WIMBLEDON

July 5, 2001

Jennifer Capriati

JENNIFER CAPRIATI: I don't know where it really turned. Maybe after she called the trainer, you know, she came out swinging. Before that, I was doing well in the second set and still playing my game. But I could tell from the beginning of that that she was starting to pick it up. Then all of a sudden, you know, a few games there after late in the second set, you know, she just was on her game, I mean, hitting everything well, not making any mistakes. There was not much that I could do.

JENNIFER CAPRIATI: I mean, I started to make more mistakes. I think definitely she just made a complete turnaround. You know, it was like a different player than from the beginning out there. She was just getting everything back. It started that way. Then I was just making the mistakes, so I backed off a little bit. I think that let her get into the match, and she got more confidence. I think she was just going for it, like all or nothing, and she was just on.

JENNIFER CAPRIATI: I think she played much better today, for sure. I mean, it's a different surface, different match totally. Maybe we both weren't playing our best, I mean, because it's not a Grand Slam. I don't know. I can't really compare it.

JENNIFER CAPRIATI: Yeah, I think she's always had the good backhand. I mean, I think today just it wasn't only her backhand, it was everything that she was just playing well: her forehand and her serves. She was hitting good serves, so...

JENNIFER CAPRIATI: No, not really, because everyone was making the big deal out of the Grand Slam but me, you know. I'm pretty happy with the way the year has gone so far. I mean, it's hard to win one Grand Slam. So I'm pretty happy. It's not a disappointment at all. It would have been nice, but... Oh, well.

JENNIFER CAPRIATI: I think she has a good chance if she plays like that today. Again, I have to see who she's playing.

JENNIFER CAPRIATI: I think, of course, it matters. Even though me, Lindsay and Venus all have pretty much similar games, you never know who could be maybe more consistent or do something better than I did today, so...

JENNIFER CAPRIATI: I thought I played well. I mean, I came out playing great. Maybe I thought it was going to be too easy. Maybe I just lost my concentration there. I just let up. She was starting to get balls back. The whole set and a half, I was just blowing her off the court there - pretty much in the first set. I wasn't doing that anymore. I was starting to get impatient, you know, thinking to myself , trying to do the same thing instead of realising, well, she's just obviously going for it because she's in the semifinals, she's got nothing to lose.

JENNIFER CAPRIATI: Her game?

JENNIFER CAPRIATI: No. I mean, actually in Berlin when I played her, I was up also in the first set. I won the first set quite easily, and she started playing better. You know, maybe she's that type of player that just plays better when she's behind. I mean, I'm not surprised. I know she's a good player.

JENNIFER CAPRIATI: I just said that before like that I maybe got a little bit impatient, was going for it too much, yeah, because I was winning so easily before that. Maybe that's why I got frustrated there.

JENNIFER CAPRIATI: Yeah. Maybe I was mad that I lost -- or couldn't believe I lost the second set, so...

JENNIFER CAPRIATI: Oh, well, everything's different. Look at the facilities, they've totally changed. The atmosphere has totally changed. It's just a lot. More young players now. I'm not the young player, so...

JENNIFER CAPRIATI: It's a different feeling. I enjoyed it then when I was a kid, and I'm enjoying it now as being older.

JENNIFER CAPRIATI: Do I feel good about it?

JENNIFER CAPRIATI: Yeah, but it's mostly for myself. I was already feeling pride. I was already pleased with myself even before winning these Grand Slams. So now it's more for myself. You know, nothing that I had to prove to anybody. I'm really happy about it. Yeah, I mean, there is a certain pride, of course.

JENNIFER CAPRIATI: No, I didn't feel -- I think they're fine.

JENNIFER CAPRIATI: Maybe, yeah. Probably.

JENNIFER CAPRIATI: A loss is a loss, no matter where, when, you know. It feels the same, of course. When you lose, you know, you feel disappointed. But it helps that you lost to somebody who played well, and who won. I mean, definitely I didn't lose it; she had to play well to beat me. It was the semifinals of a Grand Slam, so I'm not too disappointed.

JENNIFER CAPRIATI: That's true. Well, when I'm like watching the highlights show and everybody's commentating who is going to win, I didn't hear once that I was the favourite to win. It was always everybody else. I knew it wasn't like I was expected to win, so I don't feel pressure.

JENNIFER CAPRIATI: You mean, because usually that's the way I play, is fast?

JENNIFER CAPRIATI: Uhm, I guess maybe it's easier to get into that pattern and to really rush, because I play fast anyways. But I definitely improved on that. It doesn't happen too often anymore where I just rush too much. So, you know, usually when it happens, it's just a special occasion that it happened.

JENNIFER CAPRIATI: I think now is definitely the time where it's peaking, or it's starting to peak. Who knows, I don't know how long it's going to last. I mean, this is the best that I've played in a long time - probably ever. So, you know, it's funny. I was such an early starter, "early prodigy," whatever, but really I feel like a late-bloomer, you know (smiling).

JENNIFER CAPRIATI: I mean, that's the highlight of this whole tournament. I mean, that will probably stand out the most than just losing here in the semifinals. Hopefully there will be more chances, yeah.

JENNIFER CAPRIATI: I don't know. It's hard to say. I haven't played them enough times, both of them, to really make a comparison. I think they're just totally different players. I mean, they're both really good in their own ways, in their own different styles. It's really hard to say.

JENNIFER CAPRIATI: Yeah. I mean, I just put it all in perspective, that it's really not a big deal to lose a tennis match. There's a lot worse things that could happen. I think we've all seen that as an example with Corina, too. Definitely, that's just part of my growing up, my maturity, what I've come to realise. You know, I've had a lot more losses in different ways than this tennis match.

JENNIFER CAPRIATI: Yeah. I mean, the actual just feeling of winning the Grand Slams, I mean, it was everything that I thought it would be and dreamed of. Of course, it happened in a little bit later time, in a different way, sort of like a real comeback way. But, you know, the actual just winning is what I dreamed of.

JENNIFER CAPRIATI: With other teenage what?

JENNIFER CAPRIATI: Well, I don't know - how old is Kim? She's about the same age?

JENNIFER CAPRIATI: I don't think there's going to be too many more 18-year-olds or even younger than that that are just going to be reaching the finals of Grand Slams.

JENNIFER CAPRIATI: In the past?

JENNIFER CAPRIATI: I mean, obviously you've got to be pretty good to reach the finals, you've got to have some talent, know how to play tennis. Just because the games are different doesn't mean one's better than the other. It's just completely different, but all good.