Dominique van Roost  Interviewed by On The Line, Monday, August 17, 1998, Montreal By Chris Gerby

  Q: You got a good test out there today, but won pretty quickly. Is that the kind of first round match you were hoping for?

  A: It was not really quickly in the first set, but the second was quicker than the first. It's not easy usually when it's your first match. You need to find your game, I think, and your confidence on the court. I needed the first set today I think to make my game, to fix my game, and I did it in the second set. I was more and more confident and I was doing less mistakes than in the first set.

  Q: You've done well in doubles this year, especially with Florencia Labat. How did that partnership start? Did she ask you or did you ask her?

  A: I think we are very good friends, so it's not that we asked or one or the other one. I think it's something that we both wanted to do. We started, I think, after Key Biscayne, and we played very well together. I think we match good together because we have both different games, and it's not easy for the opponent to play against this kind of mixture between us. And so I start to play better and better in doubles, and my ranking has improved also, but it's still the second row in my career. Singles is still more important for me, of course.

  Q: You played against France in Fed Cup the past two years. Both times you won both of your singles matches, and the team still lost. Were those very disappointing experiences for you or were you happy that at least you did your part?

  A: Well, yes and no. In a certain way it's hard when you win all the time your singles, the two last times you win your singles and then we have nearly the victory and we cannot do it. So there is, again, a frustration in this part, but in another way I've been playing very good match against France twice, so for my game it was very good. But I think Fed Cup is a team meeting, so it's not only important that you win at singles. The team is more important.

  Q: I guess in the last round you ran into Habsudova and Nagyova, who have always done pretty well against you.

  A: Yeah. They play very good and it was not easy. It was on clay, very slow clay. It was after grass, and I had a break, and after I went, I had to start again on hard courts. So, well, this time I took it easier than the two last times because if you win all the time and then finally the team lose or sometimes it's better than you don't put too much pressure for the Fed Cup because at least it's only two weeks during the year.

  Q: In general, do you prepare differently for players who have beaten you before, even if they're not ranked as high?

  A: No. I don't think that I prepare different. I think I always prepare the same and my game stays the same. It's just that I have to make my game a little bit different on every kind of surface that I'm playing, so it takes me some more time to play on clay than maybe on hard court or on grass court.
 

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