US OPEN

August 28, 2003

Jennifer Capriati

JENNIFER CAPRIATI: Yeah. It's hard to tell a little bit, you know, unless you're just really pushed. You know, that's when the test comes a little bit. But, you know, I feel like my strokes are fine, I'm moving well there. You know, maybe I made a few unforced errors today, more than I would like to have. But, I mean, other than that, I feel pretty good, yeah.

JENNIFER CAPRIATI: I think it starts for me, yeah, back, if it's a few weeks, the last couple months maybe building up. You know, you can't forget, every time I won the Australian, I lost first round the week before. Remember in Sydney? It's hard to say. Even though I've had those losses, whether I lose or win, I know how I'm feeling anyways inside. It's all I can concentrate on is my game. I can feel confident. You know, then the rest is up to the opponent and how they're playing. I have to just concentrate on my own game, worry about my own game. Yeah, when I'm feeling well, everybody starts to get rolling for me. I just get better and better.

JENNIFER CAPRIATI: It's been a while. It's been a while. I feel like a lot of my strength is there. I'm just -- I feel like I'm more accurate now hitting the ball. I don't know. I think that probably has to do with my movement and how I'm feeling physically. You know, I've really taken the time to just take care of my body, try to get in shape, but also try to just get looser and feel more agile, just limber also. You know, all that kind of stuff helps.

JENNIFER CAPRIATI: Yeah. I mean, it's where I live basically. I mean, I still get nerves, of course, you know, playing in front of huge crowds, certain things might make me lose my focus. But, yeah, I mean, I don't think you can get any more comfortable than how I feel about tennis tournaments.

JENNIFER CAPRIATI: Yeah, I do. I really -- it's like: Where did the time go? I don't feel 27. I certainly don't act it all the time (smiling). It's just a number.

JENNIFER CAPRIATI: Oh, yeah. It changes. It goes up and down at times. Of course, I can't lose focus on myself and can't forget about the other part, which is the life, what makes you happy as a person, all that kind of stuff. Tennis isn't everything. Maybe that's what I felt, like it was just getting too overwhelming, you know, I wasn't doing enough things for myself. You know, it's not going to last forever. You know, then I just took a step back, realized a couple things for myself, my attitude.

JENNIFER CAPRIATI: Yeah. I mean, well, you know, I just try to do everything so perfect, you know, what I do off the court, what I do on the court. You think, you know, everything is just going to go your way. Then when it doesn't, you know, you wonder what's going on. You just can't expect so much from yourself, from everything, just because of that. I mean, that's not how life works. I mean, I don't think you can predict anything. I mean, who knows. I don't know what's going to happen in the next couple days, in this two weeks, whatever's going to happen. Just got to live it moment by moment.

JENNIFER CAPRIATI: Really no. It's best when I don't think about things too much, don't try to analyze everything. I didn't have too many expectations because I was just coming off an injury. I just wanted to go into the tournament, and hopefully my shoulder wasn't going to hurt, and I was going to be okay to play the US Open. That's what I was thinking about. Everything else came as a bonus.

JENNIFER CAPRIATI: I mean, it feels great to know that, you know, you worked so hard, you do get rewarded, and things do come, and go your way. You know, but I don't think it really makes a difference of, you know, how I'm going to do here in this tournament, if I won or not last week, whatever.

JENNIFER CAPRIATI: Yeah, well, I just have to believe that that's my strength also, and my strength is better than her strength. You know, I'm definitely not going to change my game. But that's not all I do either.

JENNIFER CAPRIATI: You know, to tell you the truth, I really haven't watched her play that much. I just kind of have been into my own stuff, haven't really paid attention (smiling). I'm sorry I can't answer.

JENNIFER CAPRIATI: To play more tournaments?

JENNIFER CAPRIATI: I mean, I've said this before. I think, you know, she's not playing tournaments and getting to the finals of the first tournament. You know, it's not like a bunch of hoopla. You know, she's not already beating... I think that's what the case was with me. You can't -- not everyone's going to be like that. It's an individual. It's like, you know, let her play, you know. That's all.

JENNIFER CAPRIATI: Yes, I am (smiling).

JENNIFER CAPRIATI: Yeah, I think so. Or maybe that's the age thing. I'm slowing down a little bit, so I can't go as fast.

JENNIFER CAPRIATI: Yeah. I'm more conscious of it, of trying to slow down. And now I think it's just become part of my routine and my pace now. You know, taking the second ball, whatever, really thinking about what I'm going to do.

JENNIFER CAPRIATI: Yeah.

JENNIFER CAPRIATI: I don't think a rule is going to stop anything from happening, you know. That's just, you know, where you're coming from, your family, your support system. Those are the things that are going to keep you grounded. You know, I just think it's going to be a rule.

JENNIFER CAPRIATI: Yeah, I think so, yeah. I hope so. I'm doing everything I can to take care of it. You know, I've done a lot of rehab exercises. You know, I think that's probably what's helped, not only in my serve, but my forehand also. I think it was just really overused before, and probably it was letting me down.

JENNIFER CAPRIATI: Yeah, I don't hit as many serves, but just because of that reason, I don't want to aggravate it.

JENNIFER CAPRIATI: Yeah. I mean, I noticed that my serves weren't going as hard. I feel like I just really didn't need to. Maybe conserve it a little bit. But I just wanted to work on my consistency. You know, at night it's funny. The balls sometimes get really heavy. It depends on when you feel it or not.

JENNIFER CAPRIATI: I think on the forehand, probably had to do a little with it.

JENNIFER CAPRIATI: I mean, there's not too many players that hit like with a lot of topspin.

JENNIFER CAPRIATI: Talk about it?

JENNIFER CAPRIATI: Yeah, it's great. The excitement, the electricity out there. This is a huge stadium. Really, I don't like to look around or look up because it could sort of intimidate me, you know, how big it is. But, you know, the fans have been really great.

JENNIFER CAPRIATI: 33? She just like picked a number?

JENNIFER CAPRIATI: Oh.

JENNIFER CAPRIATI: Oh, okay.

I mean, I don't know. I'm just going to keep going as long as I love it and my heart is in it. You know, it depends. It could be a few more years. It could be, you know, maybe if I were to win this tournament (laughter).

JENNIFER CAPRIATI: I don't know. That depends a lot on the schedule and how I'm feeling. But probably no, not this time, because of all the injuries I've had and problems that I've had. I just kind of want to take a break after this.