY JOE FERNANDEZ: We had a good match out there. It was entertaining.

MARY JOE FERNANDEZ: 5-Love playing unbelievable, weren't making any mistakes; then it rained and started thinking about it a little bit and they started playing a lot better. They were looser, I think, and from then on it was a close match.

MARY JOE FERNANDEZ: Once.

GIGI FERNANDEZ: At 5-Love, but we stayed on the court for like, I don't know, half an hour, and said, okay, we will go in. As soon as we got in, five minutes later, the court is dried; we had to go back out.

MARY JOE FERNANDEZ: Oh, yeah.

GIGI FERNANDEZ: We had a bye. They had already had a match. Tauziat is a great doubles player, but Mary has got a great return, so we have a tough draw. If we can get through these matches our next one is going to be probably just as hard or harder.

MARY JOE FERNANDEZ: Yeah, every match is going to be hard.

MARY JOE FERNANDEZ: We broke.

GIGI FERNANDEZ: We both lost our serves.

GIGI FERNANDEZ: You can't get hung up about losing your serve because you are going to lose your serve. It is women's doubles. It is not singles or men's doubles for that matter. Men's doubles a break is a set; particularly at the Olympics.

MARY JOE FERNANDEZ: For today it has.

MARY JOE FERNANDEZ: I think so - for sure.

GIGI FERNANDEZ: I think it is up to the media. If they are going to keep talking about it, keep talking about it, then, you know, it probably won't die. The TWA explosion, they were talking about it for a couple of days and now they don't talk about it as much. It just depends on how much it is talked about. Hopefully -- people cannot completely ignore it, people died and people are hurt and all that, but hopefully there will be great performances tonight at the athletics and basketball, whatever, and people can maybe start focusing on the games and hopefully they can go on, but it is very unfortunate and I think these games will be remembered for that incident.