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1999 Family Circle Cup - Hilton Head
Quarterfinal
Anna Kournikova beats Andrea Glass
6:2, 2:1 (retired)
April 2, 1999

 

 

QUESTION: Just how did you feel like you were playing today, Anna?
 
KOURNIKOVA: Well, you can see the result. The first set was great. I played very well. I played my game and I was just feeling great out there, enjoy, try to do sometimes a little bit different when I had 40-0 or 40-15, tried to play a little bit freer shots or something, but I felt like everything was going in, and it was just a great feeling out there.
 
QUESTION: Did you notice her injury? I mean when did you become aware of it?
 
KOURNIKOVA: Well, this kind of thing happens all the time, so it's not something that you try to focus on when she took the first injury time-out, you know, but I really had to stay focused because it's really frustrating sometimes, but I knew that she had injury before, before the match.
 
QUESTION: Could you tell it was affecting her in any way?
 
KOURNIKOVA: No. Not really. I think she was running pretty well in the first set. I don't think that she was slow or anything. I think she was getting to the points and I think that I was just finishing them well.
 
QUESTION: Surprised you?
 
KOURNIKOVA: Not really. Like I said, in tennis it happens all the time, so it's nothing new.
 
QUESTION: What was the nature of the injury? Do you know?
 
KOURNIKOVA: I don't know. I think it was in her leg. Upper leg.
 
QUESTION: Each match you've gotten better and better. Are you a little surprised at how well you're playing on clay considering it's your first tournament on the surface?
 
KOURNIKOVA: No. Not at all. I played a lot of good tournaments on clay, last year and the year before, and also in juniors I won everything on clay. In Russia we only had clay, so I basically started playing on clay. So it's not a new surface to me.
 
QUESTION: Is that red clay, though, you played on in Russia or is it like this?
 
KOURNIKOVA: It's the same thing. It's red clay, but it's basically clay is clay. It's no difference. Plus I was at Bollettieri's for 8 years and I practiced a lot on green clay there.
 
QUESTION: Do you have to psych yourself up every morning or do you just get your racquet and practice and go out and play and that's it? Is it business or is it something you have to really pump yourself up for?
 
KOURNIKOVA: It's my life. Like I said before, what would I be doing if I wasn't playing tennis, I would have wasted 13 years of my life. So I am here because of playing tennis, and I enjoy doing that, first of all. I really, like I said yesterday after the match, I really enjoyed that match yesterday because it was really tough. We had a lot of difficult points and it was really cool staying tough that I won yesterday. So it was really enjoying afterwards. It was a great feeling. It wasn't just 6-0, 6-0 you won. You won the fight. So that was really enjoying. That's how you get psyched basically, like I said. You want to go out there and show everybody that you worked really hard in practices and you know you can play. You just have to show it and not get nervous or anything.
 
QUESTION: Is that what you enjoy the most, the fight in the matches?
 
KOURNIKOVA: Definitely it helps sometimes to win easy, but the real match it is fighting. So when you have that kind of match and you really win, you are really satisfied.
 
QUESTION: Are you saying at this level of tennis that it's so much of it is mental then?
 
KOURNIKOVA: A lot, because everybody knows how to hit the ball. I mean everybody knows, and everybody knows how to hit it hard. You just have to really use your head and be patient, and that's what I'm trying to learn, be patient.
 
QUESTION: Is it hard for you not to think about winning the tournament at this point? You're in the semis now. Do you think about that?
 
KOURNIKOVA: No. Like I always say before, you really have to take a match at a time. You can never look forward. You can never know what happens. It's tennis. Today you play good. Tomorrow you might have a bad day, and you know, you might lose 0 and 0. So you never know. And you really have to focus on yourself, not try to think about your opponent and just think about your game, and take it match at a time, because like I said, everybody can play.
 
QUESTION: Can you comment on you either play Schnyder or Likhovtseva. Can you comment on each of their games?
 
KOURNIKOVA: Well, I think they're going to have a pretty tough match. Elena is playing pretty good tennis right now. She's in great shape. Patty, I don't know, I haven't seen much of her lately, but I played her last year in Amelia Island. I won pretty easy, 6-1, 6-3 or something on the clay last time I played her. Against Elena I also played last year on clay, also I won 2 and 3 or something on red clay in Berlin, 2 and 3, but it's a year, so everybody is different since then, and you know, they're going to have a tough match, a lot of long rallies, I think.
 
