Taken After the 2nd Round of Swisscom Challenge
Anna Kournikova beats Tatiana Panova 6-3, 6-3
Swisscom Challenge, 2nd Round

What do you think of this match?

I enjoyed the match. First of all, we know each other very well. We've practiced a lot together and I've known her since seven, and from the same clubs, so I really knew what was going to happen and how she plays and everything. So I was just going out there with my own game plan and I tried to do it and I was really happy because I did a lot of the things I wanted to do before the match, so I think that it was a good first match for me.

I was placing the serve really well today. I think that right now after this match I am pretty happy. Like I said, I did a lot of the things I wanted to do and I was very confident in the match, I was not nervous at all. I had a good two matches in Luxembourg, three matches and then a tough match at Filderstadt, so I have had all tough matches, and it is good that it gives me more experience. Tough matches are always good when you win them. Other than that, I feel fine. It's getting better.

I just was trying to play aggressively and come to the net a lot and not make so many mistakes, of course. And serve well and I think that I did all those things quite well. It's always tough when you have only a few girls from one country. When they play against each other it's like „the only two Russians are playing against each other". The Americans are more used to it because there's more of them so it's not such a big deal. But I have played a lot of Russian girls, especially in this past month. I played Petrova in Luxembourg and Krasnoroutskaya in Vienna, so I am kind of used to that already, and Panova now. And then we have to play the doubles tonight against two Russian girls, so I am kind of used to that and plus I know them very well. We all grew up together so I know their games really well.

I think that you can only worry about yourself, and you have to do the best that you can do. You can't think about somebody else. I think that I have my own motivation, not just because, oh my God, somebody else is doing well.

(When asked why so many Russian players are coming out strong) We will be saying that they are coming up strong when they will be in the top 20 for five years, then you can tell that they have good results. But by just one match you can't really judge anybody. It's about time - they're all 18, 19 now, so it's time to play well. It's the age you start to play well and get older and more mature and you understand more in the game. We always had very tough competition in Russia, in Moscow especially, and all the girls, Meskina, Dementieva, Panova are from the same club I am, except Krasnoroutskaya, so we always had tough competition, we always played against each other and it was very competitive. I think that it's just like the French tennis. There's a lot of French girls and they have a great base. At the French Open, at Roland Garros stadium, they practice and play against each other, and that pushes you of course.

(When asked about Dementieva) You never know, you just have to wait and see, just like everybody. You can't judge somebody by just one match or one month. It takes at least a year to see really how the person is doing. It's just like some other players we have on the tour who made the semifinals of Wimbledon and then obviously there has been nothing else. So you can't jump to any conclusions unless there is some stability.

Right now I am really happy with my coaching situation the way it is. I have a sparring partner and my parents are helping me, and I like it the way it is right now.

I was always playing people five years older than me, and if you look at the rankings, I was number 1 in 1980, 79, 78, 77, 76, all those years.

I think that this season was the most consistent season for me. I thank God I didn't have a three month break for injuries like I did in in 97-98, so that was good. Except for my ankle, that was my big injury, but thank God that was short and other than that, I think it was very, very consistent. I had a lot of good tournaments and a lot of good matches, and there have been some times I played really well, like San Diego, Stanford, Sydney and Scottsdale. There have been also times where I didn't play well but I won, and sometimes it's important when you don't play your best to just get through it. So I think that this year was the most consistent for me.

Taken after the first Round of Australian Open 2000
January 17 2000
Anna Kournikova defeated Patricia Wartusch 6-0 6-0 in her First Round match at the 2000 Australian Open.

Q: Did you have any problems with your thigh?
Anna: No.
Q: No?
Anna: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: This match?
Q: Yes?
Anna: 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: 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: 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.

Taken after Anna's 2nd round win over Denisa Chladkova (CZE) at the 2000 Newsweek Champions Cup (Masters Series).
Anna Kournikova defeated Denisa Chladkova (CZE) 7-5, 6-2 in her Second Round match at the 2000 Newsweek Champions Cup (Masters Series) at Indian Wells.

Q: Your service, what changes did you make from last year to this year, if any?
Anna: None.
Q: Nothing?
Anna: No.

Q: Today you looked more fluid and consistent.
Anna: The motion and everything is the same.
Q: So everything is the same?
Anna: Yeah.

Q: You had an early exit last year. Was that something that was on your mind going into this match, into the tournament?
Anna: No, not really. I felt that I can gain a lot of points here because I did lose here first round last year. I had a flu last year. I didn't practice a week before this tournament. I wasn't really concerned that I lost just because I was here, just because I wasn't physically a hundred percent.

Q: In the beginning of the match, your backhand was struggling. What was the reason? What was happening?
Anna: I think everything was struggling in the beginning. I wasn't like struggling. She was playing really well, solid, very hard. I just had to find the rhythm and find a way to play against her because I've never played against her. I think it was just everything.

Q: What do you think of the new tennis facility? What are your impressions of this place?
Anna: It's huge. It's great for tennis. It's very comfortable, everything. You know, when the facility is new, obviously they build it for a big tournament. It's very comfortable for us.
Q: Does it remind you of anywhere else?
Anna: No. It has its own special feeling.

Q: Are you going to play Fed Cup in April in Moscow?
Anna: Yeah, definitely, if I'm not like injured or something. For sure. Hopefully, I won't be.

Q: How close are you to being able to beat players like Lindsay?
Anna: Well, I've beaten them before.
Q: But you lost to her last week 6-2, 6-2.
Anna: Yeah.

Q: Do you feel like you can consistently play at a high level to be able to beat players like her week-in and week-out, or are you still a little too inconsistent with your game?
Anna: I think I'm able to play consistent. I played very consistent this year. Since I came back after my injury, I played very consistent. My ranking shows that you can't be there without playing consistent. It's just that I have to play more consistent during the match when I play against those kind of players.

Q: So you're still happy with your progress as a player, or do you feel like you should have won a title by now?
Anna: It's not like a subject to win a title. For me, the ranking is more important. For me, if I'm ranked in the Top 10, that's what's important for me. That means that I had very good results the whole year, that I'm playing consistent. One title, you can just win a tournament, you know, not play the rest of the year good or the whole year good. For me, it's more important to have the good ranking.

Q: I was watching you practice yesterday. You seemed a bit upset. Is there anything to that?
Anna: When? First practice or second practice?
Q: I only saw one.
Anna: I don't know which one you saw.

Q: Can you talk a little about your practice with Eric and what is specific with him, the amount of work? Is there any difference from before?
Anna: From before?
Q: When you had another coach.
Anna: No. I just think that we work very well together. We communicate well. We understand each other. Of course, Eric knows the game. He has a lot of experience. We've just been working on improving my consistency, like I said, working so my game becomes more well-rounded, trying to mature my game. We are very good together, I think. I'm very happy with him.

Q: And any specificity? When you say "to mature my game," what does it mean exactly?
Anna: To play clever shots at the right time, just to use the situation, to use the right shots, like I said, at the right time, to not go for winners, to play smart.

Q: Martina Hingis and her mother were very careful watching all of your match. I was wondering, do you have any comments about that? Is that maybe you're going to play again doubles with her?
Anna: A lot of players watch each other's matches. It's normal. Why not? Maybe in the future we will play. I will see.

Q: Since you were discussing ranking, if you don't get injured this year, do you expect to end the year in the Top 5?
Anna: If I don't, sorry?
Q: If you don't get injured, get to play all the tournaments.
Anna: That would be my goal, yeah.

Q: Do you think you can get there without winning tournaments?
Anna: Going to have to wait and see.
Q: Thank you.