Q. How did you prepare for Roland Garros after missing a tournament in Rome? How did you spend the couple of weeks? How do you feel now?
MARTINA HINGIS: Well, I did kind of a little rehab because of my foot. After Berlin, I went straight to Czech Republic. I went to the doctor there. Then I just needed a little to relax. I did a lot of physical things, more like on the bike. Then later when it was better, I went also for a run and tried to hit a lot of balls. That was my preparation.Since Tuesday I'm here in Paris already, training, working out.
Q. Did you know what kind of reception you would expect from the French crowd?
MARTINA HINGIS: As I said on TV when I had to go straight after the match, I'm here since Tuesday, but I had never so many people recognize me walking on the streets in regular clothes, never. So it was real nice.
Q. Why do you think that is?
MARTINA HINGIS: What?
Q. A particular reason this year?
MARTINA HINGIS: I don't know. You might know better because you write about me all the time.
Q. You probably have been maybe the best player in the tournament the last three years, and you still haven't won it. Do you think finally logic will prevail?
MARTINA HINGIS: I think there are better players, I guess, than me if I didn't win this tournament. Steffi won it like eight times, Monica three times, same with Arantxa. I guess they are better players here at this tournament than I was in the last three years.I was probably the most consistent on all the surfaces but just couldn't make it all the way here at this tournament. You know, as we read the newspaper this morning, this is my eighth time to come back here, and I'm only 19 (laughter). It's amazing.
Q. Sometimes when you want something a lot, it's hard to play your best, if you want it too much. Do you think that's been the case for you in the last couple years?
MARTINA HINGIS: You always want to do well. It doesn't matter where you play. I thought maybe this one would be the easiest one. As I see for many players, this is hardest one because physically you have to be at the top here, you have to be much more patient and in control of what you're doing. That's not always easy to do two weeks straight.
Q. Obviously last year you were kind of disappointed and upset with your loss. I wonder, a year later, is that gone or do you still think about that a little bit?
MARTINA HINGIS: Well, I mean, people remind me about it all the time, when I look in the paper, or I see the magazine articles. I laugh at the pictures because it was an unbelievable emotional thing last year. But I think since then, many things have changed. I'm playing well now and that's what is the most important to me right now.I just try to have a good tournament. I'm happy to have my first round down because it's never easy. It's always a special thing at a Grand Slam. Just see how it goes.I mean, if I'm at the best, I have good chances. If there is someone better than me, it's not a drama.
Q. About today's match, is this the best way to enter the tournament?
MARTINA HINGIS: It was very tough conditions today. It was very cold and windy, at particular times very windy. I think in a way it also suits me because when I played in Key Biscayne, it's also quite windy there, and I won that tournament.It's maybe a little bit different on clay. You have longer rallies. You just have to be more in control, just wait for the chance you've got, then just build up your point. That's what I've been doing.The first set I was very good. She didn't play very well. She made a lot of mistakes. Then towards the end of the second set, the match got much more better and much more tense.
Q. I think this morning in L'Equipe, they had the second and third favorites as Conchita and Monica. Does it surprise you that the Williams sisters are up in the air, the balance has come back?
MARTINA HINGIS: Well, Monica always played well here. She lost to me in the semifinals, the year after she beat me, lost last year to Steffi. Always semis or finals in the last three years. That's a pretty good score there.Conchita beat me in Berlin, won the whole tournament, won the finals quite easy. Monica won Rome. I think we are the three players have been playing well in the last tournaments.I never give up on Lindsay, too, because you never know how well she's going to play here. It's so fast here, it might even suit here. Not a big difference from the hard court. You get sometimes a little bad bounces, but it's very fast.