US OPEN

September 5, 2005

Maria Sharapova

THE MODERATOR: Questions for Maria, please.

MARIA SHARAPOVA: Yeah, because after the second set I didn't feel like my game was there. I felt like I was making too many errors. Mentally I wasn't there. I jusst didn't have any motivation And then I just, yeah, I wasn't fighting out there basically in the second set. It's like I was giving it up, you know. I felt like I thought the match was just one set, you know, I won the first set and I felt like for some reason it was over. You know, she's not going to give it up. You know, then I started playing better in the third. Had great passing shots when I needed them to break her.

MARIA SHARAPOVA: Well, I said that the ball bounced -- that the ball bounced on the court in the middle of the point, and she said she did not see the ball. And I said, "Well, there's 20,000 people in the stands that saw the ball except you and I think we need to replay the point." She said, "I didn't see it."

MARIA SHARAPOVA: Yeah, well, I can't put a third eye on my left side, so not too much I can do.

MARIA SHARAPOVA: Like I said, I don't think I was there in the second set, you know. It wasn't Maria that you usually see on the court, fighting out there, fighting for every single point. I was just mentally kind of down and, you know, just said, "Hey, got to get back to work now."

MARIA SHARAPOVA: I knew it was going to be tough. I came out hitting a lot of winners. I felt like I was playing great. You know, she broke me once, all of a sudden she started playing well. She started, you know, hitting the ball, hitting good shots. And, you know, all of a sudden you stop and you think "What happened? I was up 4-0 and now it's back to 4-All." I mean, coming into the match I knew it was going to be a tough match. I knew it was not going to be a walk in the park. This is the quarterfinal of a US Open.

MARIA SHARAPOVA: She has a very big game and, you know, she has a big serve. If someone's serve is on, I guess there's not too much you can do. But, yeah, she does, she has a big game for sure.

MARIA SHARAPOVA: After which one? I went to change in between.

MARIA SHARAPOVA: The first one, well, I had to go to the bathroom since the first game so after that, you know... I don't know. Maybe I just let it all out, I mean (laughing).

MARIA SHARAPOVA: Did she mean in a good way?

MARIA SHARAPOVA: I started playing better or worse?

MARIA SHARAPOVA: So after the bathroom break I was playing better?

MARIA SHARAPOVA: Worse. I don't know.

MARIA SHARAPOVA: Oh, so I was...

MARIA SHARAPOVA: It was actually a pretty quick break. I mean, the bathroom is right outside the court, yeah.

MARIA SHARAPOVA: I just have to be mentally ready for a very tough battle. Every single point is going to be long and it's just a matter of who wants it more and who is willing to be out there longer.

MARIA SHARAPOVA: I mean, we both hit a pretty big shot. I think we're both really tough. We don't want to lose out there. But I don't know.

MARIA SHARAPOVA: That's kind of why I had the ref at the end because, you know, it would have been a totally different match. Who knows what would have happened at 5-All? But, you know, just hung in there and, you know, I know she got a little bit tight serving at 40-15; she made a double. Then hit a pretty easy backhand, I think. And I was, you know -- hit a good return on matchpoint, she hit a great serve wide. I managed to get it back. You know, her ball was a little bit out. That's the way tennis goes. You know, sometimes it goes in; sometimes it goes out.

MARIA SHARAPOVA: I think her best serve is down the T, I would say. But she likes to mix it up. She likes to mix it up in the ad court. But she has a big serve. I mean, either way it goes, it's pretty flat. But she can surprise you once in a while, and I think I was leaning towards that and that's why I was, you know, I was kind of on the run.

MARIA SHARAPOVA: Yeah, well, I mean, I started at 4-0 playing great, so of course I felt good. But, you know, things can turn around really quickly. Momentum can change. You know, just felt like there were a lot of up and downs. You feel like you're playing good, you make great shots, then all of a sudden, you know, things don't go...(inaudible). You're making errors, she starts picking it up, you know, she starts playing a higher level. I don't know, I just felt it was up and down.

MARIA SHARAPOVA: It's not that I didn't have motivation going into the match, it's just that after I won the first set, I just kind of, you know -- she broke me right away. And, you know, I was just moaning, I couldn't make my first serve in, I was making too many errors. I was just getting a bad attitude out there basically. So it's just, you know, I wasn't being positive. I should have told myself, "Okay, you just got broken, you can break back." I was saying, "Oh, I just got broken..." you know.

MARIA SHARAPOVA: Yeah, I always prefer two-set matches but, you know, I think this was a good challenge for me. It gives me a lot of confidence that I can pull out a win like that when there are points of a match where you don't feel great. But I, you know, am happy to get through.

MARIA SHARAPOVA: No, doesn't really matter.