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TMS - INDIAN WELLS, WOMEN

March 14, 2000

Elena Dementieva

INDIAN WELLS, CALIFORNIA

WTA: Questions for Elena.

Q. How does it feel to be in the semifinals?

ELENA DEMENTIEVA: I'm very exciting. I think it's good experience for me. It's the best tournament in my life, so I'm very happy to be in the semis.

Q. Did you play better today than you did when you beat Venus in the Fed Cup?

ELENA DEMENTIEVA: Yeah, I think so. I play much better.

Q. In what areas? What part of your game was better?

ELENA DEMENTIEVA: I mean, my serve and my backhand today was very good.

Q. You make less errors than before. Have you been working on your consistency?

ELENA DEMENTIEVA: Yes. I work very hard in Moscow every day. I'm not surprised to be in the semis. It's a good result for my work.

Q. You live in Moscow?

ELENA DEMENTIEVA: Yes.

Q. And who is your coach?

ELENA DEMENTIEVA: Sergey Pashkov. He's in Moscow.

Q. Does he travel with you?

ELENA DEMENTIEVA: No. I'm travel with my mom always.

Q. If you need some help at a tournament, who do you go to?

ELENA DEMENTIEVA: To my mom.

Q. Did she play tennis, your mother?

ELENA DEMENTIEVA: No, she's not, but she's love tennis. That's why I'm here.

Q. Is she in the room today, your mother?

ELENA DEMENTIEVA: Yes.

Q. How much publicity do you get at home in your newspapers in Russia when you play? Is there much publicity about your matches?

ELENA DEMENTIEVA: I don't know. But I don't think it's too much because it's always about Anna Kournikova.

Q. Are you happy for it to be like that? Does it help you, do you think, not to have quite so much spotlight on you?

ELENA DEMENTIEVA: Yeah, I think so. I like it.

Q. What do you think about Anna Kournikova? How do you view her?

ELENA DEMENTIEVA: I think everyone knows here very well. No comment.

Q. Do you know her well yourself?

ELENA DEMENTIEVA: No.

Q. As a person, you don't?

ELENA DEMENTIEVA: No.

Q. Have you played her?

ELENA DEMENTIEVA: No. Maybe seven years ago when I just start to play because I was starting the same club.

Q. Was it the Fed Cup win which really gave you that big push forward possibly in your confidence?

ELENA DEMENTIEVA: Yeah, I think so because now I believe in myself. I think that I can beat such a great player like Venus or the Top-10 players. Yes, it's helped me much.

Q. And what is your favorite surface to play on?

ELENA DEMENTIEVA: This surface.

Q. Will you play Fed Cup in April in Moscow?

ELENA DEMENTIEVA: I want to play, but I'm not sure if I will.

Q. Because you are not sure to be in the team?

ELENA DEMENTIEVA: Because we have so many players, Anna Kournikova, Likhovtseva, Panova. I'm always ready to play.

Q. Do you know if Kournikova and Likhovtseva are going to play?

ELENA DEMENTIEVA: I'm not sure. Anna Kournikova said that she want to play.

Q. You might play Lindsay Davenport in the semifinals. Have you ever played with her, practiced with her? What do you think about that?

ELENA DEMENTIEVA: In the Fed Cup, I played against her. I lost 6-4, 6-Love.

Q. What would be your plan against her?

ELENA DEMENTIEVA: I don't have no idea how to play against her, but I will try my best game.

Q. Have you set yourself any sort of targets, ranking targets, something like that for this year?

ELENA DEMENTIEVA: Sorry? I don't understand.

Q. Do you want to be at a certain point in the rankings this year?

ELENA DEMENTIEVA: I don't think about my ranking, so I just play. I want to play better. The ranking, it's not important for me.

Q. What are the parts of your game that you most want to improve at the moment?

ELENA DEMENTIEVA: Volleys, my volleys.

Q. In the tour book, it says that you have a tremendous desire to be ranked No. 1.

ELENA DEMENTIEVA: Yeah, I try.

Q. But you just said you don't think about your ranking.

ELENA DEMENTIEVA: Yeah, but I mean, why I'm here, I want to play tennis because I want to be the best.

Q. You seem very athletic. I'm wondering, how did you happen to choose tennis among other sports?

ELENA DEMENTIEVA: Because my mom loves tennis so much, yeah.

Q. Your mother chose it for you?

ELENA DEMENTIEVA: Yes, that's right.

Q. Do you play other sports?

ELENA DEMENTIEVA: No. Sometimes it's ski, in the wintertime in Moscow. But all the time it's tennis.

Q. Which of the top players of the last ten years when you were starting to show an interest in tennis have you admired most? Is there any one former top player that you felt was your idol in tennis?

ELENA DEMENTIEVA: No. I like to match Martina Hingis, yeah. She's my favorite player.

Q. Anyone on the men's side?

ELENA DEMENTIEVA: Agassi.

Q. Why?

ELENA DEMENTIEVA: Because it's always show when I watch he's playing. It's just incredible how he can play every day like this.

Q. Kafelnikov has an airplane. Would you like to have one?

ELENA DEMENTIEVA: Sometimes.

Q. What do you think of this area you're playing in.

WTA: California.

ELENA DEMENTIEVA: I've never been here, but it's a wonderful place. Yeah, I like much than Florida this place.

Q. Of the other Russian women on the tour, are you close friends with anyone?

ELENA DEMENTIEVA: Yes. With Likhovtseva and all the Russian players.

Q. Except for Anna?

ELENA DEMENTIEVA: Sorry?

Q. Do they help you out a lot, tell you things to think about and look for?

ELENA DEMENTIEVA: Yes.

Q. Who is the previous, apart from Venus, on the tour that you've beaten before today?

ELENA DEMENTIEVA: Venus.

Q. I thought that was Fed Cup.

ELENA DEMENTIEVA: Yes.

Q. Those sort of competitions are so different.

ELENA DEMENTIEVA: I don't know. I play against Amelie Mauresmo two times. I was very close to won against her. I think it was my best game against her, but I didn't win.

Q. Did you have a plan today against Chanda, tactics, things you wanted to do to win?

ELENA DEMENTIEVA: Yeah. I try to play more baseline, try to mix it up, just try to win each my serve.

Q. How much emphasis do you put on movement about the court and fitness? How much concentration in your training is on footwork so that you're on balance when you hit your shots all the time?

ELENA DEMENTIEVA: You mean, the fitness practice?

WTA: When you're working on your fitness, how much do you work on your movement?

Q. Footwork.

ELENA DEMENTIEVA: Every day after each practice, it takes just one hour after each practice.

Q. You work on it for an hour a day?

ELENA DEMENTIEVA: I mean, after the practice.

Q. Isn't that an awful long time, an hour to work on footwork?

ELENA DEMENTIEVA: Yeah, it's enough (laughter).

Q. It seems to be working well anyway.

ELENA DEMENTIEVA: Yeah.

WTA: The hour, is it all sorts of fitness or just footwork?

ELENA DEMENTIEVA: Just footwork, yeah.

End of FastScripts….

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