QUESTION: Do you feel you're capable of reaching the No. 1 ranking? Do you have the game for that?
 
KOURNIKOVA: Well, if I'm going to be working. I think everybody has the potential who is up there in the Top 20. I think everybody has the potential. It's just, like I said, how mentally tough you're going to stay and how really you have to continue to work hard when you get closer and closer, and I'm just going to try to do my best and continue working and enjoy and have fun just like I'm having a great time at this tournament.
 
QUESTION: Do you have a goal in mind as far as ranking, where you'd like to be ranked at the end of the year, how high you think you can go?
 
KOURNIKOVA: Just think about matches. I think I should just take it a step at a time and not look forward. Like I said, you never know what can happen, and I'm just going to take it minute by minute and go on. But of course, try to work for the future and improve my game for the future.
 
QUESTION: You left IMG to go to Advantage and at that time you said you were leaving because you thought Advantage would be able to get better commercial, better endorsements for you.
 
KOURNIKOVA: No.
 
QUESTION: You didn't say that?
 
KOURNIKOVA: No.
 
QUESTION: So how do you feel now about Martina going to Advantage?
 
KOURNIKOVA: I never looked for deals like you said or I never said that I was leaving for commercial reasons or anything. I basically don't really -- you know, that's not my goal. That's not what I want, why I'm here and why I'm playing tennis. It's not to make commercials or anything. I'm just there to win, like I said, and to enjoy the fight.
 
QUESTION: Endorsements aren't important to you?
 
KOURNIKOVA: Well, of course they're important, but they're not like the reason to leave a company or something, you know. And if you have a name, any company can make endorsements for you. Let me put it that way.
 
QUESTION: So why did you leave then?
 
KOURNIKOVA: I left because of the reasons that I wasn't -- I was with them, first of all, for a long time, for six years, and I needed a change. I needed to move on, and I just wanted to try something else, something new. Every person has a right to try something else.
 
QUESTION: So it doesn't bother you that Martina is going to be at Advantage?
 
KOURNIKOVA: Why should it bother me? We are great friends. We are going to play doubles together and it doesn't -- everybody's different. You can't just say, oh, I'm jealous of this person. She's working hard. I admire her a lot, and you know, I'm working hard. I'm going to do my thing, so it has nothing, there is no rivalry or anything. There's only rivalry on the court when we are playing. Off the court everything is normal just like other people. We talk, we say hello and we laugh and everything.
 
QUESTION: You said you were having fun here. Besides tennis what have you had a chance to do or has it all been tennis?
 
KOURNIKOVA: Well, I think fun for me is really resting, a lot of -- I didn't have to do much here. You know, it's really quiet, and I enjoy sleeping a lot. I didn't get that at Lipton, you know. So sometimes it's really nice to come to quieter tournaments as is Hilton Head. We only have a few tournaments like this, quiet. Everything else is big and a lot of players. Here is a home atmosphere, and it's great and I just went to the mall once, ate sushi last night, but other than that, I really like to sleep long and just play, watch TV. I had time for that.
 
QUESTION: How long have you been sleeping in?
 
KOURNIKOVA: A lot. The other night I slept 13 hours in a row. I went to bed at nine and I woke up at ten the next morning.
 
QUESTION: What night was that?
 
KOURNIKOVA: Two nights ago or something. I can sleep very long period.
 
QUESTION: Weren't you on the Late Late Show on Monday with Craig Kilborn?
 
KOURNIKOVA: That was taped.
 
QUESTION: That was taped? What was that like?
 
KOURNIKOVA: That was taped at Indian Wells.
 
QUESTION: If you play well, can you win the tournament? Will you win the tournament? Do you feel that confident?
 
KOURNIKOVA: I already answered that twice. I said I'm going to be taking it step by step, and like I said, tomorrow is going to be a very tough match for me with either opponent. Elena is playing great. Patty is always a difficult player, so it's going to be a very tough match for me, and plus I have to play doubles now. I'm getting ready for that.

 

 

 


Find out more at Anna's offical website:
www.kournikova.com