1996 Chase Championships at Madison Square Garden, New York, on Friday, November 22, 1996
Martina Hingis defeated Kimiko Date, 6-1, 6-2

An Interview With MARTINA HINGIS:

Q. Are you playing the best tennis on the floor right now, Martina?

MARTINA HINGIS: For myself, I play very good tennis right now, since a couple of last weeks, since I won my first tournament in Filderstadt and I also like to play indoors a lot. I have great results there. I'm playing very good tennis, yes.

Q. Did you feel at all a little bad or sad since you ended her career, you were the last match for her?

MARTINA HINGIS: It was my first and last game against Kimiko, so somehow it's exciting to go on the court and play her. But I was just concentrating for my match and the opponent doesn't matter, if you are on the court.

Q. What happened when you thought you had -- when the umpire thought you had given the point. You waved your arm like that, and the umpire conceded the point?

MARTINA HINGIS: It was -- yeah, I was leading, so it was -- but it was like very much in the court, so I just thought we played a point because -- it wasn't very important.

Q. Do you know who you're going to play doubles with next year?

MARTINA HINGIS: I'm not going to have a regular partner, I don't play so many doubles tournaments anymore, because I want to concentrate much more for the singles, especially if I can win a tournament. So I want to play more. Probably I'm going to play every tournament with someone else or just a couple of tournaments, but I'm going to take more time off and relax before the singles matches.

Q. You said you like playing indoors, why?

MARTINA HINGIS: Yeah, because there's no wind, no sun and you just can play your fast tennis, and I like to play that. And the balls, they jump the same way all the time, so it's also easy.

Q. What about playing Majoli in the semifinals?

MARTINA HINGIS: She's had a great tournament here, she beat Anke Huber in the first round and Martina, and they're not very easy to beat. We always had a lot of fun when we played each other on the court. And one time I played her also in doubles, she was my partner, and we also -- we always have a lot of fun on the court.

Q. There was a ceremony for Kimiko, you were talking to Kimiko at the end of the ceremony, what did you talk with her about, were you talking about today's match?

MARTINA HINGIS: She said good-bye for everyone, I said we're going to meet on the court again, so I don't say good-bye to you right now.

Q. What did you say to her today after the match, at the net?

MARTINA HINGIS: Well, it's hard to say something if you beat somebody, and that was your last match. But she's starting a new life, so I just thought we played a good match and good luck for your next life.

Q. You said good luck to her for your next life?

MARTINA HINGIS: For your future (laughter.) New life, beginning, yeah.

Q. Martina, a lot has happened to you over the last year, you went from being someone who had all these expectations on you to someone who's really starting to realize; can you talk about the last year and what's changed in your life?

MARTINA HINGIS: It doesn't change a lot in my life, I just started to practice more a little bit and the Wimbledon win in doubles it got me much more confidence in my mental part, especially. And then I took the advantage of it and I play very good matches at the U.S. Open and it was a big help. It wasn't very good in the beginning of the year, in the middle I didn't play very well at the Olympics and also before Key Biscayne and Hilton Head I didn't have very good matches there, but then I have to do a little more for my tennis if I want to get higher. In one year I've been in the same place, like from 15 to 20.

Q. Martina, you watched some of the first match today, what did you think of the way Jana was playing?

MARTINA HINGIS: She played great tennis today, I mean the way she played the last tournaments, and she won three tournaments in a row. And I think she likes to play indoors much better than the other surfaces, but she has a great game for Arantxa, too, especially indoors, because Arantxa took a time off, she didn't play tournaments for one month or even more. So she wasn't really ready for this tournament. And Jana just plays an excellent game right now.

Q. How did you feel about Kimiko today?

MARTINA HINGIS: I won, so it's hard to say how she played. But I think it was -- I don't know, you have to ask her how she felt on the court. She didn't play many tournaments in the last time so it's probably hard to play again. And it's your last tournament, it's probably a little pressure on you, you want to try to play your best tennis. And if it doesn't work, so I don't know how she felt. But I played almost a perfect game today, so I didn't give her any chances today.