U.S. OPEN

August 31, 1994

Mary Joe Fernandez

MARY JOE FERNANDEZ: I definitely decided before I started to serve and volley. Whether it was a very thoughtful choice or not is a good question, but it worked well and I had that whole match and the entire stretch anything can happen and I thought, well, I'd rather have her come up with a big shot than myself or have me run around the baseline. So I hit two good serves and fortunately I was able to knock off the volley.

MARY JOE FERNANDEZ: It was a long one. You know, hopefully I won't die from it, but we did a lot of running out there and fortunately -- I feel pretty fit, the weather helped, it is not that hot out there. So, I got a day off in between, that should give me enough strength for my next match.

MARY JOE FERNANDEZ: I figured eventually I'm going to connect, I'm going to break, but an unforced error, there was one return which I shouldn't have missed. All the other points she played them well. She was playing good points and really coming up with good shots, so, it was frustrating because I thought I was in it, and, you know, all of a sudden I was serving to stay in the match. So that was difficult, but I fought hard and never gave up and at the end I guess I played pretty courageous. The serve and volley was important.

MARY JOE FERNANDEZ: Well, she was attacking my serve pretty well. She likes to run around the forehand and nail it. So, in the tiebreak I figured, well, make her hit a harder shot. If she comes up with a good shot on that, that's good, and she missed that one and then vice versa. I said, well, I'm going to run around and hit her second serve to go 5-3 and that was the big point.

MARY JOE FERNANDEZ: That's a tough issue to decide upon. I'm very pro education and finishing high school and, you know, what age to play on the circuit I can't say. I think everybody develops and grows at a different age. For myself, I know that I would have been ready to play full-time on the circuit at 14, and for me staying in school was a priority, and you know, I'd like to see more girls finish school. Tennis is a short career, and there could be injuries and all sorts of causes that make you stop playing, and I think you have been to prepared for life after tennis, and, you know, I think that's something that should be emphasized. But what age? I can't say what age.

MARY JOE FERNANDEZ: No. I feel because I stayed in stool I feel very fresh. I didn't start playing full-time until I was about 18, so, you know, this is just about my fourth or fifth year out here and I still could improve and that keeps me going. I was a little unfortunate with health problems in the last year, but God willing, I'll get stronger and be able to play for a long time.

MARY JOE FERNANDEZ: I thought I was on the road last year at this time. I arrived at the French Open, I was making a bit of a breakthrough and really competing with the top players and I had a bit of a setback, but I think it's going to take time now. It is a little bit like starting over. I have to get back the mentality of playing aggressive, and basically just getting a real long patch of playing a lot. I haven't had that in a while. I think that's tough, but I feel healthy now and hopefully starting here it's going to bring a long streak of good luck.

MARY JOE FERNANDEZ: It's been discouraging. I didn't play here last year and I had surgery a few weeks after and I was out of the game. I was not doing anything for three or four months, so that set me back. And the beginning of this year was tough not playing on and off. I played a couple weeks take off a couple weeks. So there's an lot of that and fortunately a couple weeks ago I played Canada and I got the flu which was-- everybody was like, gee, you're sick again, and it was the only normal sickness I've had in a long time. But besides that, I've been feeling pretty well.

MARY JOE FERNANDEZ: I missed the prom and all that too.

MARY JOE FERNANDEZ: That's true.

MARY JOE FERNANDEZ: I think I hear a little more of it now. There's so much pressure, so much money in the game that, you know, parents try to get you out to try to peek really early, and I think traditionally in the past, a woman peeks in her mid 20s. That's when they're supposed to be at the prime of their career, and you start so young, to expect so much from a young person is difficult. If you go through it moderately and just really pace yourself, you can prolong your career and just play a lot longer.

MARY JOE FERNANDEZ: I thought about it a lot. I think before I had all this time off last year I would just say, well, I'm 24, 25, I'll play eleven years on the tour, but having forced time off, I realize I really enjoy what I do and I'm fortunate to do what I do and it kind of changed my perspective on things and it's like, now, well, as long as God gives me the health and strength to play, I'm going to play as long as I can. As long as I feel I'm improving, I think that will keep me going. No numbers. So, I'm not predicting an age.

MARY JOE FERNANDEZ: I think no matter what happens she's going to be regarded as one of the best players ever. She dominated the game for those couple years that she played and I don't think she'll be forgotten at all and especially how tragically she had to stop. So we're all praying she comes back and she desires actually to come back. If not, that's fine too. But I think people miss her as they miss her tenacity and how good she was. She was pretty amazing, the style of play she had and just how accurate she was with her shots.

MARY JOE FERNANDEZ: I think that happens automatically. I think, you know, that's happened in the past-- Evret goes out-- there's going to be a new generation of players. We're going to see it. There's a lot more depth in the game than there was before. It's been coming a little more of a power game. The Grafs and the Pierces, that kind of style, Davenport, that -- that's kind of changing it. That's what's happening. It's moving to that style of play. And there's always going to be new faces. People are still going to remember there are good athletes from the past.

MARY JOE FERNANDEZ: I'm in a tough section of the draw and it just gets tougher, so I have to contend with my next match. I think it's Grossman or Maleeva, but if I get through that, I have to play Sanchez, and she or Graf is favored to win. So, whether it's wide open or not, it could be. I think I'll win more matches, but they're tough matches. Gaby seems to be playing very well and Conchita as well. So I'll take it one day at a time and take it as best I can.