An Interview With Anna Kournikova

Q. Were you happy to have such an easy match, Anna, or did you want something a bit tougher for the first one?

ANNA KOURNIKOVA: I think that it was a very easy match - it was, but I think that I had to work hard anyway, and I think that I played very well. I made as minimum mistakes as I could make and I was very happy with that. I was serving very well and I think Patricia was just nervous because it was her first Grand Slam major draw so that's what happened.

Q. Did you have any problems with your thigh?

ANNA KOURNIKOVA: No.

Q. No?

ANNA KOURNIKOVA: No, it's much better. It's definitely much better. I had a lot of treatment on it, and I took a day off so it helped, and I'm going to get more treatment and hopefully I will be 100 per cent Wednesday.

Q. How much do you like your partnership with the other Austrian Babsy Schett in the doubles?

ANNA KOURNIKOVA: It has been great so far, we just played two matches, but we enjoy to play together. She is a very, very nice person, and we have fun, off the court also.

Q. Why did you split with Martina Hingis? You won the doubles title in Australia here one year ago, why did you split up?

ANNA KOURNIKOVA: Well, it was a mutual decision; just wanted to try something else.

Q. Anna, did you predict your game to go that fast today?

ANNA KOURNIKOVA: Well, yes, I knew that she was not the top player of course, but you know, I just was getting ready for a match, you know, for a tough match, and just have to play, and I was trying to play my best and, you know, it was just like I was getting ready just like any other match.

Q. And you have got Natasha Zvereva in the next round; that will be a tough match?

ANNA KOURNIKOVA: Definitely it is going to be a very interesting match because we are friends, I have never played her before. I have played many times each other in doubles. She is - so we know each other very long time, and she has a lot of experience. She is a great player, and it is going to be definitely tough. She has all the strange shots, and she has a great hand, so it's going to be an interesting match, a lot of good rallies I suppose.

Q. When you play a match like that, and it is going along so quickly, do you suddenly stop and say "my God, how am I this far ahead"?

ANNA KOURNIKOVA: This match?

Q. Yes? A. No, you just try to continue. Well, yes, it was going fast, but I didn't try to think about it. I was just trying - I kept telling myself one more, one more, and one more point and trying not to think how easy I'm winning so I want stop, so I won't loss my concentration but it was very good for me to keep my concentration all the way, because it has been happening some matches that I wasn't - you know, I was playing well and then I got relaxed, so I was happy with it today.

Q. Is it easy to lose focus?

ANNA KOURNIKOVA: Definitely; it's very easy. Actually, it's even easier to lose focus when you are winning easy. You know, because you can see we had a lot of matches before that people are upset, 5 something; because then a player just relaxes, and, you know, not kind of not care, but just relaxes completely and just tries to go for the shots and the other person gets tired and waits for a mistake and it does not happen.

Q. Anna, today, Pam Shriver article was claiming that women should be paid equally with men in prize money; what do you think of that?

ANNA KOURNIKOVA: I don't think anything about that. I don't want - I haven't been answering those questions before, and I wouldn't want to answer now because I don't want to talk about it. We have nothing to do with it. Thank you.