FAMILY CIRCLE CUP

March 27, 1995

Zina Garrison

ZINA GARRISON JACKSON: Well, you've probably been hearing that. Well, basically, I mean, it is my last year, but I mean, I'm kind of like right now enjoying playing, so just may play a couple more tournaments; see what happens, but I'm not 80 percent sure that it will be for sure. So you've probably been hearing confusion. (LAUGHTER.) But I mean, it's very likely that I won't be back here; if I do, it's doubles.

ZINA GARRISON JACKSON: Like I said, right now, I'm enjoying playing so, you know, even though I am -- I've been playing some good matches I just haven't been winning. I feel when I'm out there I've enjoyed my practices and I'm just going with the flow and, you know, going after it and just enjoying it.

ZINA GARRISON JACKSON: Traveling, I hate travelling. I mean, the travelling is the biggest part for me. Just to get on a plane to come somewhere is the most difficult part. Once I get to the place then I really have fun because I have lots of friends, but I'm geared more to family oriented, that part of my life, so that's the most difficult part.

ZINA GARRISON JACKSON: Yeah, I would like to.

ZINA GARRISON JACKSON: My focus would be definitely to bring more inner city kids into tennis and right now I have Zina Garrison On-Court Tennis Academy and right now it's geared to tennis and it's already taken up a lot of my time, so it will take up all of my time once I've finished, so I'm just still trying to get a major sponsor. And, basically, also in order to have it free, it's a very difficult situation and I've seen a lot of projects where the kids just -- not even on the court, but just off the court as well and I believe that my gift is to give back to the inner city kids because it's where I came from and I really believe if I don't do it, then it's not going to be done.

ZINA GARRISON JACKSON: I've had over 2,500 since last November. We've already gone through one year and it's about 560 kids go through a semester.

ZINA GARRISON JACKSON: It's already one year and what, two or three months.

ZINA GARRISON JACKSON: They've talked about helping me. I haven't seen it yet. Les Snyder did come down and visited the program, but still as of yet, I have not seen a check or had any help.

ZINA GARRISON JACKSON: I honestly believe that we have a great program and that we need financial support and we've been really fortunate enough to have people in Houston and even some outsiders donate some of their own money. I've put in my own money as well, but I think in order to keep it going it needs a major sponsor.

ZINA GARRISON JACKSON: Up and down. A lot of people always, you know, when I talk about retiring or is this going to be my last year when you didn't win a Grand Slam, do you feel bad about that. I think overall I've had a great career. I think a lot of people would love to be in the situation that I'm in and a lot of people have in the world to compete in and I've always been a player that have I know once I get in the court I give 110 percent and if I didn't win, it was definitely by errors or just not putting out the way that I need to put out strokewise maybe, but as far as me giving it my all, I mean, I have to say that I've gone a done a great job.

ZINA GARRISON JACKSON: I think the reason it won't haunt me is because once you get older you learn to weigh the negatives and the positives in your life and I think that, you know, I've had a lot of things that have happened in my life from being bulimic; to have my mother dying at a very young age, to feeling that I had to be the black top American, pressures likes that, I mean, that I felt were a lot tougher for me to deal with and I dealt with them and then came out to be the person that I am now. So I wouldn't look back at my career and feel guilty about anything.

ZINA GARRISON JACKSON: And I have -- I beat Martina once again.

ZINA GARRISON JACKSON: Well, it was definitely a different experience and basically I had been -- you know, playing very good tennis basically in all my years leading up to that, but I never really got the endorsements until it was like I had to prove myself, but by getting to a Grand Slam final or being able to stop players and then in the 1990, you know, I came on team with Reebok and Yonnex as well, but in a way, it was a little frustrating that I had to go through all that to get some of the things that a lot of girls that came over me never have done or still haven't done. But in a lot of ways, it's still like, you know, my coach that started me off, if we work hard, those things will come and you shouldn't have to worry about them. So in that part, it was definitely a positive because it was for the first time that I really understood what someone meant by hard work and everything paying off.

ZINA GARRISON JACKSON: It definitely -- that was definitely an adjustment period for me because all of a sudden, you know, people were starting to recognize me and doing things for me that I wasn't normally getting done for me. I had to adjust to that, but I think that it all came to the right time in my life and I was able to deal with it at an older age than maybe if it would have happened to me at 18 or 19 years old, it would have kind of been a little more difficult.

