EVERT CUP

March 6, 1999

Martina Hingis

Q. What is your feeling about this first match, from the way you played and from the way she played?

MARTINA HINGIS: Well, I think it was a very good match for the beginning, to come into this tournament. I mean, you can see where your game is, especially against her. She had nothing to lose. She served big. I mean, she's a big girl anyway. But she had a very high standard. It was kind of, sometimes, very frustrating for me. You get the return back, and boom-boom, two aces come right after that. But I think it was a very good match coming into this tournament. I was very focused. After the sun came down a little bit, I lost my concentration, going up 3-1 in the second set. I'm used to the Californian sun now, and all of a sudden it was gone.

MARTINA HINGIS: I mean, it's good. You're at the tournament, you go and watch some tennis. I haven't seen it for a while.

MARTINA HINGIS: How much is she in school? I'm sorry.

MARTINA HINGIS: I know. I know. She played a lot juniors, too. I think she's doing very good. She's doing like the last in June, her tests, then she'll be done. After that she's going to turn pro.

MARTINA HINGIS: She's not sure?

MARTINA HINGIS: I think she would do quite well turning pro.

MARTINA HINGIS: As I said before, it's like you work for your points. Especially for me, when I get into the rallies, for me it was more that I had to win the points. She could hit another ace and then I was like, "Okay." Just walk there and back all the time. It was a good test.

MARTINA HINGIS: How far I what?

MARTINA HINGIS: Tennis has improved anyway since last year so much, especially the women's tennis. That side is getting faster every three, four months, I would say. Even me, I learned a lot from last year. I hope I won't make the same mistakes, not just lucky by winning this tournament last year, Key Biscayne, all the others. I love this tournament, actually. I played here only once last year, and I was very successful, and I hope I can do it again.

MARTINA HINGIS: I didn't have any problems.

MARTINA HINGIS: Of course, you always have a few things you don't agree with. But, no.

MARTINA HINGIS: So far, yes. But we'll see.

MARTINA HINGIS: Last time I played her was the championships. She first has to win against Molly. She came from the quallies, won the first round. She's not that easy to play, I think. She had quite a few matches here. But she's a lefty. She has a tricky serve, which I think is very dangerous. But I watched her when she played in Hannover. She's been in the Top 10. What is her ranking now, 14?

MARTINA HINGIS: I'm looking forward to that match because there you really can see where my game is at, what could I improve, if it's not going well, just anything. I just want to play well.

MARTINA HINGIS: Yeah.

MARTINA HINGIS: It was like the week before we played Fed Cup, the finals there. I was cramping there. I was run out of gas, I guess, there in Munich. It's not an official tournament anyway, so it's not important. But you don't like to lose, definitely. Next time I played her was championships, and I won there. So we'll see what's going to happen.

MARTINA HINGIS: Oh, yeah, pretty much. I'm here since Sunday night. I was practicing two times a day, working out.

MARTINA HINGIS: I lost my serve there twice, so I was a little bit, you know, upset maybe, disappointed the way I gave up those games. Especially, I was up 3-1 and I could have closed it out, but I didn't. She played some great games there. I mean, she didn't miss as much as before. It kind of surprised me, so I had to raise my level a bit again, put another gear in there. That's what I did to come back and win it 6-4.

MARTINA HINGIS: I think that's her privacy. That's not something I can discuss because I have not seen her that much. I just read the same thing as you did when I was at home, because I wasn't around. This is something I can't talk about really.

MARTINA HINGIS: I'm not playing Fed Cup this year.

MARTINA HINGIS: Late news.

MARTINA HINGIS: I'm free as a bird now. How nice. Well, I did some things here when I came here. I'm doing my stuff; she's doing hers. Peaceful, very quiet so far. You just first have to come up with results, then you can do some interviews and all these other things. So far I'm happy with the way things went.

MARTINA HINGIS: I didn't have that much time actually. We played the finals on Saturday, so Sunday the shops were closed, bad luck.

MARTINA HINGIS: You look at Lindsay, Monica, Mary, Williams sisters. I kind of like it. In the beginning I didn't, because sometimes they were killing me. Now, I think I got stronger, too. My body has changed in a way. I serve better also today, in the other matches, too, in Australia and Tokyo. It was a big improvement, I was working on that, trying to keep up with them.

MARTINA HINGIS: Well, you have to use your brain more, I guess, just try to make the game slower so they can't overpower you in that way, just make them run because they're tall and big, so they're not as -- they can't move as well as I should move because I'm smaller and can be faster and more tricky out there. But it's always been like this, since I play. I've always been younger. They were always more powerful. I kind of grew up like this. It's not been a big problem. Once in a while.

MARTINA HINGIS: Really?

MARTINA HINGIS: Oh, it's great. I mean, in Australia, when you can start over the year there, the crowd has been getting bigger and bigger each year. In Tokyo, it was sold out every day. Even I played in France now last week, so every day I played with the French girls, especially. They have five girls in the Top 20, Mauresmo definitely making the finals at the Australian Open. The fans are growing. That's great for women's tennis. Also here, everybody wants to come to see Monica play today, Kournikova, me. They want to see how I do.

MARTINA HINGIS: Glamour, how short the skirts are, things like this?

MARTINA HINGIS: I think it brings a different style into the game. You want watch ice skating. I love watching ice skating, as you can could see last night, Walt Disney showed Michelle Kwan. Ice skating is very feminine. The dresses are getting shorter and shorter. I think it's nice. Especially here you have men and women, men start playing tomorrow. Different outfits and everything makes it more interesting, and the type of games, too. The more glamour, the more feminism in the game, I think it's nice. I would like to go watch some guys, too, if I could. Tennis, the game has gained popularity, and that's very good.