US OPEN

September 6, 2005

Maria Sharapova

Q. The expression on your face at the end of this match seemed to say, "I'm glad this is over with and I'm getting out of here with a win."

MARIA SHARAPOVA: Yeah, because after the second set I didn't feel like my game was there. I felt like I was making too many errors. Mentally I wasn't there. I jusst didn't have any motivation And then I just, yeah, I wasn't fighting out there basically in the second set. It's like I was giving it up, you know. I felt like I thought the match was just one set, you know, I won the first set and I felt like for some reason it was over. You know, she's not going to give it up. You know, then I started playing better in the third. Had great passing shots when I needed them to break her.

MARIA SHARAPOVA: Well, I said that the ball bounced -- that the ball bounced on the court in the middle of the point, and she said she did not see the ball. And I said, "Well, there's 20,000 people in the stands that saw the ball except you and I think we need to replay the point." She said, "I didn't see it."

MARIA SHARAPOVA: Yeah, well, I can't put a third eye on my left side, so not too much I can do.

MARIA SHARAPOVA: Like I said, I don't think I was there in the second set, you know. It wasn't Maria that you usually see on the court, fighting out there, fighting for every single point. I was just mentally kind of down and, you know, just said, "Hey, got to get back to work now."

MARIA SHARAPOVA: I knew it was going to be tough. I came out hitting a lot of winners. I felt like I was playing great. You know, she broke me once, all of a sudden she started playing well. She started, you know, hitting the ball, hitting good shots. And, you know, all of a sudden you stop and you think "What happened? I was up 4-0 and now it's back to 4-All." I mean, coming into the match I knew it was going to be a tough match. I knew it was not going to be a walk in the park. This is the quarterfinal of a US Open.

MARIA SHARAPOVA: She has a very big game and, you know, she has a big serve. If someone's serve is on, I guess there's not too much you can do. But, yeah, she does, she has a big game for sure.

MARIA SHARAPOVA: After which one? I went to change in between.

MARIA SHARAPOVA: The first one, well, I had to go to the bathroom since the first game so after that, you know... I don't know. Maybe I just let it all out, I mean (laughing).

MARIA SHARAPOVA: Did she mean in a good way?

MARIA SHARAPOVA: I started playing better or worse?

MARIA SHARAPOVA: So after the bathroom break I was playing better?

MARIA SHARAPOVA: Worse. I don't know.

MARIA SHARAPOVA: Oh, so I was...

MARIA SHARAPOVA: It was actually a pretty quick break. I mean, the bathroom is right outside the court, yeah.

MARIA SHARAPOVA: I just have to be mentally ready for a very tough battle. Every single point is going to be long and it's just a matter of who wants it more and who is willing to be out there longer.

MARIA SHARAPOVA: I mean, we both hit a pretty big shot. I think we're both really tough. We don't want to lose out there. But I don't know.

MARIA SHARAPOVA: That's kind of why I had the ref at the end because, you know, it would have been a totally different match. Who knows what would have happened at 5-All? But, you know, just hung in there and, you know, I know she got a little bit tight serving at 40-15; she made a double. Then hit a pretty easy backhand, I think. And I was, you know -- hit a good return on matchpoint, she hit a great serve wide. I managed to get it back. You know, her ball was a little bit out. That's the way tennis goes. You know, sometimes it goes in; sometimes it goes out.

MARIA SHARAPOVA: I think her best serve is down the T, I would say. But she likes to mix it up. She likes to mix it up in the ad court. But she has a big serve. I mean, either way it goes, it's pretty flat. But she can surprise you once in a while, and I think I was leaning towards that and that's why I was, you know, I was kind of on the run.

MARIA SHARAPOVA: Yeah, well, I mean, I started at 4-0 playing great, so of course I felt good. But, you know, things can turn around really quickly. Momentum can change. You know, just felt like there were a lot of up and downs. You feel like you're playing good, you make great shots, then all of a sudden, you know, things don't go...(inaudible). You're making errors, she starts picking it up, you know, she starts playing a higher level. I don't know, I just felt it was up and down.

MARIA SHARAPOVA: It's not that I didn't have motivation going into the match, it's just that after I won the first set, I just kind of, you know -- she broke me right away. And, you know, I was just moaning, I couldn't make my first serve in, I was making too many errors. I was just getting a bad attitude out there basically. So it's just, you know, I wasn't being positive. I should have told myself, "Okay, you just got broken, you can break back." I was saying, "Oh, I just got broken..." you know.

MARIA SHARAPOVA: Yeah, I always prefer two-set matches but, you know, I think this was a good challenge for me. It gives me a lot of confidence that I can pull out a win like that when there are points of a match where you don't feel great. But I, you know, am happy to get through.

MARIA SHARAPOVA: No, doesn't really matter.