1996 Chase Championships at Madison Square Garden, New York, on Monday, November 18, 1996
Martina Hingis defeated Irina Spirlea, 6-1, 6-2

An Interview With MARTINA HINGIS:

Q. How did it feel playing out there and how do you feel about the way you played tonight?

MARTINA HINGIS: I liked how I played today. If you win 6-1, 6-2, there's not so many things to improve anymore. So it was the first time to be on the court here at Madison Square Garden, and it wasn't a bad experience.

Q. Martina, you beat Monica pretty much the same way as you won tonight. Are you surprised with how easy it's coming to you recently or lately?

MARTINA HINGIS: Well, yes, somehow it's surprising how I play tennis right now. So I feel very comfortable in my -- my serve improved. It was the first time I served 103 miles per hour, so I was pretty happy about that. I almost didn't make mistakes today. And it was just also the winning against Monica in Oakland was a big win for me. If you beat the No. 1 player in the world 6-2, 6-love. But I think the biggest win was the Filderstadt, I think was more mental, was a very big experience for me there, and much more confidence.

Q. Martina, wasn't it a problem for you to stay on the court maybe 40 minutes before your match and just right after that to play the match, was it any problem for your concentration?

MARTINA HINGIS: I was not very happy about I had to play third match already. It was like sometimes you don't know how long the matches are going to take. And the first match was very good, like Majoli/Huber is not a bad match to see. And Lindsay Davenport, it took a long time, too. And it was great for Gabriela, for the players, it was just very nice retiring, like the whole ceremony, it was very nice. But somehow, yeah, you think about the match already a little bit. But it was just nice for her, I think.

Q. Do you find this tournament exciting, now that it's your first time?

MARTINA HINGIS: Yeah, I've been here just to pick up an award. But it was like the first time I saw the tennis court and see a couple of matches. But it was one of my biggest goals this year was to reach to play here.

Q. Is it difficult at your age, Martina, to understand the desire of Kimiko and Gaby to retire? Can you see yourself in ten years making that same decision?

MARTINA HINGIS: Yeah, I'm just starting, it's only my third year, and they retire, they're almost ten years older than I am. I hope no. I don't know. You never know what's going to happening in the future.

Q. Do you feel comfortable out there? You haven't had much time and probably practice before that match, do you feel comfortable with the court and arena for a tougher challenge to come in the next round?

MARTINA HINGIS: I played like at 1 o'clock for an hour with Anke and this is a huge arena to play. I've been at the Knicks game Saturday, so I saw it already. It was very crowded. Yeah, it's just a big difference to play, you have so much space everywhere. It's a big difference. But, yes, Open or something is not much smaller.

Q. You play Kimiko or Monica, which player do you like to play?

MARTINA HINGIS: It's hard to say. I played Monica last week in the finals and it was a big win for me there. And Kimiko I've never played, it will be exciting to play Kimiko, but we'll see what's going to happen.

Q. Besides going to the Knicks game, what else have you done here in New York this week?

MARTINA HINGIS: Well, a lot, actually. I had to play -- I had to do a lot of press things with Omega, my sponsor. I had to do autograph session and things like that. And we arrived Thursday, so there are not that many days to do something.

Q. Did you do anything else for fun besides go to the Knicks game, just for fun?

MARTINA HINGIS: No. I've been to Las Vegas last week, like for two days and I've seen so many things there, and it was a crazy city. No I relaxed before the matches, before the tournament starts.