AUSTRALIAN OPEN

January 27, 2004

Fabiola Zuluaga

THE MODERATOR: English questions for Fabiola, please.

FABIOLA ZULUAGA: Well, it feels good, but I didn't want it to be for the first time like this way, you know. I prefer to play. But I just have some luck today. Hopefully, I will get there in another Grand Slam by myself and playing and winning matches.

FABIOLA ZULUAGA: I knew when she finish her match against Alicia she had some back problems. She was supposed to warm up after my warm-up, and she didn't practice at all, she just warm up and she couldn't hit a ball. So I knew at that time.

FABIOLA ZULUAGA: I heard about it, but I was prepared for playing. You never know. You hear many things. I was just concentrate on the match for today. I was prepared to play at 11 o'clock, but then this happens. I was prepared for both of them.

FABIOLA ZULUAGA: No, it's okay. Two weeks tournament, it's good when you have some rest. But, as I said before, I prefer to play matches. This just happen and I just enjoy being in my first semifinal.

FABIOLA ZULUAGA: Yeah, I did. I warm up at 9:15. I'm all dressed. I'm still dressed for the match, so I was prepared for it.

FABIOLA ZULUAGA: Is been luck. I mean, I was lucky today that she didn't play, of course. She's a great player, she's tough to beat. I can beat her. As well she has beaten me many times in the whole career. But it was just luck for me today. As I said before, I wish I could play the match and win it, but you never know. These things happen. It was my turn, so...

FABIOLA ZULUAGA: I have a court at 12 o'clock and I'm gonna practice a little bit.

FABIOLA ZULUAGA: Yeah, I had 2001, like I was the whole year off. 10 months out of the tour. But now, everything is okay. Not many injuries now, so it's good.

FABIOLA ZULUAGA: I play like four tournaments at the end of that year, and then I play my first WTA tournament and I won it. So my ranking move up a little bit faster. I start playing some Tier V and IV WTA tournaments so I move a little bit quick.

FABIOLA ZULUAGA: A little bit.

FABIOLA ZULUAGA: It's okay. Normal. Some people say hi to me in the streets and they stop for autograph. But we have Montoya now, the Formula 1 driver, he's the most famous sportsman in Colombia. We have soccer players that are very famous. We have baseball players. Maybe it's me now, so (smiling)... There is a good thing for us, for tennis in Colombia. Maybe we get some more sponsors and more attention of the press and of this. So it's gonna be pretty good for us.

FABIOLA ZULUAGA: With the president, I played with two of them. Not the one is now. But they're really good with me.

FABIOLA ZULUAGA: They're nice people. They're just...

FABIOLA ZULUAGA: Pastrana, the one before Uribe, the one that is now, he plays good. But I play doubles with him and I'm the one that has to run all around the court. But he serves good and we have fun, so that's good.

FABIOLA ZULUAGA: Both are tough players but maybe I prefer to play Justine just because she's No. 1 in the world. You always want to beat the best one. And because of her game, maybe she hits more with topspin and it's easy for me to get in the rhythm of the game. Maybe Davenport plays a little bit flat, more, you know, faster.

FABIOLA ZULUAGA: Yeah, I start playing when I was seven in Cucuta.

FABIOLA ZULUAGA: C-u-c-u-t-a. That's at the frontier with Venezuela. It's a small town, 800,000 people. It's not that big. Then I move to Bogota. I went to Bollettieri's.

FABIOLA ZULUAGA: Yeah, I was with them for almost three years.

FABIOLA ZULUAGA: Yeah, there are many Colombians here, like around 60 or 70. They scream a lot during the matches. There has been great support for me here, you know. We're far away from home, and just here with my coach now, my sponsor just got here. So it's good that I have many people around.

FABIOLA ZULUAGA: Oh, yeah, they're getting crazy now, and they're so happy. They been calling many times and they've been sending me e-mails, everything. They're getting crazy.

FABIOLA ZULUAGA: Yeah. Is the first time. Even get into the quarters. They were getting crazy there with that result, so imagine now (laughing).

FABIOLA ZULUAGA: Nothing. I never talk to him. I don't know him. I just know him from the TV. My parents met him once when he wasn't president yet. So I don't know him. I want to met him. He's pretty famous at home, so...

FABIOLA ZULUAGA: Alvaro Uribe.

FABIOLA ZULUAGA: Alvaro.

FABIOLA ZULUAGA: That's all right.

FABIOLA ZULUAGA: Mauricio Hadad as well.

FABIOLA ZULUAGA: Colsatinas. It's prepaid medicine company.

FABIOLA ZULUAGA: C-o-l-s-a-t-i-n-a-s. They have hospitals, clinics, pharmacies. You know, you pay something during the monthly and then...

FABIOLA ZULUAGA: Yeah.

FABIOLA ZULUAGA: Yep.

FABIOLA ZULUAGA: It's motivation. I feel really happy. I just want to keep going and going and going and doing good things for my country, you know. We not in a good way at home, so all of the things are really good for us. We enjoying it. We having fun with this. We forgetting all the bad things we have, like almost every day. So it is good. I feel good being one of those Colombians doing good things for us. So just help me to go farther and farther.

FABIOLA ZULUAGA: Yeah, when I played Venus, yeah. That was crazy.

FABIOLA ZULUAGA: Yeah, maybe.

FABIOLA ZULUAGA: Yeah.

FABIOLA ZULUAGA: Yeah, it was good.