UNITED STATES TENNIS ASSOCIATION

1992 U.S. OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP
Flushing Meadows, New York, NY

September 3, 1992

M. MALEEVA/M. Navratilova

6-4, 0-6, 6-3

INTERVIEW WITH

Q. At the start of the match, did you think you could beat Martina

MAGDALENA MALEEVA: Um, Yeah,. But I wasn't thinking about it. I was just thinking not to do mistakes that I have done before, and I was thinking to play point and not to think if I can beat-- of course you have to believe but I was not thinking if I can or if I can't. I was just trying to play good.

Q. All week long I've watched you. You've been very focused this week and practicing very hard, and you were ready mentally.

MAGDALENA MALEEVA: Yes. Definitely. Mentally, I am ready more than before, because we have played twice, and I knew what to do better than before.

Q. What did you know what to do?

MAGDALENA MALEEVA: I made so many mistakes in the past. I don't know exactly what to tell you, but we played during Wimbledon first round and I was missing so many returns and I was hitting so late. And I knew I had to play more on her backhand and that she is not very good when she has to hit a high backhand. I was playing with a lot of topspin and I was trying to make my game like many drop shots. I was not all the time serving first serve. I think she didn't know what to expect because I was mixing my game.

Q. Did you think the rain delay helped you at all, hurt her at all or had any effect?

MAGDALENA MALEEVA: I was so mad when we stopped. I would rather have continued. But maybe it helped me, I don't know.

Q. Where were you when your sister beat Martina here? Were you at that match?

MAGDALENA MALEEVA: I was the first one who came on the court and I heard her and I was crying, but I didn't watch. I watched only the match point. I usually never watch them.

Q. What did you think, that day? Did that help you today?

MAGDALENA MALEEVA: I was thinking about it during the match. I was thinking that maybe Martina is thinking not another Maleeva; she is not going to beat me on this court. I was thinking about it a little bit.

Q. What went through your mind when you served a doublefault leading 40-15 in the last game?

MAGDALENA MALEEVA: Through my mind went, it is okay. There is the next one.

Q. That last serve you made wasn't one of your really more forceful serves; right?

MAGDALENA MALEEVA: On the match point?

Q. Yes.

MAGDALENA MALEEVA: No, I was afraid that I was going to make another one, because I was serving against the wind and it was very difficult on that side to hold serve.

Q. Were you surprised that you just dumped it in the net?

MAGDALENA MALEEVA: What?

Q. On the last serve?

MAGDALENA MALEEVA: Did she miss the return?

Q. Yes. Were you surprised how easily-- I mean, she just put it at the bottom of the net.

MAGDALENA MALEEVA: No, I think this is what she did on the match points. It was not the return but she missed it in the net and I was thinking that she is very nervous and she hit it very shaky, so I thought that maybe she could do it again.

Q. Maggie, you win the first set, she comes back and zips right through that second set. What were you thinking, starting that third set?

MAGDALENA MALEEVA: It was my fault that I -- I played badly in the second set. It is not that she played so much better, I think. So -- I don't know, I just played better in the third.

Q. What adjustments did you make getting ready for that third set in your mind, and physically?

MAGDALENA MALEEVA: I was just thinking don't think about the second set, think about the first set and don't miss like I was missing in the second. I wasn't serving well in the second set. I think this was the main reason I lost it.

Q. Did you get any advice during the rain break?

MAGDALENA MALEEVA: I was so mad, I was screaming at everyone, but I saw my sister, Manuela. I saw Katerina, too. We talked a little bit. I talked with my mother. I got some advice, but I don't know, I was really bad with them.

Q. Why were you so mad?

MAGDALENA MALEEVA: I was mad because I knew that after I won the first set, she was very, very nervous, and I forgot to think about it and I made two doublefaults, the first game and this is what I usually do and I did it again. That is why I was mad.

Q. How did you know she was so nervous?

MAGDALENA MALEEVA: She made two double faults at 5-4 and 30-All. What else can I think? And they were in the net.

Q. Then going into the third set, she beat you 6-Love. Didn't you think she was more confident?

MAGDALENA MALEEVA: Of course. That is why I was mad, because I knew I gave her confidence after she had lost it.

Q. When did you first see her? I know you were around the circuit as a kid.

MAGDALENA MALEEVA: Martina?

Q. Yes.

MAGDALENA MALEEVA: Oh, I don't remember. Maybe I was eight or nine, because I was traveling with my sisters. I don't remember, really.

Q. Did you think then about beating her one day or did you think she wouldn't be around when you were a player?

MAGDALENA MALEEVA: Well, I always thought that she is probably my favorite player because she can do everything and I always wanted to play kind of her game because she is going to the net. She can play from the baseline. She makes drop shots. She makes everything and that is what I want to do with my game. So, well, probably, I thought that I could beat her, one day. I was too young to think about these things.

Q. What does this victory mean to you?

MAGDALENA MALEEVA: I haven't thought yet. It means a lot. It means that I can be a good player, and I don't know if it proves to anyone else that I am good but it proves to me, so that is the most important thing.

Q. Will you have any problems if you have to face a sister?

MAGDALENA MALEEVA: Of course, this is my biggest problem, but I hope I don't.

Q. Is she still a great player?

MAGDALENA MALEEVA: Who?

Q. Martina.

MAGDALENA MALEEVA: She is a great player. I don't believe she is still playing and she is still so good. I don't think anyone else can do it.

Q. There is still a misunderstanding with the English. What did you just say? You think she is still a good player?

MAGDALENA MALEEVA: She is a great player and I don't believe that she still -- she is so old and so good.

Q. You can't believe that she is still great?

MAGDALENA MALEEVA: Yes.

Q. Thank you.

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