2002 The Championships at Wimbledon, England, on Monday, June 24, 2002
Tatiana Panova defeated Anna Kournikova, 6-1, 4-6, 6-4

An Interview With Anna Kournikova   this interview on real video

MODERATOR: Anna Kournikova. Questions, please.

Q. You seemed to be holding her off pretty well at the end, but just wasn't enough.

ANNA KOURNIKOVA: Yeah, it wasn't enough. It was very close at the end. But, you know, she's a tough player. It would be, you know, kind of interesting if I could win that one because I didn't really expect to do too great at this tournament this year. You know, obviously I'm not playing really well the last month or so or last two months or so. You know, I was pretty surprised at how well it went. I guess I just at the end couldn't finish it.

Q. Is that why you were so happy at the end of the match, laughing and waving to people? Not the usual way a player acts when they lose a match.

ANNA KOURNIKOVA: I think it was a great match. I think we had some fun points. I just went out there and I tried to enjoy myself and I tried to just enjoy being on the court and have a good time. That was my main goal. You know, I really did. The crowd was great. I think that I played much better than before, much better than last week. That made me happy, yeah.

Q. Are you still a long way from your peak?

ANNA KOURNIKOVA: Yeah, I think so. I mean, I haven't won many matches. So probably, yeah.

Q. Chris Evert was in the press yesterday saying if you really wanted to get your career into sort of top gear, you were going to have to give up the magazine covers and be sort of -- and the extracurricular stuff that you get involved in. Do you feel that might be a way forward to help you further your tennis career?

ANNA KOURNIKOVA: Well, first of all, I'm not involved in a lot of stuff like you guys say. You know, it's like 99% less of what everybody else says that I do. It's not even close. So that really is not in the way of what I'm trying to do right now. It's just that there has been a lot of changes, in general, in my life in the last year, coming back after an injury, starting to play, all that stuff. There's been a lot of changes in the last six months in my game in general and just me as a person growing up, just the whole thing.

Q. You don't find it sort of complicates your tennis career in any way?

ANNA KOURNIKOVA: Trust me, there's nothing -- you know, first of all, if I wouldn't be a hundred percent committed to playing, I wouldn't be here. You know, I could just go and do all the other things that you guys say that I can do, which I'm not interested in. You know, even though I'm losing right now, or whatever, I try to come back and I try to do better next time. I know that I'm working hard. Maybe I should start working a little bit less. I know that I'm giving my all at practice, and sooner or later it will start to come together in matches. You know, even today, I was very, very close to beating a No. 20 player in the world, so I'm not that far away.

Q. When you talk about the ways you've been changing, what ways have you been changing?

ANNA KOURNIKOVA: In every way. I mean, me as a person and me thinking more about things, me thinking about, you know, just everything, the purpose of everything, just becoming my own person more, you know, obviously learning things. I've had a lot of time to think last year when I wasn't playing. I think that changed me also. Just in general, you know, when you're 21.

Q. Can you give us some examples in which way you've become your own person?

ANNA KOURNIKOVA: I don't think I want to get into details of that. You know, I don't have an example. Just in general, the whole -- I'm just learning, doing it in front of everybody.

Q. Is tennis less important to you now than it was two, three years ago?

ANNA KOURNIKOVA: No. I mean, obviously it's not -- if I lose a tennis match, it's not the end of the world. You know, if I'm committed to it, it is the most important thing right now.

Q. Did you expect that the comeback would be this bumpy, that it would take this long, the ups and downs? Is this what you expected or had you hoped it would be easier? What were your expectations on that?

ANNA KOURNIKOVA: Well, you know, everybody said it's going to be hard. Everybody said, "Oh, no, you're just going to come back and be the same player." Everybody had their own points. I didn't really know what to expect because, first of all, everybody was saying different things. I didn't know what to expect because I was never in that situation before. The longest I was out was three months. That was hard already coming back after that. I guess I was much younger. I didn't think about it too much. I really had no expectation. Then when I came back last year, didn't win a match indoors, and the beginning of the year I played pretty well, but not at the level where I stopped. You know, I guess that really a little bit disappointed me, and it's been hard since then. Since March it's been hard to get back.

