CHASE CHAMPIONSHIPS OF THE COREL WTA TOUR

November 20, 1996

Amanda Coetzer

AMANDA COETZER: Just a general comment? I felt very disappointed, obviously, to walk away with the loss. But I felt Novotna played really well. She was confident and I felt like the first set was really, really close and just a few points here and there could have made quite a difference. And the second set, three points just went a little too quick, she lifted her game a little and just played too well for a few games.

AMANDA COETZER: I try not to really think about the outcome of the match. I've been concentrating hard to just focus on my own game and focus on one thing at a time and focus, because I felt like I've been hitting the ball really well and I've been practicing really well, compared to my last few tournaments. So myself I felt really confident. But anybody in this draw could have been tough. I just wanted to concentrate on my own game.

AMANDA COETZER: I think so. I can't really say from tonight's match because I haven't really played on Supreme that much, but I've watched her all year and I think she definitely has improved her game. She did well on all the surfaces, on clay, and everything. So I really -- I think she's really worked on her game and I give her respect for that.

AMANDA COETZER: Me at the moment?

AMANDA COETZER: People next year?

AMANDA COETZER: Well, I think it really depends from player to player. I've been one of the players that have been playing the most for the last two years, just because I think it's good for my game to play a lot. Compared to somebody like Steffi I play maybe three, maybe four matches a week, where somebody like her plays seven or something. So for me I've played between 22, 23 tournaments. So it's something that I'm used to and that I like personally. But I think it's something that's tough to maintain over a long period of time. I think it's going to be tough for players to have a long career and we'll just have to see how it works next year to really evaluate how good it is.

AMANDA COETZER: I don't know. It's been two years right now that I've played a lot and I have to admit that I've put in a lot of work off the court just to prepare myself physically, because when I started working with Gavin Hopper, it's one of the things that we set out to do is to play a certain amount of matches per year, something about 70 to 80 matches a year. And we did the work beforehand to prepare myself physically and I've really been lucky not having had any injuries. So it's debatable, I think.

AMANDA COETZER: Yeah, I think there's been a lot of talk about a little bit of a shortened season, and I think that would go down really well, maybe have -- play until the end of October or something. They've talked about that. And I think that would give players the chance to just reorganize themselves, maybe work on their game. But I think definitely it really depends on the player. Somebody like me, as well, I have to work pretty hard in every match I play. And some people win matches easier. So it's something that's very debatable at the moment.