U.S. OPEN

August 27, 1996

Anne Miller

ANNE MILLER: Well, I guess I went into the match just hoping that I'd play well, not hoping to win because that's a big expectation, considering I was playing Monica. You know, I just wanted to play the best that I could. I knew it was a great experience. I wouldn't say I was a hundred percent happy, because I had some chances, but it was fun. I thought I played okay as far as the way I felt when I was striking the ball, it felt good, but as far as keeping enough balls in play, I didn't think that I did. All I wanted to do was go out and play the best I could, because that's all I really could do, so.....

ANNE MILLER: I kind of had nothing to go on besides seeing her on TV when I was younger, being amazed by her. You know, you hear this and that being on the Tour now, that Monica -- they compare her before the incident and then they compare Monica afterwards. I wasn't around playing before the whole thing happened. I just know she's an awesome player. I don't know how she thinks she played. I thought she played well. She's one of the best players ever, so.....

ANNE MILLER: I think so. She's probably the best player I've ever played. I mean, I had chances that I missed out on as far as missing easy shots or double-faulting or missing returns when I had game points and stuff. I mean, she doesn't give you too many chances. She's really consistent. She really didn't have to do much with me today. It's not like she really was down or in a hole or anything like that and had to prove herself or come back from any kind of deficit. I thought she played well, so.....

ANNE MILLER: Well, I don't know if I could really say anything, just because I didn't do anything to show any of her weaknesses. I mean, I'm sure that there are some things that the players ranked higher above me and who play a smarter game would have played a better match today. Maybe she has some weaknesses there. I thought she played a solid match today. You know, she's playing well. I can't really say.

ANNE MILLER: No.

ANNE MILLER: Anke Huber last year here.

ANNE MILLER: Probably today it was just didn't let me -- she didn't let me. I don't consider my -- I consider my ground strokes to be probably the best part of my game. I mean, a lot of times they're pretty penetrating. Against Monica, it doesn't even phase her. She just hits the ball back deeper and wider; gets you running more. I'd say she didn't let me. I'd also say I had times that there were chances; especially 2-Love in the first, where I missed about five returns. That was my fault. I guess probably just I tend to blame myself more because that's how I am.

ANNE MILLER: I think I found out at the press conference for the draw. I don't know if it was last Thursday -- last Wednesday. The morning that it happened or the day that it happened, my coach came up to the net when we were hitting. He's like, "Anne, let me tell you a little secret, you play Seles." I wasn't happy about it. I definitely wasn't happy about it. I mean, it's a good opportunity, but out of 127 people to play, I would think that I wouldn't draw Seles here. You know, whatever. I wasn't happy, but not many players get to play someone like that, or not many people get to experience that in their lifetime.

ANNE MILLER: Oh, yeah, for sure.

ANNE MILLER: Well, it's a little difficult to put it into perspective right now just because, I guess when you're on the Tour, you're another player. I look up to Monica. I guess I'm not that much younger than her, but I always used to watch her on TV when she was 15 winning Grand Slams and stuff. It's hard to put that into perspective because we're all in the locker rooms together, practicing, playing the same tournaments. It's a competitive kind of -- everyone is playing against each other. If I got out of my tennis mind, frame of mind, and if I looked at everything in a good perspective, I mean, I think it's great. Maybe ten years from now when I'm married and have kids, I'll be able to say, you know, I played one of the best players in history. Hopefully there will be years to come when maybe I can improve myself. You know, I think it's great. It's a little hard right now after the match to think, "Oh, that's okay. She's the greatest." It's neat.

ANNE MILLER: No.

ANNE MILLER: No, we didn't see each other.

ANNE MILLER: Yeah, I guess I think about it a lot because it's my favorite tournament of the year. I mean, I kind of had some better expectations than maybe losing first round. Since I played Seles, doesn't give you much of a chance. I guess I always think about it, like I said, because I always look forward to coming here every year, so.....

