USTA 1997 US Open at Flushing Meadows, New York, on Thursday, August 28, 1997
Martina Hingis defeated Denisa Chladkova, 6-2, 6-1

An Interview With MARTINA HINGIS:

MARTINA HINGIS: Seems like more or less only Germans.

Q. I have one. How are you?

MARTINA HINGIS: Pretty good so far.

Q. You were up 3-2 in the second set. She was serving. You just started to wale away, just started to hit much harder.

MARTINA HINGIS: Did I?

Q. Yes. Did you seem to turn it up and say, "It's time for this match to be over"? Were you thinking that?

MARTINA HINGIS: I had one breakpoint the other game already, so I thought I had a chance there, I didn't make it, so I tried to hold on to my serve, break the next time. That's what I did. In the first set, she played really well, the first two games. I was like really surprised. She started hitting really hard. The first ball, I was not really focused. It was hard in the beginning. Later on, when she was making so many errors from the third, fourth point on, I was like, "Okay, just try to let her play, at the end just be more aggressive, play my own game."

Q. In these early round matches, are you working on anything specific in your game to try to shape it in terms of the court, the new Arthur Ashe Stadium court that you're going to have to be playing on for the rest of these two weeks?

MARTINA HINGIS: Yeah. I like it very much. It's a very nice stadium. It's like the court is very big. You can move very well on it. Either you step in the court, or you have so much space in the back. I saw some mens playing on it. There's like three, four meters behind the line. I'm like, "Okay, where are you standing?" Just try to go to the net a couple times. I served and volleyed a couple times in the last game, so that was fun.

Q. Is that something specific that you're working on, serving and volleying a little bit?

MARTINA HINGIS: Not serving and volleying, but just come to the net a couple times, make the points a little quicker.

Q. Martina, taking care of her in 42 minutes, do you feel any pressure or fear out there at all?

MARTINA HINGIS: I have no reason to be scared of something. I mean, I had a great year so far, only two loss. I have no reason to be scared out there. I play well. If I'm in a good shape and I feel confident with myself. Especially when I'm out there, I play all the points I want to do. I feel even better.

Q. Do you feel invincible? Do you think there's somebody here that can beat you?

MARTINA HINGIS: Well, no one is invincible. When I played my last tournament, I lost against Lindsay. Kind of put the pressure for me that I also can lose sometimes. I'm ready for this one.

Q. I saw your last match that you lost to Lindsay Davenport. Even when you were losing, you were kind of laughing. Can you describe your intensity level on the court? Is it that you just relax and play so easy, is that why it doesn't seem to affect you?

MARTINA HINGIS: Yeah. Because I know why I'm losing or can't win the match. You always try to be positive when you go out there, but I knew I was pretty much tired already when I step on the court. I tried my best to do at that time what I could. She was just better there. I tried to beat her when I'm ready for her next tournament.

Q. Were you tired because you had played a lot?

MARTINA HINGIS: Yeah. I played like three tournaments in a row. But that's no excuse. I made the schedule up that way. You have to play. I also played doubles at all three of them, so that was kind of a little mistake.

Q. One of your practice partners is playing in a few minutes, Mirjana Lucic. I was wondering if you could talk about her game, how it's progressed in the last couple of months, last year?

MARTINA HINGIS: I mean, she's going to be able to play a little bit more and get more experience, so she's one of the biggest for the future. I think she has a really big chance to for sure get into the Top 10 and be around here.

Q. How about now with Lucic, do you think even at 15 years old, she's a possible threat to go far in this tournament?

MARTINA HINGIS: Well, she doesn't look like a 15 year old and she doesn't handle all the things like a 15 year old, on the court also. So she seems for me to also be very experienced at a young age already. That's a very good beginning already. She has nothing to lose. She goes for each of the matches, just trying to win everything. She has nothing to lose especially.

Q. Does she have a chance to win everything here?

MARTINA HINGIS: Hopefully not if she meets me (laughter). She's making her first appearance at a Grand Slam, and she won her first round. They were very nice to let her play. I think the rules are not right anyway, so I think that's a very good start.