Q. Are you still working with Harold?

ANNA KOURNIKOVA: Yes.

Q. How are you feeling about that? Is he giving you confidence, technical changes?

ANNA KOURNIKOVA: Yeah, we're working on some things. Everything is going well with him.

Q. Is it more difficult to motivate yourself when you're losing so many matches?

ANNA KOURNIKOVA: Well, of course, maybe, you know, after you lose, the first hour or two hours that day, you feel like everything is terrible, nothing is working, or whatever. That's how I felt matches before. You know, I felt like, "Oh, God, another one of those matches, another match where nothing went my way, and I lost." Doesn't matter how you lose. But today was kind of different a little bit. You know, I think that I played much more relaxed game. I went for my shots. I kept telling myself to just hit the ball and try to enjoy it and have fun. And I really did. Of course, it's hard, like I said, to motivate yourself the same day. But tomorrow I'm going to be practicing, you know, getting ready for doubles, mixed, whatever I play, getting ready for the summer tournaments.

Q. Is it difficult to motivate yourself when you have such a successful career off court?

ANNA KOURNIKOVA: I don't have a career off court. There's no two Annas, there's one Anna.

Q. Would you prefer for the attention to stop off the court?

ANNA KOURNIKOVA: See, I really don't even think about that. I mean, for me, first of all, I cannot change it. You know, second of all -- I mean, yes, it's hard -- it's not hard, it's somewhere there, or you guys talk about it all the time or other people talk about it. But I really try not to pay attention to it, and I really, really try to just, you know, do my things, do what I'm supposed to do, do what I want to do, not be bothered by it. It can distract you. But, like I said, I'm really not thinking about it.

Q. In which way is it more difficult if you are seen with Sergei Fedorov? In which way is it more difficult to hold back the public attention?

ANNA KOURNIKOVA: I don't think I would want to comment on my private life or anything that has to do not with me.

Q. What is your approach now with Harold? Are you worried about the result of each match or are you just working on your game and don't worry about losing at this point, give it some time? How is he advising you in terms of that?

ANNA KOURNIKOVA: I think we kind of had to stop worrying about the result because we didn't have a result anyway, I mean, I was losing first rounds. Doesn't matter if you worry before or not, you know, nothing is going to happen. I just try to concentrate on playing every point and playing just, you know, what's happening then and right there without thinking of the outcome.

Q. Do you feel like the biggest problem now is that you're just not getting enough matches because you're losing early to really get into the groove?

ANNA KOURNIKOVA: Well, I've played lots of matches. I don't think that's a huge difference. It's just in general me just getting to that point where it's in the match where it's 3-All, having that break time where I can actually feel that I can win this match and I can fight and just, you know, go through that. I guess I kind of lost that sense after not playing for so long.

Q. That's the sense you basically lost today when you were about to break even to 5-All?

ANNA KOURNIKOVA: Yeah. I mean, I don't know what would happen if I would make it 5-All. But where it's like 3-All, when it's like the beginning, the middle of set, that's where it's more important.

Q. Myskina said last week you've been growing up together, you lost to each other when you went to the USA. How would you describe the development of your relationship up to now?

ANNA KOURNIKOVA: With?

Q. To Myskina.

ANNA KOURNIKOVA: Colleagues. You know, we spend a lot of time together up to like 10 , for two years. We met at the same club. We met at our club when I was seven and she was seven. Then at 10 years old, nine and a half, whatever, I moved to the States. Then I would see her at the club whenever I would go back to Russia. We played, you know, tournaments against each other and stuff like that. You know, I just see her now at tournaments.

Q. Can you comment on her development?

ANNA KOURNIKOVA: She was always a good player. She always had good hands. I'm very happy for her. She's playing great.



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