CHASE CHAMPIONSHIPS OF THE COREL WTA TOUR

November 19, 1997

Mary Joe Fernandez

Q. Mary Joe, what was going through your head after that fall?

MARY JOE FERNANDEZ: I was extremely embarrassed after the fall, to be honest. You know, before the fall I felt that I was playing okay. I wasn't playing that badly, but I just wasn't converting on the big points. And, like I said on the court, it's very tough playing against Lindsay because she doesn't give you much of a chance to go into the rallies, and if you don't take the first ball away from her, you're in trouble. Puts that much more pressure on you, because every time you have a game point or break point -- I think up to that point I hadn't broken yet. I had a couple break points, but I wasn't able to convert. You know, finally I think at 4-3 I played a good game. And I think she made a few unforced errors, and that basically got me back into the match.

MARY JOE FERNANDEZ: Not anything specifically. Like I said, I tried to take the ball as early as possible. Try not to give her the time she needs to set up and put the balls away. So, I was just trying to cut the angle off. If I could hit it down the angle, it was better, because it was her left side. It's a harder shot. But I think when you play someone like Lindsay or Monica or Mary that's what you have to do.

MARY JOE FERNANDEZ: I've had a lot of good matches this year. This was nice because I didn't come into this tournament with a lot of confidence. I had a few tough matches in Europe and lost early in Chicago. So, I was, you know, pleased with the way I play all year except the last couple weeks. So, it was nice to come here and put it together and play well.

MARY JOE FERNANDEZ: I think I was match point up first.

MARY JOE FERNANDEZ: But at the same time, I was up 40-15 at 4-All, and I think I had a game point. So in my mind I thought geez, this should be my match point when I broke for 5-All. And then you get the match points. And I think the first one I played a good point; came up with a big shot. And then up 6-3 in the tiebreak. You just try to go for it because, you know, if the ball is in her court, she's going to hit a winner. She hit a couple good serves. And it was just going back and forth. It didn't look too good there when she finally got it back and had match point.

MARY JOE FERNANDEZ: She's such a powerful player and she's so talented. She could hit winners from any part of the court. She's really improved her serve. She's been serving well and I've been watching her play a little bit, and she's been getting a lot of three points on her serve and getting out of a lot of jams. But, you know, intimidated no, because I play her so much and we practice so much together that, you know, I go out there, like I said, trying to dictate as much as possible, as much as she allows me to.

MARY JOE FERNANDEZ: I don't have a good record against Irina. My game doesn't match up against hers. I haven't played her in a while, so hopefully I can go out there and put a good match together.

MARY JOE FERNANDEZ: It's real sore because it's stinging. I scraped my skin off. But fortunately it's not something affects the way you stroke the ball. It's skin, like a rug burn.

MARY JOE FERNANDEZ: No, um-um.

MARY JOE FERNANDEZ: I'm not sure.

MARY JOE FERNANDEZ: I don't know. All I know is I hit a good shot and I was very excited because I was going to come in and take it out of the air, and the next thing I knew, my feet left me. I was like where is the ground? And so I don't know if I tripped or got stuck. I'm not sure.

MARY JOE FERNANDEZ: Yeah, one of those.

MARY JOE FERNANDEZ: We're friends again.

MARY JOE FERNANDEZ: I know her game. And I think it's tough, she's been playing a few weeks in a row and been winning, and I think it's always tough to come into the last tournament of the year. She played a really tough match Sunday against Hingis. I think it was 7-6 in the third as well. She might have been a little bit tired. And, you know, it's tough to keep it up. It's tough to keep the high level of play throughout. And, you know, she's been playing extremely well for the last six weeks.

MARY JOE FERNANDEZ: No. Because she's hits a lot bigger than I do. And she can take me out of the court much easier than I could hurt her. But I definitely would rather play a Davenport hitter than someone like Spirlea. But I don't match up, no.