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U.S. OPEN

August 24, 2018

Virginia Wade

New York, NY, USA

THE MODERATOR: Questions.

Q. What has changed since you won the US Open here in New York?
VIRGINIA WADE: If you took today's tournament from 1968, I mean, the change is so dramatic. It's polar sides apart. If you take it like a gradual thing, like every year it got better, bigger, more money, improvements every year, then it's a little bit more easier to understand.

It's funny, because somebody said to me the other day, when I said the won the first US Open, they didn't know too much about tennis, so, What was happening before that?

I said, We were all amateurs.

They said, You played without getting any money for it? What did you play for?

I thought that was a really funny remark. We were just talking about Kim Clijsters recently, and she said she never played for the money, she played because she wants to win, play well, you want to go out and beat the opponent.

All those things have stayed the same. You play because you love the game and you have to have many attributes. You have to have skill, you have to have athleticism, you have to have determination, all that.

You maybe could have got away with a couple of weaknesses, although everybody would exploit them. One of the biggest differences, obviously apart from the technology and the power game, which is dominating, is that everybody plays a slightly different game. You had real variety. Nobody had the exactly right technique, a forehand, two-handed backhand or a serve. Everybody came up with their own styles. So that made it actually very interesting because you could challenge people with your strengths against their weaknesses.

Q. In terms of the stature of the slams, how that's changed over the last 50 years, are you surprised or impressed? I don't know what's word would be.
VIRGINIA WADE: I'm impressed, there's no question about that. Maybe I'm not that surprised. As I said, it's a gradual improvement every year. The slams were always the highlight, but we played an awful lot of tennis. We played singles, doubles, mixed every tournament we could.

But the slams were the big thing. There was a lot of attention. I mean, being English, the British press, we had traveling to all the tournaments, we had maybe eight or ten dedicated tennis writers. It was a big sport. You made big headlines.

Going back way before me, all the stars in the women's and men's, Maria Buenos, Margaret Court, Althea Gibson, they were big stars. There was some things that were going nice about the game in the past. Obviously nobody had a great big entourage. Now you have to be just so ultratrained, start so early, so specialized.

Q. (No microphone.)
VIRGINIA WADE: I mean, I'm quite curious to hear what the coaches say to the players, although most of the time I don't think they particularly psychologically are helpful. I would probably like to have a coach, but it wouldn't have been somebody who said, You were doing with this your forehand. I always thought it was crazy that they get so strict about somebody up in the stands giving you advice. I mean, frankly, that shouldn't be that strict. Obviously you don't want to be yelling out in front of an opponent, Hit more to their backhand, something like that. That obviously isn't any good.

But basically what you're getting from your box is people saying, Relax, you're doing great, c'mon and fight. What happens in a match is your mood goes up and down. You make a couple of errors, and you get depressed, or you lose a tiebreaker in the first set, you get a little depressed. What you're really looking for is somebody to say, Chin up, don't worry, it's three sets, that's the name of the game, start again, regroup, that sort of stuff.

As far as having somebody on the court, I mean, I can't say that I'm crazy about it. If they want to do it, that's fine, too.

Q. Beyond your own success here, do you have any favorite memories or matches you've seen over the years here?
VIRGINIA WADE: Well, I've been asked that question today. Obviously every year is pretty much a special year. Before they had the Arthur Ashe Stadium, and they played the Louis Armstrong Stadium, as past champions we were allowed to sit, they would make a little corner box, so we would sit with Vic Seixas, Fred Stolle, all these other past champions. You were floor level watching Agassi, Sampras, Connors. I suppose Borg. Particularly the Chris and Martina matches. That was really unbelievable being down there so close and being right next to their box.

One of the best things about winning is that they treat you so well as a past champion. You can sit in the presidents box. You get the best seat in the house. And to be close to watching that gentleman over there create his magic is just unbelievable. There have been some amazing nailbiting matches I've watched. It would be unfair to just pull them apart.

The del Potro one in 2009 was extraordinary.

Q. How do you enjoy watching Serena playing, maybe a different style from your era? Do you feel she has a chance here?
VIRGINIA WADE: I think it would be phenomenal if she could get herself to win this tournament. Absolutely phenomenal. It would be a worthy win for somebody who has done so well and is such an icon. I think she's still got a way to go to get herself into fitness, and she's got a lousy draw. If she had a few more comfortable matches, and she didn't waste too much energy in them, I think she could do it.

Getting out of the box, playing tough people, playing Venus to play Halep, that's going to be very demanding. So, listen, if she can win the tournament, I'm going to bend over backwards giving her applause because that would be a major achievement, well-deserved reward.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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