April, 15th 2004
Mandula D Capriati 7-6(3), 3-6, 7-5
Q. Couldn't ever find your rhythm up there?
JENNIFER CAPRIATI: No. I don't think that was the case at all. Just
she played really well and was teeing off, and I had a good rhythm, just
didn't step up and win those, you know, key points, important points and go
for it like she went for it.
Q. She moved you around a lot today, looked like, especially in the third
set. Did it get tough to try to get to those balls as the match went on?
Was it tougher to move today than it was yesterday?
JENNIFER CAPRIATI: No. I felt fine physically. I wasn't getting
fatigued at all out there.
Q. Serena pulled out today, too. Now with you losing, this tournament is
losing some of those top seeds to get to Friday. I guess it's kind of a surprise.
JENNIFER CAPRIATI: No comment. I mean there's still a lot of good
players in the draw, so...
Q. Speaking of that, the girl you played today, she's ranked 42nd. Would you
say now like in 2004 compared to four or five years ago that those players from 20
to 40 or 50 are stronger than they used to be significantly or is it about the same?
JENNIFER CAPRIATI: I think it's about the same. It's just who you get
in the draw at what time basically. I mean because there's a lot of girls
still out there that, you know, they're 0 and 0 still against the top
players. So I think it's just basically, you know, who you get at the time
and with the way the draw is made out. And you know, I mean maybe clay it's
a little bit different, you know, and more of the girls have a little more
opportunity against the top players because it just slows down.
Q. What was the difference out there today in the final set? I don't think
anybody won two games in a row until the very end. What was the difference?
It seemed like a very close match.
JENNIFER CAPRIATI: Yeah. Well, she was just, you know, hitting out on
her shots, and it was just basically who took the initiative, and you know,
it's very hard to keep going for the shots, especially when it's getting
tight out there. And it was getting tight, and you know, it's just a matter
of a few points here and there, and she came up with some good serves, and
she served good games at the end there, so it was difficult to break her.
You know, there's nothing wrong with my serve either. She was just -- you
know, I think she just played really well and was really on today.
Q. Do you feel like you could have been more aggressive?
JENNIFER CAPRIATI: Well, instead of playing, you know, maybe not
waiting for her to miss or, you know, to not miss myself, you know, against
someone who's just, you know, basically just going all out on their shots.
I mean when they're on, you know, that's not the right play to do. But she
was just hitting big the whole time, and so I just -- you know, I felt a lot
of pressure on my shots, so --
Q. Did you play her before? Did you know what to expect from her?
JENNIFER CAPRIATI: No. I don't think I've ever played her before, so
you know, I've watched her play a bunch of times, but it's a little
different when you actually get against the player and actually play them.
Q. Is it tough to be the first match of the day like that out there?
JENNIFER CAPRIATI: No. No. It was fine.
Q. Do you have any thought on Serena's injury and what that may mean for
the rest of the season and how things are going to shake up?
JENNIFER CAPRIATI: I have no comment on that.
Q. Growing up in South Florida, obviously there's a lot of these clay
courts. I'm curious when you're developing your game how much time you
spent between hard versus this surface.
JENNIFER CAPRIATI: When you're coming up?
Q. No. When you were just developing your game before you were a pro. Was
it something you considered?
JENNIFER CAPRIATI: Basically it's what the tournaments, you know, what
you play on most of the time, which I think most of the time it was hard
court anyways, even in the juniors, so and then when the clay would come up,
you hit on the clay, but that's why you see the difference. Americans have
grown up and they grow up playing on the hard court and in Europe you see
the European players, like that's all they have is clay courts pretty much
over there. So that's why you see the contrasting styles.
Q. What do you take away from a week like this or two matches like these?
JENNIFER CAPRIATI: Well, on one hand it's, you know, it was a tough
match and it was just a matter of a few points here and there, and just that
I have a little bit of more work to do. I'm not quite there yet as far as
playing my best, my tennis 100 percent. So you know, it's just try not to
get down about these kind of matches and these kind of losses, and that's it.
Q. Jennifer, earlier today they dedicated a court to Althea Gibson here.
Did you ever run across her any time she was say visiting the U.S. Open?
Did you ever meet her? You got any thoughts about her and what she meant to
women's tennis?
JENNIFER CAPRIATI: No. I've never met her, and you know, I guess it's
someone I should know more about, but you know, there's a lot of ladies from
the past that have done a lot for the game and she's one of them.
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