U.S. OPEN

September 4, 1992

Gabriela Sabatini

Q. Gaby, can we get your thoughts on how the match went? It was tough one and you needed it.

GABRIELA SABATINI: Yes, sure. I think that is what I need, tough matches. Today, I don't know why, I think I -- I think I played very well, but I don't know what happened; probably I was rushing a little bit when I was winning, like 5-3 in the second set. I think mentally I was rushing. I wanted to finish the match. She started playing -- she started the hit the ball very well. She had nothing to lose at that moment. She just started to play very well. Same happened in the third set. It was 5-1. I just felt like I couldn't finish the match. So in the last game, I said, "Well, I just have to go -- go point by point. Just try to fight each point." That is how I won it.

Q. Does the fact that Martina got upset make some of you top seeds start thinking a little bit more when you go out to play?

GABRIELA SABATINI: I don't know. You still have to think about each opponent and each match. All of them are very tough. Especially Natasha; she is playing very well.

Q. Are you surprised at a lot of the upsets in the women's draw, because usually there aren't that many?

GABRIELA SABATINI: Probably not so much, because today, women's tennis is very competitive. Everyone is so tough. Every match you have to play very well.

Q. Do you feel like you have played your way back into form in this match in some way, after having such a long time off this summer?

GABRIELA SABATINI: Yeah. I felt like I am ready again. I mean, I felt that after the two matches I played in this tournament. I am playing very good tennis and mentally I feel much better. I think it is good that I had a match like today, and you know, to really get tough mentally.

Q. Were you tired, physically?

GABRIELA SABATINI: Yeah, sure, I was tired a little bit. I think we were both tired. She was a little bit more tired in the second set, that is what I saw. Then she started to run again, to play better.

Q. When you left after the second game of the third set, to change clothes, it looked like, came back and you ran off four games, were you refreshed in any way?

GABRIELA SABATINI: I was, yeah, a little bit. I was a little -- I felt tired, yeah, when I finished the second set. And so I mean, the third set when I was 1-Love down, I just said, well, I just have to fight, because I know I am tired, and I just have to play smart and try to fight.

Q. You requested a break from the chair umpire. You felt okay?

GABRIELA SABATINI: Oh, yeah, I felt okay. I just changed my shirt, that is all.

Q. Was this summer one of the longest breaks you have ever had?

GABRIELA SABATINI: Yes, for a long time.

Q. Did you get away from it entirely?

GABRIELA SABATINI: Yeah, for a few days, I did. Since I had so much time off, I took some days.

Q. Did you go back home?

GABRIELA SABATINI: Yeah, I went back home, and then, of course, I started to practice, and started to think about this tournament.

Q. What did you do, Gaby, at home that you otherwise wouldn't do in past years, the past 6-7 years, in that time off?

GABRIELA SABATINI: You know, I just tried to do the things that I can do when I am in the tournament; go out, and just, I don't know, see my friends, my family, be at home, which is very nice too, and go and watch the movie, I don't know.

Q. In your tennis career, if you had to choose one favorite memory in your career, one favorite recollection, what would it be and why?

GABRIELA SABATINI: I have to say when I won the U.S. Open in 1990. I mean, in my tennis and personal too, because the feeling is great to win a Grand Slam. It is just great.

Q. Thank you.

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