U.S. OPEN

September 11, 1994

Brooke Shields

BROOKE SHIELDS: This is definitely a first. This is what it looks like in here.

BROOKE SHIELDS: Excuse me?

BROOKE SHIELDS: It was very difficult, actually. It is a lot more difficult than I have anticipated, but I am getting better and I promised everybody in the group that I would get better, that I would breathe. I wasn't breathing at all in the beginning and now I am starting to breathe.

BROOKE SHIELDS: Actually, I really didn't talk to him much about tennis. I was a bit too young. I remember going to the Racket Club in South Hampton and I went with him a few times, he bought me my first little wooden racket, but he died when I was too young, really, and I never got-- I wasn't of age, really, to be that interested in tennis.

BROOKE SHIELDS: Actually, I was-- I am thinking I was five when he died.

BROOKE SHIELDS: Yes.

BROOKE SHIELDS: You know, it is strange, I have avoided tennis for a long time because there was pressure, there was a great deal of pressure for me to play tennis. My dad played tennis. And it wasn't until my little sister came along that she sort of took away some of that pressure for me. And recently I have been playing more tennis and I have a pretty good coach now, and so...

BROOKE SHIELDS: Andre seems to think that there are some of those genes in me, and he promises it's not because of bias, so...

BROOKE SHIELDS: We met-- mutual friend of ours had been wanting us to be introduced for about a year and it just took a really long time for us to meet, and we ended up communicating through writing to each other for a few months before ever meeting, so:

BROOKE SHIELDS: Lindy, she's Kenny G's wife.

BROOKE SHIELDS: I played actually one pro celebrity Chris Evert, I was the comic relief.

BROOKE SHIELDS: Well, yes, we played severe doubles. Actually, you know it has been very-- it is a lot of fun for me now to learn to play the game. I don't have any bad habits that I have to overcome. So he has actually gotten me really fresh, so, he is getting me to play a very aggressive game and hopefully once I learn to serve a little bit better I will be out there giving my support.

BROOKE SHIELDS: It was not that bad. I think he wasn't giving himself enough credit. He handled himself over the past few weeks like a real gentleman, in many ways. I mean, I would have cracked under the pressure and yet he managed to maintain his sense of humor, and his respect for all of those that are lucky enough to be around him at all.

BROOKE SHIELDS: I didn't have a very strong image of him. I knew little bits of pieces of information that people had spoken of or that I had seen, but I hadn't really zoned in, and anybody who is in the public eye, I think, is sensitive enough to the fact that what is written about and what the reality is, can be two very different things. So, didn't have any severe preconceptions, but I will say that the more time that I spend with him, my opinion of him and my feelings towards him only improve. I mean, with every day I am amazed at the quality human being that he really is.

BROOKE SHIELDS: I can't be selfish about it. People have been coming up to me and congratulating me. I have nothing to do with the way he plays tennis, you know, so I think I find that a bit odd. All I can do is love him and give him the support that he needs during this time. So this time-- these past two weeks has been a strange sort of period of time for me because it has not been about me or my world or anything; that is very, very important to me except for him. So I have been on the periphery, and it has given -- I have given myself a chance to have perspective about things that I haven't had before, so it is an odd period of time for me. I am rejoicing and yet it has been almost like a nice little vacation for me because all of my energy have been directed to him and what is important to him. It got me off myself a little bit, which is always nice.

BROOKE SHIELDS: I have been working, but formal rehearsals don't start until October 15th.

BROOKE SHIELDS: I think so. I think that there is a sensability that one learns, if they have been in the public eye from a very young age; there is a certain level of pressure that one has to sustain that is very hard to translate to those people that don't-- possibly can't understand it firsthand. So if anything, we seek refuge with one another because we are able to leave a room like this and know that there is someone else that exists that is very understanding of what this must feel like. And that kind of compassion, I think, is necessary for any type of relationship.

BROOKE SHIELDS: Don't all jump up at once. Press conference at the U.S. Open. This is so strange. Thank you.

BROOKE SHIELDS: I will be at many of the XO's with him as I can be unless rehearsal starts-- until I start full steam ahead. It is going to be difficult for me. I am dark on Mondays so if he plays on Mondays, I will do my best to be there.