
Saturday
April 20, 2002
A POST-MATCH INTERVIEW WITH: JENNIFER CAPRIATI
SEMIFINAL LOSS TO PATTY SCHNYDER
6-4, 6-3
Q. She kind of came out on fire, seemed like, the first set.
JENNIFER CAPRIATI: Yeah, but I was ahead most of the time in the first
set. I think she picked up her game better in the middle of the first
set and as the second set wore on.
Q. Do you think her strategy was kind of to keep the ball deep, keep
the ball high and extend the points? Was that something you sort of knew
she was going to try to do coming in?
JENNIFER CAPRIATI: Yeah. I think that's her game anyway. That's the way
she plays, and maybe she did it a little more today. You know, she played
well, she kept the ball on the court, and then she was aggressive when
she had to be and then made some good shots and made some good winners,
and served well, too.
Q. But she seemed to go for the lines and make a lot of those shots.
Was that frustrating because she was so close?
JENNIFER CAPRIATI: Yeah. I mean it's just, you know, there's not much
you can do when someone's having that kind of day, and just gotta do the
best you can. And you know, my day was not as good today as hers, and
you know, but I don't feel like I gave it to her. I think she really played
well, and I mean she forced a lot of my mistakes.
Q. This is a girl who's beaten the sixth seed, the three seed and
now number one seed. Do you think you just ran into a very hot player
or are you just not happy with the way you played?
JENNIFER CAPRIATI: I think probably a little bit of both. I probably could
have played better, but obviously she's playing with a lot of confidence,
and she played well. She's a talented player and this is what kind of
everyone thought the player she was going to be, but it never happened.
She's been around for a while, and she had a good run maybe a couple years
ago or something like that, and now you know, she's playing better, for
this week she's playing better.
And there's some things still that it's a long clay court season, so
it's just the beginning, so I'm not going to get down about it. I'm just
going to learn from this match and get ready to go to Europe.
Q. Some of those calls out there, how much did that affect your concentration?
You were upset quite a bit through the second set about that.
JENNIFER CAPRIATI: I mean it's just ?? it's frustrating when kind of everything
is not going your way, and you know, even the calls or whatever, and then
she's hitting the lines and then they made bad calls on my shots that
actually were in, so we had to like replay the point. And you know, it
was just kind of one of those days.
Q. Seemed like sort of the turning point was sort of the break she
was able to get there at 4?3 and then close out the first set.
JENNIFER CAPRIATI: Right.
Q. In your mind did that kind of carry over a little bit for her in
the second set when she was able to go up 3?0?
JENNIFER CAPRIATI: Yeah. Well, I mean I can't really remember what happened
in that first or why I lost that game. I mean she was playing well, but
I definitely ?? I mean I was ahead the whole time in the first, and I
definitely feel that first set should have been mine, but you know, it's
just a couple points here and there that made the difference in the end.
And the last game was really long of that first set, and maybe I was a
little bit winded after that, and you know, that's clay and that's why
you have to be ready to stay out there longer and be in better shape.
Q. How disappointing is it to you to lose that No. 1 ranking?
JENNIFER CAPRIATI: Right now I haven't thought about it. You know, maybe
I've lost it for this moment, but I wouldn't say the whole year or ??
I mean that's how it's kind of been, just going back and forth, so still
a lot of tournaments to play.
Q. You think that back and forth makes the women's game more exciting,
though, for the public?
JENNIFER CAPRIATI: Yeah. I mean I think there has to be a little better
point system, otherwise, I mean it's really maybe everyone's going to
get confused of, you know, who's No. 1 or whatever. And for the players,
maybe it takes away the real kind of meaning of it if it's just always
kind of going back and forth for these little tournaments and or you win
a big tournament and you're still not No. 1.
Q. There have been so many upsets this week. Do you think this shows
how deep the Tour really is, it's not just the first five or ten players,
that it really is deep?
JENNIFER CAPRIATI: Yeah. I mean, maybe you know, because of the surface
change it's easier for the other lower ranked players to have a chance
against top players because the power game, I mean you can really tell
the difference on like the hard court or the faster surface. There's not
much to compare, but it's maybe an equalizer for everybody, and so I mean
it's the first tournament of the clay, or the second tournament. So you
know, it's just not a good week for the seeds.
Q. What's your schedule from here into the French?
JENNIFER CAPRIATI: I'm playing Fed Cup, which is next week, and then I'm
going to go play Berlin and Rome.
Q. Seems like kind of maybe the turning point was you had her at 40?0,
4?3 your serve, and she comes back to break you there, I think wins like
five or six of the next straight games. Is that sort of in your mind where
maybe things turned around a little bit in sort of momentum?
JENNIFER CAPRIATI: Didn't you just ask that?
Q. Yeah. A little bit differently.
JENNIFER CAPRIATI: A little bit different? Yeah. I guess that's what happened.
I was up 40?0, and yeah, I mean I should have won that game, and especially
if I'm up 40?0, and maybe kind of just relaxed a little bit there too
much and expected that I was going to win that set or win it at that point.
And really she comes back and plays better, and then definitely she got
a lot of momentum after the first set, and maybe I was kind of like just
mad at myself, kind of just didn't play well the beginning of the second.
END OF INTERVIEW
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