2002 Bol Ladies Open at Bol, Croatia on April 30, 2002
Anna Kournikova defeated Julia Vakulenko, 6(3)-7, 6-2, 6-2

An Interview With Anna Kournikova

Q: Thank you for coming Anna, and tell me something about your match?

ANNA KOURNIKOVA: Well, I think I didn’t start well, I didn’t know what to expect, Julie [Vakulenko] is a young player and I didn’t really see her play before, and I haven’t played matches in a while so it was a great experience and it is great to be playing here a new tournament for me,and after the first set I felt comfortable.

Q: 49 unforced errors, 8 double faults… what is going on with the serve?

ANNA KOURNIKOVA: Well I think my serve was quite good actually today, I think I was going for some straight serve points, that is why I made some double faults. I think she made quite a few too (laughs).

Q: Yes, but you made 49 unforced errors, lucky for you she made 69…

ANNA KOURNIKOVA: You know, on clay court it is always difficult to count down for unforced errors, you know- she makes you make a mistake - and that counts as a unforced error. There statistics is not always right. Your’re on the run, and you have a difficult ball it still counts as an mistake, but the girl played well.

Q: Did you look [at the schedule]?

ANNA KOURNIKOVA: Not yet…

Q: Do you know who are you playing against ?

ANNA KOURNIKOVA: I think I’m playing Tina...

Q: Yes, Tina Pisnik, do you know the girl well?

ANNA KOURNIKOVA: We played doubles, but I don’t remember her well, so it’s going to be again a exsciting match for me and a new experience

Q: You seem very focused on tennis here, how do you feel?

ANNA KOURNIKOVA: I’m always focused on tennis (smiles)…

Q: Yes, but you have a new goal in life, you have to comeback….

ANNA KOURNIKOVA: Yes, I have to comeback after an injury, you know, I feel if I continue to do what I’m doing and work hard, and do the right things, of course, I’ll start to play better; it’s not like I have to comeback, it’s just I have to start play better.

Q: How do you like the sites and the tour?

ANNA KOURNIKOVA: I never thought that it could be this beautiful, if only the weather would be warmer ( smiles), but today was perfect. You know I never expected anything like this, it’s really beautiful, and the best is you don’t have to drive anywhere, you can just walk and the tournament is huge, there’s just so many tennis courts and that’s good because normally we would have difficulty with practice courts ( laugh).

Q: Do you know that there are about 1400 people here in Bol, and that there were 2500 people on your match today? How do you explain that?

ANNA KOURNIKOVA: It’s great for the tournament, it’s great for me, they came to watch the match which is perfect.

Q: Yes, you are popular all around the world…is it hard sometimes?

ANNA KOURNIKOVA: Well, sometimes, everything is hard, we had a teriffic atmosphere on the court and the people where into the match…

Q: One last question, what do you think about the director of the tournament?

ANNA KOURNIKOVA: Oh, he’s great, I believe he watched my whole match today… (smiles )

Q: Thank you Anna for coming and we hope that you’ll have a good match tommorow.

ANNA KOURNIKOVA: Thank you.

Anna Kournikova pages at quickfound.net:

• Anna Kournikova Interviews Archive



• News and Links (Kournikova Home)
• Anna Kournikova News Archive
• Anna Kournikova 2002 Record
• Anna Kournikova 2002 Australian Open Photos
• Anna Kournikova 2001 Record
• Anna Kournikova Misc. Photos and Posters (4 pages)