PILOT PEN TENNIS
Date: 2005-08-27

PILOT PEN TENNIS

August 27, 2005

Amelie Mauresmo
NEW HAVEN, CONNECTICUT
Question How much did yesterday's match affect your play today?
AMELIE MAURESMO: I think I had pretty good recuperation. The beginning was a little bit tough because I had to get things going and probably still a bit rusty from yesterday, but once a few games were behind me then I really felt it was getting physically better and better. I just think she, two things she did much better than me today: Serving and returning. That made the difference at the end of the match 4 and 4, it's close, but it's not -- it's not close enough. She played better than me today and only on hard court, being her best surface, she's tough to beat.

Question When you play her on grass you have a game plan where you attack and attack. Is it more difficult on hard?
AMELIE MAURESMO: You have to adjust a little bit more. Obviously the serve is not so effective on hard court and the serve and volley game as well. So you have to mix it up a little bit more and try to -- also the slice on the backhand is not so effective as well. Yeah, few adjustments to make here and there that let her actually, you know, play her game and dictate the points right from the beginning sometimes.

Question Does her return make it tougher for you to serve and volley as much? Usually she's pretty good at that.
AMELIE MAURESMO: Oh, yeah. I really felt I had some great moments on serve and volley, but also some tougher ones when she returned pretty well with angles and stuff so it's pretty hard to read also. But yeah, that's why it's hard to serve and volley all the time against her, except maybe on grass.

Question You had a streak there in the first set, especially near the end where you really didn't seem to be picking up her serve well. Did she seem to have just found her groove with the serve?
AMELIE MAURESMO: She was up and down a little bit on the serve but I felt she served pretty well on the big games and the big moments, especially in that first set when she had a few breakpoints down and was able to come up with the big serve. Yeah, probably still up and down for her on the serve but at some point was really able to step up and hit some big ones.

Question On matchpoint did you think that shot was long?
AMELIE MAURESMO: No, it was in. Definitely in, but I wasn't well played enough to play the right way.

Question What did you do this morning to get your body prepared anything special?
AMELIE MAURESMO: I warmed up a little longer than usually, just to -- and which was the right thing to do. As I said, as the much also was going I really felt better and better physically, so yeah, I had to get all, I don't know, toxins out probably out of the body from the first moment today.

Question Lindsay mentioned the wind in the first set..
AMELIE MAURESMO: It was a bit windy today, a little bit more the other day during the week. Yeah, when you were on one side it was much easier to serve and come in. I didn't think that it affected the game a lot.

Question Does losing to Lindsay affect your confidence in any way going into the Open?
AMELIE MAURESMO: No, I think it's -- no, you know, I am now focusing on the US and, you know, things are going be different there. That's the way it is. That's the game -- the game of tennis is like this. You lose, you win and you keep going because that's the way it is, because every week you have new challenges to face, so it's all right.

Question You said yesterday that you had hoped to face Davenport because going into a Grand Slam you like to see how you compare to some of the best in the world. How did your game compare today, do you think and what changes maybe you need to make going forward?
AMELIE MAURESMO: I think since I was returning pretty short and, you know, especially on her first serves, probably, then it gives her the opportunity to really come in and then she likes to come in, dictate, and play the big shots. She likes to play in one, two or three shots and that's -- you know, by returning pretty short, I gave her the opportunity to play like that. So a few things to adjust there.

Question Just kind of building on that, you guys could play again in these semifinals of the Open. One, just knowing what you will have to do different, is one part of the question but then the other part is, how much does being in the Open, that late into the tournament, make things different as well?
AMELIE MAURESMO: Like if we would play at the Open, what would be different there?

Question Yes.
AMELIE MAURESMO: I don't know. It might be in a couple of weeks, but, you know, not the same place, obviously, maybe for her a bit different there in New York and -- but, I don't know, really. It's still a little bit far for me to think about that match. I am not there yet. She's not there yet, and, you know, things are going to be difficult for both of us, first of all, to get there, but if it happens, just, you know, crowd and everything, but probably the way we both going to enter the court is going to be different also. In a Grand Slam it is a little bit different.

Question When you sat down next to her after the match what did you chat about?
AMELIE MAURESMO: Oh, about the -- (Laughs) about -- nothing special, just -- (laughter) --

Question Lindsay wouldn't tell us either.
AMELIE MAURESMO: Really?

Question Yes.
AMELIE MAURESMO: (Laughs).

Question What is the big secret?
AMELIE MAURESMO: There is no secret. Whatever. It doesn't really matter.

Question Does it ever start getting into your head, you losing steak with Lindsay?
AMELIE MAURESMO: I know that's the way it is. I am aware of that, but, you know, I just -- streaks -- how do you say, streaks are made to be broken. Is that how you say it? So I just hope that-- each time I hope it's going to be this time and that's just the way it is. As long as she plays the tennis she plays today and she's hitting the ball so hard, nothing really to say about that.

Question Is the way she plays just kind of a bad matchup for you, do you think, struggle with certain parts of her game?
AMELIE MAURESMO: For a lot of people it's a bad matchup the way she plays because she's very powerful, returning very well, serving very well also, so then it's tough to get into a point where you have the opportunity to do something with the ball, because right from the beginning she likes to really take control.

Question Were you surprised at all at how she's been able to come back after two months of not playing this summer?
AMELIE MAURESMO: Well, I think, from what I have seen, I think she's still been practicing and she said, I mean, she's been practicing pretty hard because we can see that physically she's moving pretty well and I think the back is not affecting her game anymore, but it's always quite impressive to come back and win a tournament when you have been out for a few weeks like that.

Question How happy are you with your overall preparation for the US Open?
AMELIE MAURESMO: I think it's good. I was able to really make sure my game is there; make sure that physically I am strong enough just like the way I played today for big battles and come back the day after even, you know, I didn't really know what to expect for today and how I would feel physically and, you know, I felt pretty good. It's always good to feel that you are strong on this part of the game.

Question You said she likes to get the point over in one, two, three points. Yesterday you had like 20 hits per --
AMELIE MAURESMO: That was pretty different.

Question This was a big difference. Did that take a while to get adjusted to?
AMELIE MAURESMO: I knew -- I have played against Lindsay many times, so I knew what to expect and I know exactly how she plays the pace of the ball and the speed of the ball. No, it didn't matter.

Question Pretty big difference though from yesterday?
AMELIE MAURESMO: Oh, yeah.

Question The match yesterday I was looking at tape of it, you were fist pumping after every winner, your mentality seemed to be very intense. Today not so much even on your winners --
AMELIE MAURESMO: I had less winners. (Laughter).

Question But was your mentality different today?
AMELIE MAURESMO: No, no, not really. I felt I could have, even though maybe physically a little down after yesterday's match, I really felt I could have done it today, no, I was pumped up still.

Question Did the officiating -- looked like there were some balls that were going to be long and kept in play --
AMELIE MAURESMO: That's how I felt. I mean, you never know unless it's really obvious, so it's just that's the way it is. Sometimes you are not happy about calls and maybe I was right; maybe I was wrong, I don't know.

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