Welcome back Mary! Relax and have fun :) Q. That was pretty hard, watching it from the stands. What was it like playing three sets out there? MARY PIERCE: Hot weather? Q. Hard. MARY PIERCE: I thought you said "hot." Sorry. Yeah. Yeah, it was a battle, definitely. Lisa served really well. She is a tough opponent on grass, and, you know, I just feel I think the difference for me was in the beginning, wasn't really feeling quite settled in yet. The important points, I wasn't winning those. Missing shots by very little, if any. You know, I think the second and the third set, I just tried to stay calm and little more relaxed and have fun instead of taking it too serious and putting pressure on myself and really wanting to win so badly and doing so well. So I just tried to, you know, take that pressure off myself, say, "Mary, just have fun, relax, enjoy the match and try to do your best, but don't worry about winning or losing." I think that made a big difference and I started to play much better. Q. Your reaction at the end, when you looked at your coach, I couldn't tell whether you couldn't quite believe what you'd done or you were really happy. Was there a bit of both? You looked shocked? MARY PIERCE: I look shocked? Q. Yeah. MARY PIERCE: No, I was just happy, relieved. Yeah, I think it's a match, for me, that really meant a lot. It was very special in a sense that I just fought really hard and played with my heart and, you know ?? because I still feel that, you know, my game is there, I'm playing well. But, you know, I'm still not back to the level of where I want to be. So it's more difficult to go out there and play matches not being in that level where I want to be. So all I really do is just use my mind a lot more. And just be mentally tough and fight. Q. Are you suggesting that you've almost sort of overachieved in your own mind to get this far at Wimbledon this year? MARY PIERCE: Maybe. I don't know. I mean, I wasn't sure if I was going to come here or not. After Roland Garros, you know, I took some time off to think about things. Started working with Sven and went to Amsterdam, had a lot of discussions, practices, and kind of just took things day by day, really, and decided to come here and play without any expectations, using this as part of the process of me getting back to the level that I want to be at, and, you know, just taking things match by match really. Q. What is it that you need to build on? Clearly, you can play and win important tennis matches. You said after your previous round that it might be six months before you get to that level. What is it that you need to add to your game now? MARY PIERCE: What I need to add to my game? Q. You said it would be six months before you're at the level that you want to be at. MARY PIERCE: Yeah, well, I mean, I think the first thing that's pretty obvious is physically I'm not in the shape that I've been in my career. That's pretty much the biggest thing. I didn't realise how far off I was or how bad things got, really, when I took all that time off with my injury. It was really like starting from zero. I didn't think it was going to take such a long time to get back. But actually I've accepted the fact that it does take time, and so I've accepted that. I've accepted to be patient. I've accepted to put the hard work in because I know what I want and I believe in myself and, you know, that's the only way to do it. Q. Is there a special training regimen you're on at the moment or is it general fitness work? MARY PIERCE: Well, there's not really any secrets. Just hard work and good nutrition and good rest and, you know, things that I've done before. Q. I saw you sharing a light moment with Brad Gilbert on the practice courts. I know you worked with him for a few months. Can you just talk about what he was like as a coach? And when you were saying you were just going to go out there and have fun, you were thinking to yourself the second set on or whatever, it sounded like something Brad would tell somebody to, you know, not think of the results, just go out and be in the moment, enjoy yourself. MARY PIERCE: I had a lot of fun working with him. He was very funny. He's very entertaining. Q. What did you learn from him? Is there one thing you took away from the experience? MARY PIERCE: I think what Brad’s really good at, among other things, he was a great player and he still can hit the ball really well, he plays very well. I think he was very smart and intelligent with the way he played the game. You know, I never used to think when I played, just hit the ball really hard. So he tried to get me to use my brain a little more. Q. When you were having all those discussions about whether to come here, how to proceed, what were the pros and cons you were weighing? MARY PIERCE: The pros and cons... Well, basically, after the French Open, I did not want to go and play another tournament the way that I played that one, and I didn't feel like I was ready to go play a tournament. I thought if I went and played, I would have done the same thing, which was not an option for me. You know, and then just ? you know, things just happened really quickly while we were training. I just started to feel every day better, and hitting the ball better. You know, also with the ranking system that we have, the way the points come off after every tournament, you know. I only have I think like 14 tournaments, and I think they take best of 17 or 18. Every tournament I play is kind of a bonus. It didn't really matter what I did here, if I lost first round or quarters or won the tournament. It helps. I had some points coming off because I did decent last year. It was really a win?win situation if I came. No matter what I did, it would help my ranking; it would get some match practice and help get me in shape. Q. Considering the bad taste you had from France, was it scary to say, "I'm going to commit, I'm going to do it"? MARY PIERCE: No, I mean, once I made the decision, I didn't think like that at all. Q. What was the low point for you in terms of your off time and can you talk a little bit more about your back problems? Was there a period where you weren't able to pick up a racquet at all? MARY PIERCE: Seven months long. Q. And what was it like mentally? What was the low point or physically how much did it hurt? MARY PIERCE: Oh, physically it hurt when I walked, you know. I had pain in my hip and everything. I couldn't do a lot of things. I watched a lot of TV, read, was on the computer, played with my dogs, hung out with my friends. So, you know... Q. Was it just rest? MARY PIERCE: Yeah, in the beginning just rest. It needed to heal. Not even any kind of rehab or anything like that, any exercises. So it was long. You know, seven months is a long time. I didn't really realize how long it was. Sometimes they say it takes double that time, however long you're out, to get back. So, you know, I've just accepted that I'm going to be patient and do whatever it takes. Q. Was it your back or your hip? MARY PIERCE: It was my back. Q. Did you enjoy that time? The pain aside, did you enjoy having that sort of down time? Was there anything positive to take from that? MARY PIERCE: Well, you know, everything always happens for a reason, I say. I definitely would have preferred being healthy and being out there playing, but I didn't have the choice. So I, you know, basically made the best with what I had and the situation that I was dealt with, and I just took it day by day. -- ┌───────────────────╮ │ 一個性格乖僻的人與很好的彆扭者。 │ ╰───────────────────┘ --

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