ZINA GARRISON JACKSON: I think that if I would have ever had to do anything over again, I think getting to the finals of Wimbledon, I wouldn't have traveled so much after that. I think I traveled six months straight and went home maybe three weeks and maybe not even that, maybe two weeks and it took a lot out of me and a long time to get over it. I think if there's anything that I would have had to do in my career over again, I think it would have been choosing not to travel as much as I did in that period because a lot of people wanted to see me play and I was playing exhibition and I was playing tournaments and it took a lot out of me.

ZINA GARRISON JACKSON: You lose motivation because you're actually traveling so much and you're going to places you don't want to go. But maybe the money is right and so you kind of go anyway and maybe your agent or people are telling you that maybe you should, and I think that's the part in tennis where, I, myself, or someone younger or you get into -- you lose control kind of your life. And I think if I had anything to do over again, I would do that.

ZINA GARRISON JACKSON: I've had some great U S Open's. I beat Chris and I beat Martina as well. And the match against Chris definitely will probably be remembered because I beat her in her last U.S. Open, and I definitely remember it because I had 500 people, if that many, clapping for me and the other 15,000 for her, but you know, the worst part was not that particular match, but afterwards I spent about a month where people really didn't know if they wanted to clap for me because it was strange. I remember going to a couple of tournaments after that and I'm used to people clapping for me, and they didn't really know if they wanted to clap for me or not because Chris meant so much to tennis.

ZINA GARRISON JACKSON: Yeah.

ZINA GARRISON JACKSON: I was mixed only because of the fact that I am an emotional person and I understood what she brought to tennis, but on the other hand, in that particular picture where I was crying and she hugging me is that I was so happy that I pulled through a match and that I was down and all of a sudden I was winning and I played exceptionally well under the conditions.

ZINA GARRISON JACKSON: I think I'm just really fortunate enough that I've always had a lot of older people around me that helped me to understand at a very young age that maybe I was put here for a reason and that too, the fact that I am pretty outspoken and I do express my opinions and that I believe that, you know, it's -- that everyone has someone to look up to whether you want to look up to them or not. At least if you see that there's a black American ahead, then you know that you have that opportunity or the chance to at least play professional tennis. I've always taken it as a challenge. And to be honest, in the beginning of my career it was very distracting because I didn't understand it, and I was really fortunate enough to have people around me to turn it around into positives instead of negatives.

ZINA GARRISON JACKSON: I've been dabbing in it off and on for about a year-and-a-half now, and you know, I was pretty sure about it until I talked to Billy Jean King a couple of times and she says Zina, just play and -- just play and then it will happen. So I think that's kind of where, you know, I just said to her that, you know, I feel really happy about my tennis right now and I feel excited to be on the court and playing, so she just advised me to go out and play and then I'll know when it happens. So that's why I'm in that stage right now.

ZINA GARRISON JACKSON: I talked to her, like, a couple of weeks ago and then I talked to her in November. She's been really helpful to me in these last couple of months. I'd say she's been very helpful in just dealing with what's happening in my life right now and the way I'm dealing with it.

ZINA GARRISON JACKSON: This is -- I mean, this is -- this is like a very emotional tournament for me because this has always been my favorite tournament. You know, if you looked at me you guys or wherever, I've always been more like Hilton Head is one of my favorite tournaments, and I think that has a lot to do with the way the FamilyCircle is run and the people that are behind it. All the players would probably tell you that we're always treated very special here, and not saying that, you know, people cater to us or whatever, but people here are more warm and friendly and it's a more intimate tournament, and you can walk around and talk to people and speak to people coming from all over but they're still very warm and courteous to you and you don't feel very threatened like something might happen to you.

ZINA GARRISON JACKSON: It sounds like a great --

ZINA GARRISON JACKSON: I think that's why -- another part of me is here because I qualified here and, you know, it led me on to maybe two more matches before I became a ranked player. So, you know, I've always -- I remember playing Billy Jean in doubles one year here and it's just always been very special to me here, so I've always enjoyed it.

ZINA GARRISON JACKSON: I think just the world today, I think you automatically think that. I think that the tennis association has done a good job in helping protect you because - after what's happened to Monica, but I think there are certain tournaments where you feel a little bit better and a little more warm, and I think that's just one of them. And Eastbourne I'd say you feel the same. So I think you just feel a lot -- to me, it's beautiful; everyone is walking around, everyone is having a great time.

ZINA GARRISON JACKSON: Yeah.

ZINA GARRISON JACKSON: I think that in the last year the Women's Tour -- WTA Tour has done a great job in trying to improve women's tennis and it's been very difficult and we've had a lot of negative press, but I think in the next couple of years that the that negative press will turn into a positive and I think you'll be able to see a major difference.

ZINA GARRISON JACKSON: Thank you.

DEBBIE EDWARDS: Okay.