U.S. OPEN

August 31, 1993

Jana Novotna

Q. Took you a little while to get going today; heat, or the surface, or all of the above?

JANA NOVOTNA: Just the first round match. With me, I think it is most of the time like this, that the most difficult chance for me are the first rounds when I am trying to get used to the conditions, the surface and the surroundings. Especially here. So, yeah, it took me a while, but then I started finally to play a little better and I hit some good shots, some bad shots, but that is how it is first matches.

Q. Do you have one objective for playing here on hardcourt; the thing you most want to do with your game?

JANA NOVOTNA: Not really I am not trying to change anything. When I come over to New York I always try to do the same like I am, you know, been doing during the year. So I am trying to come in most of the time, if I can, and the only difference is really the main courts, the Stadium and the Grandstand are much slower than the outside courts. So I will see how I will cope with that.

Q. Last time we saw you were playing on grass and you had a wonderful scene after Wimbledon, after the final match. Could you talk a little bit about what has happened to you as a result of that scene with the Duchess and the publicity, the fact that people made a big fuss of how nice she was and how you responded to it?

JANA NOVOTNA: Yeah, I think I have answered this question so many times, and I have received tremendous, really, support from people all over the world and, you know, everybody has been touched by this moment and I just believe, and I hope, that this woman will stay with them forever, like with me, I will cherish this the rest of my life.

Q. Did you ever write to her, hear from her?

JANA NOVOTNA: No, I didn't and I got advice from one of the English writers that I should write her a letter or something, but I haven't done it yet. So I guess I will have to wait 'till next year and meet her again at Wimbledon.

Q. We will send her a message for you if you'd like?

JANA NOVOTNA: That would be great.

Q. What would it be?

JANA NOVOTNA: Just tell her that I appreciate what she said and -- I know you are not going to do it.

Q. That's why we are here.

JANA NOVOTNA: But just tell her that I appreciate very much whatever she said and it is always nice to see her sitting there and being involved in tennis so much.

Q. You have had a little time. Have you had time to put that match in perspective now?

JANA NOVOTNA: Oh, yes. I mean, this is so many weeks. This happened so many weeks ago already and, you know, even that was a great success and a great disappointment at the same time. I have to go on with my life and, you know, this year gives me so much confidence. So it is now to me if I can take advantage of that, it will turn things for myself, take the positive things out of it. I think I am doing that so far.

Q. Given your performance at Wimbledon, were you at all surprised by the court assignment and was it difficult at all playing on that kind of outside court?

JANA NOVOTNA: You mean today?

Q. Yes, today.

JANA NOVOTNA: Well, yeah, not really, I knew that I am going to play on an outside court anyway. That is how it always has been. I have been playing -- I made it to the quarters on the outside court and this makes me very strong and mentally healthy, because to play on outside courts, especially on court 6 where you have right beside you a court, a match going on. That is really tough, and if I can do that, that will be so much easier to do it on the Grandstand or the Stadium.

Q. Is it particularly tough when you hear the umpires' calls from the other court, is that a distraction?

JANA NOVOTNA: I don't think that bothers me that much. Not really. But you see people moving, you know, on the side and that is kind of distracting. Sometimes you have to stop the game and replay the point because the ball passed on your court. So that is difficult, yeah.

Q. Concentration is a problem in that circumstance?

JANA NOVOTNA: Not for me, thank God. Not for me. I just think that it is very hard and fortunately I think I can concentrate very well, concentration is one of my strengths, and, you know-- but it makes you very tired; makes you very tired, so like, for example, today, by the end of the set I was getting tired, not because of the heat or because of the match. It was not a long match, but because you have to focus constantly so much, that takes a lot out of you.

Q. Did you go home after Wimbledon and what was it like to go home as a Wimbledon finalist? How did people react to you there?

JANA NOVOTNA: I sort of came -- I went back home on Monday, right after Wimbledon and nobody really knew that I am coming back so soon, so there was not much response of that, but that is what I like the most, that I can spend good time and cherish all the great moments only with my family, with my parent, my brothers, so I liked it very much.

Q. Thank you.

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