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 Quotable quotes from Flushing Meadows
Posted: Monday September 07, 1998 05:13 PM
NEW YORK (CNN/SI) -- Below is a sampling of some of the best quotes to come out of the U.S. Open. Germany's Steffi Graf following her fourth-round upset loss to Patty Schnyder of Switzerland: "'I'm taking a little break after this tournament. I've played a lot in the past few weeks. I'll probably play a couple of tournaments in Europe. I haven't decided exactly which ones I'm going to play. But I'm taking a rest for now. When I started playing my first tournaments in England, I had no expectations whatsoever. Really, it hasn't changed very much. I've really been going into the tournaments with no expectations whatsoever. At times it has been difficult to accept that it is going to take a certain time. There were good and bad moments, but in general I've been pretty happy the way it's been going." Graf on Schnyder's potential: "She has a lot of potential. There's no question about it. She's got so much talent. The thing that sets her apart from the top players right now is that she really doesn't hit the ball that hard. She uses the court extremely well. But to beat the top players, I think you need to be capable of really going for your shots, too. I think she has a chance to do that but at what time I don't know." Schnyder on her victory over Graf: "She made a lot of mistakes. I don't know how she was feeling but I think she was not happy with her game. I was playing good. I didn't make a lot of unforced errors so she really had to play hard and make winners." Schnyder on whether players no longer fear Graf: "It's hard to tell [if her backhand is vulnerable now] because I didn't play against her when she won all those tournaments. I just think there is such a lot of respect towards her. But I think fear is not the right word." Schnyder on being considered "the other Swiss player" on the women's tour behind top-ranked Martina Hingis: "I'm a little unlucky that the other Swiss -- the first Swiss -- is No. 1 in the world. But I think I'm happy with my career, moving up in the rankings. People get to know me better. Yeah, I'm happy with my career."
Schnyder on having Hingis' mother, Melanie Molitor, serve as coach of the Swiss Fed Cup team that will play Spain for the 1998 title later this month: "We have a good atmosphere the whole week. She just tries to help me win my match. We talked a lot on the bench. It's good with her." Sweden's Magnus Larsson after beating Marcelo Rios of Chile, the No. 2 player in the world: "Doesn't really matter if it's No. 1 or number 10. I've beaten him before. You know, he's still Marcelo Rios, even if he's No. 1 or No. 2. He's not unbeatable. We had some good fights before. I won some and I lost some. You just don't think about the rankings. You just go out and play." Byron Black, after beating his brother, Wayne, in doubles: "I lost to him in singles this summer. A lot of the guys were giving me a tough time. I didn't want to lose to him again. It's tough playing a family member. You've got to somehow treat it like another match, which is hard to do. We played well. Just outplayed them basically." Black on whether he will team with his sister, Cara, a rookie pro who was the top-ranked junior in the world last year: "I think we'll play at Wimbledon. I know Wayne is going to play Hopman Cup with her this year. That will be pretty exciting for Cara. I'm going to play hopefully at Wimbledon with her next year, if we can get it in. I haven't played mixed doubles in quite a while and neither has Wayne. At these Grand Slams, it's tough to play singles, doubles and mixed. It's almost impossible. We haven't really been fighting over Cara that much. It's her first year, so she hasn't felt too left out. I'd like to play one or two slams with her before I finish my career. Wayne is excited to play. They won a few rounds at Wimbledon this year. They both enjoyed it. I'm sure they'll both play again sometime." Amanda Coetzer on beating Conchita Martinez after losing 12 of their last 13 matches: "She's been a very tough opponent for me my whole career. It's great, especially because it's at a Grand Slam. I think I just never felt like I really went out with a good game plan against her. I was getting a little confused and frustrated. I think today I set out -- even if I lost the match -- to not get frustrated, just go out with a specific game plan and stick with it." Martinez on her loss to Coetzer: "It was difficult for me to play my own game because I was injured. Basically, I'd say I was at about 60 percent of my abilities today. When you're like that against a player like Amanda that doesn't give up, it's difficult. I had pain when I was playing the high balls. You cannot turn. I thought of retiring in the first set but I decided to hang in there. At least I fought. I gave it a shot. That's all I could have done."
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