News conference in Latham
July 7, 2004
About Tennis:
"It is something that I love to do, first of all, and
something that I still want to do."
"I always (wonder) what is the next step after this. I will always play
tennis only because I love it, never because I have to. I don't have to do
anything really, that is the most important thing."
"I have been on the tour for a very long time and I have had to deal with a
lot of injuries. It is frustrating, but I tell myself that I am an athlete
and I have to deal with it. It comes with what I do."
What Journalists write and Sharapova's rise:
"You guys are going to talk about whatever you want to anyways. It is not
like I have any control over it or I pay attention to it. I have been in
this situation long enough to learn what to read and what not to read. It is
probably worse for the other (Russian) players because they are always being
compared to me. I am happy (for Sharapova), it is great for the game. I want
the game of tennis to be awesome, I want young kids to get involved in it. I think it's great for tennis.
I think it's really important
to have new players and new personalities and new games. Everybody always
knew and expected her to be a great player because she's always been a
child prodigy."
When will she come back?:
"It is hard to say right now. I am probably going to be evaluated after (this
week). The problem with my back is that I can't play for a very long period
of time. If I play for two weeks, four hours a day that is when it really
starts to bother me. I can play an hour, an hour and a half every day and it
doesn't bother me. It bothers me if I play four hours a day and that is what
I really need to do to play on the tour. We'll see how it goes but hopefully
I can get back because I really want to play."
"I hate not knowing,. It's very, very difficult. I don't want
to say, 'Oh, maybe in three months,' because then if I don't, they're
going to say I'm retired. I don't want to give it any time frame because I
really don't know."
What she misses right now:
"I miss being on tour. I just miss being on the court.
I miss the adrenaline when there's 10,000 people and you're playing a
night match."
Kournikova insisted she never intended to become a sex symbol:
"Everybody says it's been packaged or marketed. I wore
whatever I liked, I did whatever I wanted to do, and it was never planned
or branded or marketed. I never even knew those words until a couple of
years ago. I just played tennis, and I wanted to be on the court."
About Marriage rumors with Enrique Iglesias:
"I think a lot of people would like to know, no?"
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