Wednesday, September 2, 2009

U.S. Open--what they said

"...I didn't take months, but it still can affect your game after, like you still struggle with the weakness with the shoulder on the serves and a little bit lose confidence, and you need to play a lot of matches to get into it, find your rhythm, so it took a while still."
Aleksandra Wozniak, discussing her shoulder injury

Do you think they have some flaws in their games or they have been unlucky or they're not there yet?
"Who are you talking about?"
Jankovic, Safina, Dementieva.
"You know what? I don't know. I don't know. Who am I to just--I don't know how they're working. I don't know in what state of mind they are. I don't know how they feel physically. I just you know, they the best, and they can the best choose and see who's better to help them and how and what. It's so personal. I'm glad I'm not a journalist to write on this."
Amelie Mauresmo

How does having an injury, or even if both of your knees are troubling you, affect your mental approach?
"It's hard when it's new, because you're not used to the pain. Then after a while, you start to get used to it, as much as you can get used to pain."
Venus Williams

"(Young) girls are not jocular enough with the serves."
Pam Shriver
(And with good reason...)

"I would take her to a children's hospital and let her meet children with cancer who have no hope left, and show her she needs to use this second chance she's been given."
Nick Bolliettieri, on how he would help Anna Chakvetadze

"You're playing Martinez Sanchez next; have you heard of her?"
Mary Joe Fernandez, interviewing Serena Williams

"You may see someone out here who looks like me but who's not a good mover."
Serena Williams, on the possibility of letting her wax figure fill in for her if she gets tired.

What are your thoughts on the meaning of being number 1? For example, even if Serena Williams wins this tournament, Dinara would remain number 1. What are your thoughts on a system that would have Dinara remain number 1 in that situation?
"You know, it's a matter of being consistent at some point. Unfortunately or fortunately for you guys you have something to write about. She's more consistent than Serena throughout a period of one year. What else can I say? Or you change the ranking system. You just put the Grand Slams really, really high, like many, many points, like ten times more than the other tournaments which are still huge tournaments: Miami, Indian Wells. Those are huge tournaments. Then, okay, you put these tournaments in really back, way, way back, and then you say, Okay, Serena is number 1. Well, I mean, what can I do? What can I say? I saw that Dinara made the statement saying, 'Guys, I'm not making the ranking system. I'm sorry.' She almost has to apologize that she's number 1 now. Give her a break."
Amelie Mauresmo

5 comments:

U said...

This Mary Joe Fernandez' is a good one. :)

I also like Shriver and Bolitieri. :)

Todd Spiker said...

And here I thought that MJF's slip during the ESPNEWS draw show about Wozniacki being from the Netherlands was just a slip. Maybe not.

Serena should have just said, "Yeah, she and I almost got into a fight in Paris." ;)

Diane said...

It was really a great day for gaffes and strange statements.

I do think MJF's question was a slip; these people have short memories, except for the collection of stories they tell over and over.

I was a bit surprised by Serena's answer, which implied they had never played each other.

Todd Spiker said...

Probably a psychological ploy on Serena's part. "She didn't get under my skin... why, I don't even remember her. What was her name again?"

As we know, she's not the most gracious loser in the world. So anyone who gives her any trouble at all she probably prefers to act as if doesn't really exist. :)

Diane said...

I thought of that, too--and that it was kind of an in-joke for her fans. But it's also the style of both sisters to totally ignore anything they they don't want to talk about.