PILOT PEN TENNIS

August 22, 2002

Laura Granville

LAURA GRANVILLE: Yeah, I think I am pretty worn out physically and mentally emotionally, so I am really glad I have, I think, three days off now before the Open and yeah, I think I am just going to rest a lot the next few days and just try and get really rested for the Open.

LAURA GRANVILLE: Gosh, I would rank this as the Top-3 tournaments this year along with Wimbledon and last week, this week has just been great. It has been really exciting for me. I came into it and this is one of the toughest tournaments of the year, you know, the draw is only 28, I think, and most of the top players are here. I was just hoping to win some matches in the qualifying and I did better than that. So I was really happy with that.

LAURA GRANVILLE: No. (Laughs) I was just hoping to hold my serve after that. But yeah, it was nice to get that first game. But I really didn't capitalize on it, so...

LAURA GRANVILLE: Well, after playing her, she is an amazing player, and, you know, she's a terrific athlete, and also a very powerful, really good tennis player. So you combine those two things and she's -- I think she's probably the best player I have ever played against. I think it was a good learning experience for me, and, you know, if you want to play with the top players - like she's one of them - and, you know, it shows me different things I need to improve on, and I think when you are winning a lot, you maybe lose sight of things that you need to work on. So I think this was -- after this match I really know what I have to work on.

LAURA GRANVILLE: Well, I think it really helps my confidence a lot, and at the US Open, it's the Grand Slam here in the US so for all the American players, it's probably one of the top tournaments of the year, all of the American players I think really focus on it and we want to do well there. I am really excited about the way I am playing, and I am really looking forward to it because last year I lost in the first round so hopefully I can do better than that.

LAURA GRANVILLE: Well, I went out and hit yesterday just because I was afraid to take the day off completely. But I actually was around here a lot for some of the day and I got a massage too. That might not have been a good idea but I tried to get out of here before, you know, three or so, so it was an early day, I guess.

LAURA GRANVILLE: Well, I think it's pretty intimidating especially since it was on the stadium court and I haven't really played many matches on stadium courts. So I think it's a new experience, and it's something that I have to get used to, and I think that hopefully if I play more matches I will get more and more comfortable on big courts, playing big players.

LAURA GRANVILLE: No, I wasn't.

LAURA GRANVILLE: Yes.

LAURA GRANVILLE: Yeah, I definitely think so because in juniors and in college obviously you are not on -- you are not playing in stadiums like that, and I think this is the second time in my career that I have played on a big stadium court, so I think it's something that, I don't know, maybe after three, four times might get a little bit more comfortable. But it's a pretty intimidating experience in the beginning.

LAURA GRANVILLE: Well, I think that -- I think it was -- I definitely wasn't as comfortable on the stadium court, but Venus didn't let me play my game and that's what it comes down to. If I was maybe playing another player it would have been different, but she really didn't give me a chance.

LAURA GRANVILLE: Well, I think the majority is rest. I think that I might hit a little bit on Saturday or if I play on Tuesday might just take the next two days off, so I think rest at this point is really, really important. And just when I get to New York I want to get used to the courts. But that's about it.

LAURA GRANVILLE: Yeah, I think that after playing so many matches you kind of -- you go up and down from day-to-day. It's really hard to keep that same intense level every single day. I had to do something similar in NCAA's you have to play the team event and then the next day starts the individual event. That's about, I would say that's maybe nine or ten days of playing straight matches. But after playing the NCAA's I was not as tired as I am now. I think this has probably been the most intense period of stretch of matches that I have had to play.