ANNE MILLER: In that sense I feel really lucky because tennis is one of the professional sports where even though it's tough to say, it's so true; I can just wake up tomorrow morning and I have tournaments almost every week of the year that I can play if I make that decision to play them. In that sense, I feel lucky. As long as I'm happy doing it. With tennis, there's always another week, another tournament, if you have the desire to be out there and keep improving. In so many other sports, I don't know, I don't really want to name, but swimming, they train all year, all year, train specifically for the Olympics, a lot of those sports. I mean, that's a lot of pressure. That's a lot to have to deal with. With tennis, I feel lucky. The WTA Tour, it's a great Tour. We have tournaments week in and week out. Hopefully I can just move on. I mean, this tournament will always be here. I think I'll be playing for a while longer, so I'll try to make the most of it.

ANNE MILLER: Because it's New York. It's the US Open. Growing up you always watch it on TV, or I did. Everyone in the crowd in New York is always pretty into it. There's a lot of excitement. Being from the United States, it's great to play in it, you know. It's kind of a patriotic thing, I guess.

ANNE MILLER: I think I'll maybe stay in New York a couple more days. I want to possibly do some shopping, maybe go to a show or something. I'm going to go home to Michigan for a while; then go back to train in Florida. That's where I train.

ANNE MILLER: I was trying not to really look because it's better if I don't look up there. I mean, being that it was the first match and the first match during the day, really the second day of the tournament, I guess I didn't know if it would be completely full, the stadium. I thought there were a lot of people. I guess I'm not really used to that stadium atmosphere. Even if there were a couple hundred people, I would have thought that there were a lot of people.

ANNE MILLER: I played in the stadium here a couple years ago, but that was for qualifying. There were even fewer people. Let's see. I haven't played in anything very big.

ANNE MILLER: Well, I got here last Monday because I didn't play the tournament last week. I just came here to practice. Pretty much I've just been practicing. I've gone out to dinner a couple times. I haven't done anything as far as going to Broadway or going shopping yet. I think I'll take care of that within the next couple days.

ANNE MILLER: I don't know. I mean, I saw Phantom here a couple years ago and I loved it. I want to see that again, but my mind tells me not to just because it's stupid to see the same thing again, but I liked it. The show Rent, it's been in the paper a lot. I don't know if I can see that. I haven't decided. I don't know.

ANNE MILLER: Well, as far as like how I played and what she had to deal with, I think she played really well. She was keeping the ball in and deep. I was tending to miss pretty early in the points. When I had a chance, I missed it. I think she played very solidly. I think she played well, so.....

ANNE MILLER: Well, probably, as usual, I'd say her groundstroking. If I was playing someone else maybe, if I hit a deep cross-court shot, a lot of people will go into the defensive mode. She just nails another one to the corner even harder. That's the real difference with her. She's got the biggest ground strokes in the game. Nothing fazes her. It's hard to get her to hit short. You don't have that many opportunities.

ANNE MILLER: My coach, when we were practicing, getting ready for the match, he's a strong guy. I mean, there's a difference between hitting with a guy and a girl, I guess. Basically he was just hitting the ball, I don't know if it was as hard as he could, but hard and deep, moving me side to side, working on kind of sprinting back and forth through the balls. Basically when you play Monica or someone at that top level, you're going to be running sprints side to side. That's pretty much what you have to do every point if you want to win. I guess that's how you simulate it, just running back and forth, back and forth.

ANNE MILLER: Well, it was kind of different. She hits with more spin. He hits very flat. I guess I'd have to say it was even. I wouldn't want to offend anyone.

ANNE MILLER: I mean, a lot of times a player will try to visualize, you know, figure out what the points may look like, what it's going to be on the court with that. It was a little hard visualizing playing her. I could close my eyes and visualize winning and falling down on the court. When I open my eyes, it's like, "Oh, my God, is that really going to happen?" I tried to think about how the points might be, things like that.

ANNE MILLER: Oh, yeah. If you don't do that, it's not fun. That's, I guess, part of having goals and dreams, is like thinking about beating the greatest player, a great player, so.

End of FastScripts….