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WIMBLEDON

June 29, 2007

Laura Granville

LONDON, ENGLAND

THE MODERATOR: Questions for Laura Granville.

Q. Does this make the last few months worth it?
LAURA GRANVILLE: Uhm, I definitely think so. I was definitely struggling during the clay court season. I didn't win a match.
I felt pretty good at the beginning of the year, and then the clay season definitely set me back a little bit confidence-wise. But, uhm, this tournament has made up for it.

Q. Last time you played Martina you were a new pro, first round of the US Open, eight people in the stands.
LAURA GRANVILLE: I think I made eight shots in the court (laughter).

Q. What's the difference? What kind of journey have you been on since then?
LAURA GRANVILLE: Well, it's been a long one. Uhm, there's definitely -- there's been some stops on the challenger circuit. I mean, every year I play some of those.
And, uhm, I got my ranking up, then it's fallen back. It fell back. The last few years I've been, at the end of the year, between 50 and 100.
It's had its ups and downs. You know, I'm hoping -- I have goals and I want to push up past the top 50.

Q. Do you feel the reason you keep playing is because your best match is still in you, your best matches are still in you?
LAURA GRANVILLE: Yeah, that's definitely why. I mean, there are points where you ask yourself, Why am I doing this? Why am I here in the middle of Oklahoma with two people watching?
But I think that's what keeps me going, is I feel like I haven't reached my potential. I haven't played my best tennis yet. So that's why I'm still playing.

Q. You won 58 straight matches when you were at Stanford. When you were there, did you feel the world was yours? Did you know the big step you were about to take turning pro?
LAURA GRANVILLE: I definitely did. I mean, college tennis is great, but it's not nearly the caliber of pro tennis. I knew I wasn't challenging myself against the best players in the world. I was very aware of it.
After my freshman year, I didn't feel I was ready maturity-wise to take them on, so I stayed one more year. I realize that it was basically -- I turned pro, I just finished school, I probably wouldn't have nearly as good a chance of doing well on the Pro Tour.

Q. Tiger always talks about his two years at Stanford sort of enabling him to face the world, a great place to escape everything. Did you find that?
LAURA GRANVILLE: It definitely was its own world. It was so great being there. I had my teammates. Everyone was so supportive. I had the best experience there. It was difficult for me to leave just because it was putting myself out there. It was just kind of its own little world.
A lot of times I didn't even know what was going on in the rest of the world. That's bad to say. But, uhm, you were just really concerned with what was going on there.
So, uhm, I think it was a challenge because, you know, going out onto the pro circuit, there are definitely a lot of people looking at you and criticizing, yeah.

Q. What were you majoring in in college?
LAURA GRANVILLE: I hadn't declared, but I was definitely going to do psychology. I'm going to go back when I'm done. I'll hopefully do either a double major or at least a minor, because I'm going to have a lot of time not playing tennis.

Q. Do you ever feel that a lot of people think going to college impedes their career? Do you think in some way it limited what you've been able to accomplish?
LAURA GRANVILLE: I think for some people it's definitely not the right decision. They're mature enough and their game's ready at 16, 17 to go on the tour.
For me it was. I just wasn't ready at 18. I grew up in Chicago. I played tennis after school. I just didn't feel tennis-wise and personally I was ready to go on the tour.
I've always just played tennis because I loved it. Even when I was in the juniors, I wasn't for sure I was going to play pro tennis. I knew I was going to go to college and see what happened. It worked for me. For some people it's not the right choice.

Q. You went to regular high school, all day?
LAURA GRANVILLE: Right.

Q. Didn't basically spend your whole day on the tennis court like a lot of them?
LAURA GRANVILLE: No. My parents, they were very serious about education. That was number one. I spent the day at school. I hate to say, a lot of times I'd only play an hour after school, an hour and a half, indoors.
But it worked for me just because tennis wasn't my life. I had a lot of other things.

Q. Do you still follow the women's team? They're going down to the UCLA. On the men's side, they've been struggling. What are your thoughts about that?
LAURA GRANVILLE: Well, I just think it's difficult. There's so many foreign players in the game now. Stanford, academically you have to have a pretty good level to get in.
I don't think Stanford is going to go down and accept people that aren't academically up to par. They're competing against a lot of teams with big, mature foreign guys. Some of them are 23, 24.
I think it's just a phase. I think they're going to get better.

