AUSTRALIAN OPEN

January 24, 2001

Martina Hingis

MODERATOR: Questions for Martina.

MARTINA HINGIS: Definitely. But not only the fitness, but just my game I think improved a lot, that I was able to stay in the game, just hit the groundstrokes with her, which I had a little bit of trouble in the past. I would always miss the fifth, sixth. Today I was able to keep going and going until she would miss at the end. I think the first set I played, you know, the best tennis ever. I mean, I didn't miss anything. That was the best ever I've played I think the entire career so far. But I wasn't able to just hold it up throughout the whole match. I was not even like tired physically but more mentally from that first set. Then there was this little time-out and everything. I got down a break. I broke her back, so I just should have stayed in the game. But somehow at that point I made too many easy mistakes. But she just started pushing it back, and I would miss. I got a little bit mad at myself. Later on, I just -- in the third set, it was a great comeback, yeah. I was just trying to hang in the match.

MARTINA HINGIS: I just played a lot of tennis. I practiced a lot. I played three, four hours when I was home in December. Just the hard work paid off at the end. You could see Jennifer also in the other match against Monica, that she came out. You know, you don't really think about you're tired or anything, you just play what you practice. I've been playing a lot lately. So at the end, even though I was down a double break in the third, I felt like she was more tired than I was, so I still had a chance to somehow come back, yeah.

MARTINA HINGIS: Well, you have to watch out what you eat then (laughter). I learned that. I mean, I wouldn't eat the proper way in the past sometimes, I didn't feel that great, or I gained weight or so. By the time you have to become a little bit professional about that, yeah.

MARTINA HINGIS: Well, you couldn't really tell that she had food poisoning or anything. I mean, she was running well. When she would just lose sometimes the long rallies or anything, I think it was more that I wore her out, not that anything else would, you know, be the problem. Maybe after the first set a little bit, she felt a little sick or something. But then I think once, you know, we were in the third set, everything bad came out. I didn't feel my body anymore.

MARTINA HINGIS: Well, she had a tough one, too. Plus they're out there playing doubles now. I think, you know, I had more tougher matches than Venus did. I think I just have a good rest now and I'll be ready for tomorrow.

MARTINA HINGIS: They have to get the draw at one point. If I have to play one Williams in the quarters and the other semis, it could be semis or finals. You never know how the draw will be. But that's the way it's been in the past. You have to deal with that. No, it's not a problem. I mean, I have to go. It's the same for both of us. I'm lucky in a way that I got to play the doubles yesterday already. That's what I've been talking about, it's hard to keep on playing doubles if it's everything tight matches, it's so close, like you have to play two matches per day, then the toughest ones at the end. But, no, I'll just rest now. Sometimes in the smaller tournaments you have to play Friday, Saturday, Sunday. That's even tougher. You have to play Williams, Williams, Davenport, so (laughter).

MARTINA HINGIS: Well, I watched the whole match actually almost today. They went on court, and I was after that. I don't think it was great tennis, especially from both of them sometimes. It was similar to our match a little bit. I think ours was a little better quality at the end. We were not missing as much. But Amanda just came out with no mistakes and just made her play. Venus would miss a lot. Just then she got herself a little bit back together. In the third she came out winning because I think most of the time she always beat her. She still has this little edge over Amanda or so. Hopefully tomorrow will be a different story.

MARTINA HINGIS: It's always been like that in the last three years, especially Serena winning, you know, the US Open against me there in the finals where I had to play also back to back. That's the way it is. They're very good. I mean, they're good for the sport. They're good for tennis. You know, their physical abilities are very good. But nothing's impossible. I mean, I've shown that I can beat them or get very close matches. Especially in the beginning, I would always beat them, then they took over a little bit. Now hopefully it's changing again. You know, you see in the men's side, you have Grosjean, Clement in the quarterfinals, who are not the biggest players out there. Same with Andre Agassi.

MARTINA HINGIS: Me, I'm usually the player who plays the girl's backhand, you know, whoever I play. But definitely in that case, I mean, Serena has a great forehand, so you'd really be stupid to play her forehand over and over. Lindsay, she can do it. She can go cross-court with Serena, but not me.

MARTINA HINGIS: I definitely lost some weight today. Definitely don't have to care about having a good dinner tonight. I had some gnocchi actually before. No, I think I had to go through this before. You know, plus it's not as late as at the US Open the other year when I got back at 10:00, then had to go out there the next day. So I think I have enough time to rest, especially still, because they both had to go out there now and play the doubles. I think I have even better preparation than them this time.

MARTINA HINGIS: Well, the second latest game, yes. I put four first serves in. No, as I say, with me it's a lot of mental. It came a lot of pressure. But actually sometimes I was doing better when I got the second serve in instead of the first. No, definitely that's not the case you want to play. I just couldn't get my feet off the ground anymore somehow. I just didn't really focus because I was tired. The rallies, sometimes you were just standing there, get the serve in, that was like the biggest part. That was like the toughest one to do for me at that moment. I still felt like, "Okay, even though I lose my serve, I have the chance to break her back." I served well in the first set. It's just in the second and the third was not. But with me it's a lot up in the head, it's not that the motion or anything is wrong, I think.

MARTINA HINGIS: What do you think? I don't know.

MARTINA HINGIS: Well, I think I got fitter and I was able to, you know, make her play, make her move more than in the past. That was the improvement from my side. I don't know. She definitely serves better. She would always serve big, but not that well-placed. It's when you have such long rallies, someone hits a good first serve, it's very tough to return, even it goes at you. It's just hard. I think it was a great match from both of us. At the end especially, it was whoever wanted it more at the end and who was more lucky. But physically, I don't know. Sometimes she would move great and sometimes she was just kind of standing, so I don't know. The third set was very good tennis, I think, yeah.

MARTINA HINGIS: Well, we just talked about it the whole time (laughter). I think you could see in today's match that I'm not that big as I used to be. You can't count on just overpowering me anymore.