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FAMILY CIRCLE CUP

April 2, 1994

Natalia Zvereva

HILTON HEAD ISLAND, SOUTH CAROLINA

Q. Your timeout, what was it for, your five minute break?

NATALIA ZVEREVA: Yeah, that was a bathroom break, sir.

Q. How does it feel to make the finals here after you have done well here in the past and now you have made it all the way?

NATALIA ZVEREVA: Not yet.

Q. Well --

NATALIA ZVEREVA: I have been playing this tournament for a while, like, what, six years in a row or something like that. I like it very much. It is just, you know, it is a great way of, you know, starting your clay court season a little bit. You know, just to play a couple of tournaments on clay, green clay, then there is red clay coming up, so it is perfect. Then after this tournament I am going to have a little rest at home.

Q. What were you thinking after what happened in the first set? What were you thinking? I mean, it went, like, really quick. What were you thinking there?

NATALIA ZVEREVA: You know, last time we played in Filderstadt, same thing happened. She just switched me off the court in the first set. And second set I had 2-Love going for me and I sort of had a tough game and didn't win it. I was, like, again switching, but today I managed to stay in the match. I was again 2-Love, and then went 2-All, and then somehow I just stayed in there. I thought it was good because she was hitting some winners from both of her wings; tough to get.

Q. When did you start dropshotting, sometime in the second set?

NATALIA ZVEREVA: Yeah, I should have remembered in the first set; just -- sometimes when you are on the court, it is hard to remember all the things, so it is good that I started thinking about it and then it works. Suddenly it clicked couple of dropshots and she didn't get to them, so it was a good idea.

Q. Did you know-- she said she had a tight thigh muscle? Were you aware of that, that she wasn't moving as well as maybe she usually does?

NATALIA ZVEREVA: Well, I thought in the second set when I was -- when it started to actually move her around a bit more, then she wasn't moving as well as she did in the first set. But I never knew there was a problem or anything like that. I just, you know, I like to stretch. I stretch all the time on the court. That is what I thought was wrong with her because she was, like, stretching constantly.

Q. For those of us who don't know, officially, it's Natalia, but why are you called Natasha?

NATALIA ZVEREVA: It is my short name. Natasha is short for Natalia. Natalia is a passport name, and when I get old, maybe children will call me like that. Plus, my dad's name, it is like -- it is an initial. It is the way children, respectfully, call adults.

Q. Natasha or the --

NATALIA ZVEREVA: Natalia.

Q. Are you playing your best tennis now or do you feel that you are at your peak now playing or do you still -- do you still get better this week or even in the coming months?

NATALIA ZVEREVA: I don't think I am playing the best of my tennis because I do certainly think when I play my best tennis, I am making winners from all over the court. That is where I think I am playing the best tennis, so obviously, I am not making winners.

It is like today, I thought in the first set I was trying to crack the ball, and I could not crack at all. I was just like making errors and stuff, but you know, just -- I guess, right now, it is not my kind of game; just to start trying to make winners at the beginning, right from the beginning of the match. I think I have to work things in.

Q. Last year you got injured in the first round, right, you had to retire. I forget what happened then.

Q. Last year in the first round?

NATALIA ZVEREVA: Yeah, I had a back problem. It was a spasm in my back, yeah, which I think I still finished that match; didn't I? Yeah. I didn't retire, yeah, it was a set and something, but --

Q. Comment on both Martinez and Majoli, what do you think of both of those players?

NATALIA ZVEREVA: Martinez and Majoli. Well, very good tennis players. What else can I say? Well, it will be really tough no matter who I play tomorrow. They are both an extremely well clay court players, very good, so I just-- it will-- both will be a tough match. See what happens.

Q. How excited are you to be in the finals; to have made it to the finals here at Hilton Head?

NATALIA ZVEREVA: I am very excited. Very, very excited.

Q. Natalia, didn't you reach the finals your very first year here.

Q. Lose in the finals?

NATALIA ZVEREVA: I don't think so. I don't think I have ever been in the final here.

Q. That was against Graf back in 88?

NATALIA ZVEREVA: Yeah, yeah. That was a really good year for me. I think it was 88, yeah, that was an extremely good year for me. Actually, I think that is where I started my really good year in 88, I think, this tournament. Then it was French, you know, some tournaments in the fall, it was good.

Q. How much better are things for you off the court? I know you have had complaints in the past about the money being taken away from you and things have changed in that aspect. Does that help with your tennis?

NATALIA ZVEREVA: Of course. It made my future secure; although, when I was playing many years ago, I just didn't know I could make any money off it. It is not fair in some sort of sense because when you do -- when -- tennis is fun, but tennis is work too, I mean, I couldn't just, you know, just be a lawyer or something or make money from another profession or occupation. So it was not fair for me not to make any money, so I was a little bit concerned of that.

Q. That first year you got through the finals. Did you get to keep any of that money that you earned from that?

NATALIA ZVEREVA: No. No. That was 88. No, I have given it up for another year and half since 88 and then I think in 90, actually maybe, 89, that is where I totally broke up with the Tennis Federation.

Q. Did you ever get the red convertible you said you wanted back then?

NATALIA ZVEREVA: That wasn't convertible. Bad memory. Just a red one.

Q. You have had some tough matches this week. How much confidence -- having won all of those, does it give you more confidence going into the finals?

NATALIA ZVEREVA: It has been an awful lot of three-setters for me this week, and you know, it is really good because I look at my body and there is no injuries, I feel really good about my body now, I mean, I haven't had a strain or anything like that in like a few months now, so-- and I spend a few -- some time in gym right now working out. I guess that helps out a lot. So I am going to continue doing that.

Q. What have you been doing in the gym, lifting weights?

NATALIA ZVEREVA: Yeah.

Q. How much time are you taking off after this tournament?

NATALIA ZVEREVA: I have two weeks off and then I am playing qualies for Federation Cup; then again a week off and I am up in Rome.

Q. This being the first clay court event of the year, you have done so well. Do you get adjusted, do you think, to clay quicker than the other players; is that a factor at all?

NATALIA ZVEREVA: No, I don't think there is anything special in me adjusting quicker, so, no, just like everybody else.

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