Q. How discouraging did it get when you were in Oklahoma with nobody watching, or some of those places in the bush leagues?
LAURA GRANVILLE: It was a little bit, especially since I played mainly challengers for a year after college. You know, after a year you really want your ranking to get up there. You want to start being on the big stage.
I think it's been even harder going back to those tournaments because it was fine when I first went out. I knew I had to play those, get my ranking up. I think I've struggled more the last few years having to go back and play those and sometimes not doing well.

Q. Has there been one moment that you would say is a low, your lowest moment?
LAURA GRANVILLE: Oh, man. That's a tough one.

Q. Because there's so many?
LAURA GRANVILLE: No (laughter).

Q. When you were saying, What am I doing here, when have you said that the loudest to yourself?
LAURA GRANVILLE: I can't really put a specific, you know, time on that. But I think maybe playing those tournaments, then feeling like my game isn't going anywhere.
I think those are the most discouraging. Like I'm not improving. I feel like I'm staying the same. I think that, you know, recently I've just been more focused on working on different things that can improve my game. That gives me so much positive energy because it's the worst to feel like you're not improving, you're just staying the same.

Q. What have you worked on and been improving?
LAURA GRANVILLE: A lot of it is just kind of loosening up on my groundstrokes. I'm pretty tight. My coach would always say when I'm a junior, Tight and smooth. Tight really doesn't work nowadays in tennis.
You really have to be loose and follow through, have good racquet head speed. I'm really working on racquet head speed. Also trying to get my contact point a little bit farther out, not so close into me so I'm jammed.
Just also looking -- being more positive on the court mentally. Just taking it one point at a time, doing different things that way.

Q. You played on a very wide range of courts at Wimbledon. What have been your favorite Wimbledon memories? Were you inspired by the graveyard of champions today?
LAURA GRANVILLE: No, I definitely thought about that a little bit. I never played on Court 2. Yeah, I would probably say my best memory was beating Pierce back five years ago.
It was exciting for me, but I don't think I really realized and enjoyed it like I am now because I didn't realize how tough this is. It was my first year. I was still -- it was just new for me. Now this win means so much more.

Q. Next time would you prefer Centre Court, Court 2 or a smaller court?
LAURA GRANVILLE: For the next match?

Q. Yes.
LAURA GRANVILLE: Uhm, you know, any -- honestly, just being here, this is my favorite tournament. Just playing on these grounds is so amazing. I just can't describe it. Just when you're out there, it's a different feeling.
Honestly any court, as long as I'm here, I'm happy.

Q. Did you follow the Stanford football team last year? What did you think of that record?
LAURA GRANVILLE: I didn't actually. What was the record?

Q. 1-11. Can you keep up with Stanford sports?
LAURA GRANVILLE: I wasn't ever following football that much because we always struggled. I notice Jim Harbaugh is the new coach. He used to be a Chicago Bears player.

Q. Young American prospects for the future aren't that many. If there were one thing you could do to improve American tennis, what would that be?
LAURA GRANVILLE: One thing to improve it? Well, you know, I think they've -- the USTA has done a good thing by trying to set up the two centers: The one in Florida and the one in California.
I think it's just huge to get the American juniors playing against each other, training against each other. For me in juniors, I was always playing tournaments. That was a huge thing. I feel like a lot of times now the American juniors are afraid to play some tournaments. They don't want to play that much and hurt their ranking.
I just think playing a ton of matches, getting that experience, competing at an early age is huge. I think training and working with each other is also big. The U.S. is so spread out, it's hard to get American players together practicing.

Q. If lots of players play together, the toughness?
LAURA GRANVILLE: Yeah, and play against each other every day, that sort of thing.

Q. You're obviously a very well-read, educated person. There are a lot of things you can do in life. Is it hard to keep your hunger for tennis sharp given the fact you know you have options?
LAURA GRANVILLE: I think the only thing that's difficult about it is the lifestyle. I see my friends, and they're able to be in one place and meet a lot of new people. I think that's probably the hardest thing, is just traveling so much, feeling like I'm not -- I'm losing contact with friends, not able to have as much social life as some of my friends.
That's something that you have to give up. It's just the lifestyle. I feel like when I'm done with tennis, I'll have time for all of that. I'll have plenty of time to do other things. Right now I'm happy doing this.

Q. Did you sense Martina was maybe a little bit off her game?
LAURA GRANVILLE: Yeah, I definitely don't think she was a hundred percent. But I was happy the way I played in the first set. I thought I was aggressive, moved her around. I think she helped me out a lot in the second set. I got a little tight.
Uhm, you know, but you have to take those opportunities. Like she wasn't a hundred percent, so I still had to go for it.

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