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TELECOM ITALIA MASTERS


May 16, 2003


Amelie Mauresmo


ROME, ITALY, A. MAURESMO/J. Capriati 6-3, 7-6

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. Were you ready to go three? It looked like very hard work out there.

AMELIE MAURESMO: I would prefer to win in two, yeah, that's for sure. But, you know, eventually I was ready. It was close, you know. It was very close. Very tough points in that tiebreak - long points, long rallies. But, you know, I was there still.

Q. You never tried to shorten those long rallies with some dropshots? Not much?

AMELIE MAURESMO: Not much, no. Not today.

Q. Why not?

AMELIE MAURESMO: I don't know. I was feeling good in that rhythm. I never do too many dropshots. That's not my favorite thing.

Q. Are you aware as the match develops what good quality tennis it is?

AMELIE MAURESMO: Yeah, I could feel that I was playing well and I could, you know, obviously feel it was a good game. I think it went actually better and better as the game was really going. But I'm happy, you know. I'm happy about the way I played. That was really my goal today, to really let it go and try to be aggressive and try to go forward. I'm happy, satisfied.

Q. In the tenth game of the second set, you're serving, you go up 40-love.

AMELIE MAURESMO: I was 40-love? Okay, yeah.

Q. Suddenly, she comes to the net and makes two volleys. You seemed startled, you made an error and had to save set points. Were you surprised she never tried that again?

AMELIE MAURESMO: To be honest, I didn't ask myself that (laughing). I was just really concentrating on my game. Yeah, I didn't really think about what she should do, you know. I am just trying to think about what I'm supposed to.

Q. Just coaching yourself?

AMELIE MAURESMO: Yeah.

Q. Do you think that you kept your cool, you kept your concentration more than your opponent?

AMELIE MAURESMO: Yeah, at some point she was little bit pissed off. But I think she does that very often, and I'm not sure it's getting her concentration somewhere else. I think -- I'm sure she's used to, you know, do these things. But, you know, I just try to stay in there even though sometimes I was set point down, and it worked out for me today.

Q. After five matches with Serena Williams, you lost the first two 7-6 in the third. Do you remember if you had matchpoints or were close to? Then you lost the last two very badly, and you never played on clay. Do you think clay is your favorite surface against her?

AMELIE MAURESMO: Well, we'll see tomorrow. We'll see that tomorrow. I'll tell you after the match. No, I think -- yeah, it's gonna be interesting to play against her on clay. Obviously, never have played against her. I've had, you're right, two sets easy losses against her in the last few meetings that we had. So nothing to lose, just try to, again, play my game and, you know, try to, you know, keep improving. And for the first two matches, I don't think I had the matchpoint.

THE MODERATOR: You didn't, no.

AMELIE MAURESMO: No, I don't think so.

Q. Yesterday Martina Navratilova said that they should change the tournament and move it to another city to have more of a crowd. What would you think about that?

AMELIE MAURESMO: Oh, that's a... No, I think, yeah, obviously, center court is not full and it's a shame, I think, that people maybe do not get interested enough in tennis. I'm sure in the weekend it's gonna be better, and I hope so. But I'm not sure it's, you know, solution, to move it somewhere else.

Q. You've had some pretty bad luck with injuries. Do you really feel very strong now, as strong as you've felt for some time?

AMELIE MAURESMO: Yeah, I feel good. I feel physically strong. Hopefully, it's gonna, you know, stay like this and I can really work on my game without thinking about, you know, getting out of injuries. So far it's going on well for this year even though I had the problem at the beginning of the year. But, you know, it's okay for the moment, so...

Q. There was a match you played earlier this year, I think it was against Rubin in Key Biscayne. At the start, you could hardly get the ball into court. Today, every shot was going in. Are you always going to be one of those players who has very good days and not so very good days, do you think?

AMELIE MAURESMO: Well, at Key Biscayne I was going out of being sick for 10 days, so I couldn't really have enough strength and energy to really move and make sure I put that ball in. So, you know, since then I worked -- I felt better, first. Then I worked hard on my physical training. So it's better, much better.

Q. At the US Open last year you were attacking all the time. Here, much less. Is that a different tactic just because on clay it's slower, or it depends on the mood?

AMELIE MAURESMO: Yeah, I just wake up some day and... (smiling). No, of course it's related to clay court. You cannot, obviously, play the same way you play on hard court or grass court than you play on clay court even though I'm trying to be aggressive, I'm trying really to go to the net and go forward. But you can't -- I think you cannot play the same way. So it's not that I wake up some day and think to myself, "I'm gonna serve and volley." No, that's not this (smiling).

Q. Looking at the Dechy match, do you think Serena Williams has any weakness that you might be able to exploit if you play her tomorrow?

AMELIE MAURESMO: Well, I just saw the first three games. But, yeah, I think she has some weakness and, obviously, when she's playing well, when she really feels good, it's very hard to play against her. But, hopefully, you know, I have some keys to make her really work hard.

Q. Did you have any reaction in France about your Paris Match and your front cover?

AMELIE MAURESMO: Yeah, I think they are talking about it a lot, but I'm not there, so (smiling). That's what people tell me.

End of FastScripts….

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