US OPEN

August 31, 1998

Mary Joe Fernandez

Q. Of course the first question is always going to be about the wrist.

MARY JOE FERNANDEZ: It is doing better. It has been getting better every week. I think it is hopefully going to continue to get better. Really no major complaint. It gets stiff every once in a while, but in general, it is getting better. It feels good.

MARY JOE FERNANDEZ: Like I said, everyday gets a little bit better. I don't think it is where I want it to be at. It is still a little ways to go, but my range of motion is getting back to where it used to be and my strength is not there yet. But it is feeling almost like it is almost there.

MARY JOE FERNANDEZ: No, every match is tough, every match I have played in the last couple weeks has been really tough for me. I haven't had any easy ones. I am competing well. I am getting a little mentally tougher, which is something you lose for a while. I think I am moving well, and I am hitting the ball better. Like I said, every week has gone a little bit better and I feel a little bit more confident and the first couple of weeks when I came back, I felt a little bit awkward and spastic on the court and still on big points, I am a little bit unsure of myself, or a little hesitant. But I think that the more matches that I play, and the more weeks that I can continue to play it is going to come a little bit more naturally.

MARY JOE FERNANDEZ: It is really humid. It has been really humid for the last week. And I think that people are perspiring more than normal. That might have something to do with it.

MARY JOE FERNANDEZ: I felt so-so. I got really dehydrated last Thursday in New Haven. I guess I still haven't recovered 100% from it. I had a long day of matches and it was hot and humid and got a bit dehydrated. I think for me it was a little bit tougher, but it is humid. I was fortunate that it was -- really wasn't hot out there, but it is still tough conditions because you are perspiring a lot and you have got to drink a lot and I am not the best at doing that. I've really got to force myself when I am playing to keep the fluids coming.

MARY JOE FERNANDEZ: No.

MARY JOE FERNANDEZ: Yeah.

MARY JOE FERNANDEZ: A little bit. It is definitely a different feeling. But like I said, nowadays matches are tough from the start. Every week that I have played, last few weeks, I have drawn whoever first round and I think that is the way it is going to be for a while until I start doing well and get my ranking back up. But, yeah, it is tougher. It is a lot tougher.

MARY JOE FERNANDEZ: She was good. I had never seen her play before. I thought she played really well. Solid. Had a good serve; trouble reading where she was going to serve and hit the ball nicely.

MARY JOE FERNANDEZ: I think that happens to everyone. I think after the initial, you know, whatever -- initial coming onto the Tour, it is a surprise, nobody knows how you play. Second year is always tougher, second and third year because people do start figuring out how to beat you. The older players have a lot of experience and I think they find ways to win. But, still, the younger -- players are knocking on their door and they are continuing to pressure them and it will be a matter of time before they start to win more. But I think it is a good mix. It is a good mixture, good rivalries, and I think we see the older players doing well because they have less pressure. The focus is on the youngsters and attention and media is really focused on the up-and-coming ones so I think the older ones say: Hey, I still play well and let me just work my way through the draw; nobody really is noticing it; if I am in the semis and finals, anything can happen.

MARY JOE FERNANDEZ: For sure, no question.

MARY JOE FERNANDEZ: Yeah.

MARY JOE FERNANDEZ: Now?

MARY JOE FERNANDEZ: I'd definitely play differently. For sure. I think you play according to the time -- the era that you grew up in. I grew up in an era of not making mistakes and the key was to hit one more ball back and to be really consistent and now that is not the case anymore. It is: Hit it hard and hit winners and go for your shots. It is okay to make mistakes, people out there making 25 unforced errors, but if they make 30 winners, they are going to win the match. That is definitely, I think, how youngsters are taught to play nowadays.

MARY JOE FERNANDEZ: I think she feels sometimes that she does have to against some of the big power players like Lindsay Davenport or Venus Williams. But I think that she is so smart and she anticipates so well and just so -- I guess, I don't know what the word is -- I mean, just very intuitive on the court that that is her asset. You are not going to have 10 out of the Top-10 being big hitters, you are always going to have somebody that is playing differently. She is the exception in the young ones that have come up. She really still knows how to develop a point and is very smart on the court.