US OPEN

September 10, 2004

Jennifer Capriati

JENNIFER CAPRIATI: Uhm, not really. I mean, especially right now. You know, so soon after the match, it's kind of hard to really grasp kind of what happened out there.

JENNIFER CAPRIATI: You mean after the match, like...?

JENNIFER CAPRIATI: Yeah, well, for the conditions I guess it was okay. I mean, really, that's got to be the hardest conditions to play in. You can tell that, you know, both of us were probably not able to play our tennis. She played the conditions better than me, you know. She was smart with the wind. No, I just, you know, I feel I got back into it. I just was like, you know, I knew she was a fighter. I knew she was not gonna give it up. She's not there in the semis for nothing. But the whole time, you know, I had confidence in myself that, you know, I thought I was gonna win, you know. I felt like, you know, when I came back, I felt like I had the edge. So, you know, it was just a matter of a few points here and there. You know, I could think back all I want, you know, but it doesn't change the reality, so...

JENNIFER CAPRIATI: Yeah, I mean, you know, it was like I'd been used to kind of playing at night. Then to come out in the day match, you know, then it was really, really more gusty there than when I was even practicing. So, you know, and then she came out playing, you know, better than me in the first set. You know, I wasn't, I guess, warmed up yet, you know. And so I was able to just work my way back into it.

JENNIFER CAPRIATI: What?

JENNIFER CAPRIATI: What's uncharacteristic?

JENNIFER CAPRIATI: Oh, well, I mean, it's two out of three sets. That's why you don't give up after the first one. You know, you just have to adjust, make the adjustments, because, I mean, there's obviously things you can't control. You can't control your opponent. You can't control Mother Nature, you know. I was just thinking, "Play the wind the best you can." And, I mean, I guess I waited for her maybe to make a few more errors. I mean, I can't really -- I don't know. I was just basically just trying my hardest just to try to win the points, whichever -- any way I could, you know.

JENNIFER CAPRIATI: I mean, no. I mean, that's not my game, to chip and charge. It's kind of difficult on the forehand, you know, kind of the way she was hitting it, to do that.

JENNIFER CAPRIATI: I mean, I felt like, you know, I mean, sometimes they were so short in the box that I had to be at net, you know, which worked with the wind. But against the wind, I mean, you know, they're coming so slow. You know, if you don't hit it -- I mean, nothing -- you weren't able to really time the shots at all out there. So it's hard to even say. I mean, because you're off balance, basically, all the time. And in those conditions, that kind of serve I guess works pretty well because you can't really hit it. If you don't hit it good enough, she's good off the next shot, so...

JENNIFER CAPRIATI: Maybe there's no such thing.

JENNIFER CAPRIATI: No, no. I didn't tense up at all. I think she just played well and I just kept doing what I was doing, basically. But maybe she just played -- I mean, on that side against the wind, it was impossible, you know. I mean, I felt like I was running with weights on, you know.

JENNIFER CAPRIATI: Well, I came back and held, so...

JENNIFER CAPRIATI: I wasn't thinking about my past record, you know. Really I was just in the moment playing every point.

JENNIFER CAPRIATI: Not really. But, I mean, of course it's disappointing. But, you know, life goes on so... What can you do?

JENNIFER CAPRIATI: No. I think I really, you know, was just trying to play in the wind as best as I could. I think I did the best that I could as much as I could, you know. One side, you know, it was hard to hit it because then it would just, you know, fly out. The other side I was hitting it. I mean, I could have probably, you know, hit it and come in a few more times, you know. But I didn't really know what she was gonna do. I mean, she would push sometimes, then she would come out and rip it. Then, you know, in the wind, the slower they are, the more the ball -- it's able to take the ball more. So when she would hit it, I actually would do better, so I don't know...

JENNIFER CAPRIATI: Yeah, I, you know, hit good serves, get first serves in, you know, just move her and try to -- I mean, of course I was thinking that, you know.

JENNIFER CAPRIATI: No, because I was just so concentrated on trying to win those points.

JENNIFER CAPRIATI: I mean, I guess they're just pretty hungry to play. You know, there's just so many of them, so, you know... There's also a few good ones. I mean, all of them are good. You're bound to always have at least one Russian now in the semis I would say.

JENNIFER CAPRIATI: Yeah, I mean, I should. Of course that might be difficult now because, you know, still it just really, you know, can't believe that it just kind of -- it's not really sunk in yet. But I will do my best to do that.

JENNIFER CAPRIATI: I'd have to say it did. I mean, because, you know, I really -- I couldn't sleep, you know, even a couple times after. It was just like so much just emphasis on that. Every time I would kind of turn on the TV, I was just starting to question even myself, you know, about it. It was difficult and a lot of distraction maybe from that.

JENNIFER CAPRIATI: Well, like, you know, like, you know, "Did I do something wrong? Was it my fault?" Whatever. Just things like even just in the last game, you know, where they're going back -- if you check on every single ball, like probably it would just go both ways. You can't do that. But it made it seem like, you know, like I just got everything, you know.

JENNIFER CAPRIATI: No, no, no.

JENNIFER CAPRIATI: That I didn't hear. That I didn't know.

JENNIFER CAPRIATI: No. I mean, I could see why they would do that, you know, for the Wimbledon -- they're trying to like basically save face, I think. But, you know, then they should do that for everybody, for every single call.

JENNIFER CAPRIATI: No, I don't think so. No.

JENNIFER CAPRIATI: You know, I think it was just we both played the best that we could. We both played a great match, I mean, as best as you could in these conditions. So, I mean, I didn't give it away, you know. I think she played just better on those points.

JENNIFER CAPRIATI: No.

JENNIFER CAPRIATI: I just said you can't keep depending on the players to fix your mistakes. That's not our job. Our job is to play out there. So it's looking pretty embarrassing for them.

JENNIFER CAPRIATI: Well, for other matches, yeah.