US OPEN

September 4, 1997

Lynne Rolley

Q. What does Lindsay have to do to beat Hingis?

LYNNE ROLLEY: I think she's got to play very aggressively. I see her best success if she actually overpowers Hingis.

LYNNE ROLLEY: I have talked to her today. She's very good. She's getting ready for her doubles match. She's looking forward to it. I know she considers yesterday a major breakthrough for her mentally and is very happy about it, looking forward to playing a semifinal match here.

LYNNE ROLLEY: Robert is Lindsay's personal coach, has been involved with her for several years. I have been with the USTA and working with Lindsay since she was very young. Over a period of about ten years, I've played several different roles with her, from actually traveling on the road with her as an actual team member, and then just becoming somewhat of a mentor and remaining part of her support team. Robert and I worked closely for years, and I think it's a good model relationship that we hope to have with other players in the future.

LYNNE ROLLEY: My relationship with Lindsay, again, has stretched over a long period of time, certainly over a period of time when she was growing up as an adolescent. What we've always professed through our program is that we're trying to build a support time. Regardless of what role you fit with each player, we want to be there supporting our American players. Perhaps, again at different periods of time, I've filled different roles. The actual coaching part is left up to Robert. He does a fabulous job. What I hope to do is to be another pair of eyes for him, to support him and her, and her family.

LYNNE ROLLEY: Lindsay just made a commitment I think about a year ago that she wasn't going to let anything hold her back from being as good as she could be. One of the areas that she needed some work on was her fitness. She made a real commitment to become a more fit player, and to remain injury free. That's the second part of it. As you remember, a few years ago, she was plagued with little, nagging injuries. Once a player I think goes through that, they realize the importance and the value of remaining healthy and really gaining momentum throughout the year by building those wins.

LYNNE ROLLEY: You know, a combination of better eating and fitness work has really trimmed her down. In my opinion, I think she looks terrific. At this point, if she continues to work on her fitness, she's only going to get stronger and more fit. Again, the main thing, particularly with the new ranking system and how many tournaments our players are playing, is to remain injury free.

LYNNE ROLLEY: We've had Venus at some training camps in the past. We keep a very good relationship with the family. They live in Florida. They always express an interest in using our center. In fact, Richard and I talked about her coming down and practicing on the grass next year for Wimbledon. She had an interesting year going to different surfaces and traveling outside the country. I think it was a great experience for her. I also think that's one of the reasons she's playing so well here. I think that she's more mature and she's back home and she's comfortable on hardcourts. I think that she feels very confident. She's learned a lot. I do speak to her whenever I have the opportunity. I hope to be there supporting her in her matches.

LYNNE ROLLEY: She has been coached by her own coaches, and we've always been available to her if she needs us. But they've done a wonderful job on their own. We just want to be there to help in any way we can.

LYNNE ROLLEY: The first answer to that, my first reaction, is Hingis does not have any weaknesses. She's the No. 1 player in the world and very difficult to beat for any player. A player with Lindsay's weapons and her power can just play too well sometimes for Hingis. Lindsay will have to keep a very high percentage of first serves in and take control of the point early to stay on top of her. When she's receiving, she has to hope that Hingis misses a good number of her first serves and gets an opportunity to have a good hit at her second serve. I think Lindsay needs to stay aggressive, she needs to stay inside the baseline, and certainly get to the net when she has an opportunity.

LYNNE ROLLEY: You never know about the wind. I certainly felt yesterday in the match with Novotna that the wind was to Lindsay's advantage. Sometimes the wind is swirling, and that's a different strategic condition as opposed to when the wind is behind you or opposing you. If the wind is straight, behind you or against you on the court, you take a player with Lindsay's power and it's going to be very effective. If the wind is swirling, you never know who is going to react to it as well.

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