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FED CUP INTERVIEWS- USA vs. BELGIUMJuly 16, 2006Carl MaesOSTEND, BELGIUM Q. Carl Maes, congratulations. You have steered your nation into the Fed Cup final again. Tell us how excited you are. CAPTAIN MAES: Well, extremely excited, especially the fact that it's over after three minutes was an unexpected scenario. I know my prediction was 4-1, but I almost choked when I said it the other day. But it's still a very likely scenario now. Extremely delighted, especially with the two matches yesterday. I think the third one was the easiest. But the two matches yesterday were nerve-wracking, losing the first set in both ties, then coming through. It's an overwhelming feeling. Q. Yesterday Kim really struggled on the court. Today she was absolutely on fire. Were you surprised with such a quick turnaround in her form? CAPTAIN MAES: Not really. I've seen it a couple of times. I mean, Kim is the type of player that hasn't got the same skills like, for instance, Justine, who can really break down an opponent. Yesterday Kim was not playing great tennis, and she was faced against somebody who liked the way that Kim was playing. The first set, basically Kim was beaten while she was trying to play her own game and she actually had to adjust that a little in the second and third set, against her own nature. I've seen Kim struggle in those type of matches. It went so quick yesterday in the first set, she couldn't even keep up with the pace herself. So she really slowed down, not by moon balling, but just by keeping the pace a little bit off the ball, a tiny little bit more of topspin, then being able to accelerate. I think yesterday was a very unnatural match in that sense. Today she had an opponent who allowed her to come in the court again, who couldn't hit with the same pace as Jamea Jackson yesterday. So I wasn't surprised with the turnaround. I mean, once she kickstarted the match, I had a good feeling all the way through. Q. What did you tell her at the beginning? Did you tell her to stamp her mark on this match early? CAPTAIN MAES: Absolutely. Neither of us knew the opponent very well. And it was quite a surprising change of nomination there. So Kim is luckily the type of opponent who doesn't want to fix her game plan too much on who's on the other end. So it was really betting a little bit, bluffing a little bit on the fact that King would have been a little bit surprised by the reaction of the crowd, 5,000 people. I'm sure she hasn't really experienced those type of things yet. And then with Kim who clearly served a lot better than yesterday, being able to play in the court. I think once she was off to a good start, I think it was okay. Q. Now the final is in Belgium against Italy, against players you're a lot more familiar with than some of the players the Americans put up on this semifinal. Pennetta, Schiavone. CAPTAIN MAES: Yes, so it should be for the final that it should be a decent draw. Let's hope all the girls are fit. It's, again, the week after the US Open. It was the reason we didn't have Justine here. So let's hope both our girls are fit, and let's hope both Italian girls are fit. For us it was very clear that the only way we wanted to play and hopefully win was one with all the big names there. So let's hope we'll get that.
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