May 25, 2005
Mathias Stach (Interviewer): Anna, nice to have you here - how is it going by the way?
Anna: "Very good, I'm just here at the French Open visiting for a couple of days and I'm having a great time visiting my friends (smiles at Barbara Schett) so everything's good."
Barbara Schett: When you watch some matches do you miss tennis at all now? Would you like to stand on Centre Court and play some matches or not?
Anna: "Well, definitely of course I miss the adrenalin rush and being in front of ten thousand people and the atmosphere, nothing ever like that is going to happen again, in my life at least, to replace that specific feeling that you are on the court in front of an amazing crowd and everything, I definitely miss it but it's a different kind of life right now for me and of course I'm sad that I can't play physically but there's nothing I can do and I've just got to do what I can do now."
Barbara Schett: What do you say about all these Russian players, the girls coming up right now? You were pretty much the first one who was successful, you were in the top ten. Why is that, why do you think so?
Anna: "Well, we've always had a great sports nation of course, obviously Russia, and I just think that especially in the last five or six years there's just so many more opportunities, and like you said, me and a couple of other girls were one of the first ones to start travelling and a lot of players saw that it is possible to travel, there is opportunities outside of the country and we were able to travel with the Soviet Union not existing anymore and everything, a lot of players were able to get out and travel and I think tennis is just a great sport, Russia has a great tennis school, great coaches, great technique and everybody's very hungry."
Mathias: Is it still expensive to play tennis in Russia or is it easier and easier over the years?
Anna: "I'm really not sure because I don't really go back there that often - at the end of the day yes it's probably expensive but if you want to make something work you can always find a way, when I was growing up we didn't have much money either but we always found a way to pursue a certain thing, we were playing, we were hitting balls against walls of certain buildings, you don't really always need a tennis court but now I think it's better organised, there's some kind of structure."
Barbara Schett: Well, I think it's pretty sad that you're not playing anymore for the WTA tour..
Anna: "I know, I miss you, I miss our old days."
Barbara Schett: That's also one reason I retired, (laughs) no we always had a good time, no?
Anna: "Oh my god, I loved playing with you and it was such a great time and our doubles titles.."
Barbara Schett: Exactly..
Anna : "It was fun, we had a great group on the tour at a certain point and I really have great memories, back then I think we had it a little different, we had a group of people that were hanging out and had more fun, I think now it has become a little bit too - I don't know - a little too serious maybe, especially like in the player lounge the players and everything, of course it's a competition but.. I miss our days..."
Mathias: One last thing, where do we have to go in Paris, any special place?
Anna: "Oh... well I always go to the Louvre, every year I go to the Louvre, it's so big that I need a lot of time so every year I go there."
Mathias: Thanks for being here, and we will do it by the way..
Barbara Schett: Yeah, we'll do it (laughs).
Thanx for the transcript "jaypes"
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