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EXCLUSIVE:
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 20
The
Pierce interview: Mary’s back without Alomar,
but with hopes of regaining elite status
By
Matthew Cronin
tennisreporters.net
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Fred
Mullane
Camerawork USA, Inc.
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“The
doctor
told me
I needed three months rest –
rest, in this case, meaning doing nothing.” |
It’s
seems like eons ago that Mary Pierce stunned the world with her
stirring, highly emotional triumph at Roland Garros 2000. The
daughter of a French mother and an American father who always
had a schizophrenic relationship with the French public, the powerful
Pierce showed more mental fortitude, emotional maturity and on-court
intelligence at ’00 Roland Garros than she had at any time
in her career.
But
that final, tears-of-joy-filled Saturday in Paris would be her
last as a significant player for the next 17 months, as the statuesque
blonde with blazing groundies fell victim to one debilitating
injury after another. She has only played a handful of matches
since then and all but disappeared off the radar screen in 2001,
as a bad back took her out of all but a few competitions.
When
she returns to the court for an exhibition in Hong Kong in January
and then to the ’02 Australian Open, Pierce will be 27-years-old
– not
exactly a young woman by tennis standards. She recently spit up
with her long-time fiancée, perennial baseball All-Star
Roberto Alomar, doesn’t have a coach, recently signed with
a new agency, Octagon, and will be re-entering a tennis world
that is increasingly being dominated by teenagers and women in
their early 20's.
Yet
Pierce has always been a fighter and appears to be as confident
as ever. In a wide-ranging interview with tennisreporters.net,
this former Australian Open champ discusses the months she spent
laid up contemplating life without tennis, her break-up with Alomar,
her desire to win the U.S. Open, Jennifer Capriati, Venus Williams,
babies and her future as an elite player.
tennisreporters.net:
You’ve been off the tour for about a year and half. What
happened?
Mary Pierce: My back started
bothering me in December of 2000. I’d wake up feeling stiff
and tight, but I thought it was nothing and that with massage
and stretching it would go away and then it would come right back.
It was frustrating for me because I usually heal really quickly.
It was odd that I wasn’t getting better. I have good days
and bad days until gradually it was getting worse and hampering
my play until where I couldn’t play my game or be myself
on court. It was very frustrating. I wasn’t playing well.
It was taking a lot out of me. I knew there was something wrong.
I had to stop and see what was going on. I couldn’t continue
to play that way.
I
wasn’t taking care of myself. It’s not good for me in
all aspects to be out there when I can’t play my game 100
percent. After I lost Strasbourg [in May ‘01], I got to come
back to the States, get some MRIs and X-rays and find out what
was going wrong. That’s when I found out that I had a mild
herniation in one disk and a mild bulging in another disk.
The
doctor told me I needed three months rest – rest,
in this case, meaning doing nothing until I had absolutely nothing.
In
August, I was able to do rehabilitation for my core and when I
felt like I was getting back stable enough in my core with no
pain, that’s when I was able to take it to the next step,
which was going to Arizona and training a little more. Then I
felt good enough to take it to the next level, which was to hit
and go out at 100 percent.
tr.net:
When you were able to play all out?
Pierce: I hit a little in
Arizona but when I got back to Florida [in October] I was able
to get into my four to five hours a day of hitting and moving
at 100 percent and feeling confident. Now, I’m in the final
stage of combining the on court and off court at 100 percent.
I feel great.
tr.net:
Were you tempted to play an event at the end of this year?
Pierce: Oh, yes. I kept going,
‘OK, not this tournament this week and this is where I’m
at.’ … Everybody heals at different rates and injuries
are at different levels. You can be back sooner then they say
or it could take longer than they say. I was saying maybe I could
play San Diego – I
won’t make that, or maybe the U.S. Open, I wont make that,
or maybe the indoor season. It just kept getting pushed back and
it took a long time.
tr.net:
Were you misdiagnosed? Because you’re discussing a six-month
period when you didn’t know what was up. Did you go to see
a doctor before May?
Pierce: No. I would just go
into the training room and say my back is tired and stiff and
I would get massaged and stretched. That was pretty much it. Because
after the treatment I felt OK, but as soon as I started doing
something again, I didn’t feel great. I didn’t think
it was anything serious.
As
an athlete I’ve always played with something. A day where
I don’t play with something is very, very rare. It’s
hard when you have that gray area.
tr.net:
Go back to 2000 Wimbledon. Was that when you really hurt your
shoulder?
Pierce: My shoulder starting
bothering in March 2000, when I won Hilton Head.
tr.net:
The tournament where you crushed Arantxa and Monica back to back?
Pierce: I was pretty good
there. But Paris took a lot out of me. I was having about four
hours of treatment a day. I wasn’t getting out of there until
10 p.m. some nights. That tournament means the most to me and
I did everything I could to get through it.
tr.net:
I don’t remember you mentioning that at the time. Four hours
a day of treatment is a lot. Did you not mention it because you
didn’t want to build in an excuse in case you lost?
Pierce:
No, I didn’t. I just did what I needed to do.
I got there early in the morning; sometimes I was the first one
in the training room and the last one there at night. Going
to Wimbledon was very tough because the balls are heavy, the weather’s
heavy and I’m trying to hit big serves on grass. My serve
wasn’t going anywhere. It was very tough.
tr.net:
Have you thought, ‘Maybe I should pack it in, I’ve had
too many injuries?’
Pierce: I’ve never thought
I should pack it in, but it did really get disheartening at times
because it’s out of your control. I really felt like I was
playing my best tennis, then I had the shoulder injury and came
back too soon this year and then the back injury. This year was
a good learning experience.
tr.net:
Was it tough on you emotionally?
Pierce: I’ve never had
injuries when I had to be out this long and I couldn’t do
anything. But I look at it as a blessing in disguise. Things happen
for a reason.
tr.net:
So you were able to do things you normally wouldn’t because
you were forced to take it easy?
Pierce: I was just home a
lot. I couldn’t do that much. I did a lot of reading. I bought
another dog.
tr.net::
Could you envision where your life might be after tennis?
Pierce: It makes you stop
and think about things – that
you’re not getting younger, my age, how long I’ve been
playing for, what I’ve accomplished and what I want to accomplish.
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Fred
Mullane
Camerawork USA, Inc.
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“I
know how old
I am and want to have a family
one day.
I don’t want to
be too old to have babies.” |
tr.net:
Did you set goals and say, I win this title or achieve this ranking?
Pierce: I don’t like
to put pressure on myself. There’s already enough pressure
being put on me where I don’t put anything on myself.
I
know what I’m capable of doing, I have confidence in my abilities
and I train my best to be prepared for when I go on court. I give
100 percent and have fun. I know how old I am and want to have
a family one day. I don’t want to be too old to have babies.
I
don’t know what I want to do afterwards, if I want to work
or whatever. There’s lot to think about. I’m coming
into another stage of my life where I have to think about these
things.
tr.net:
Are you saying your biological clock is ticking?
Pierce: No, I wouldn’t
say that (laughing).
tr.net:
So you’re not saying that you would like to win Wimbledon
or the U.S. Open, the two Slam titles you don’t have.
Pierce: I’d like to win
the U.S. Open. I can’t say I don’t want to win Wimbledon,
but I definitely want to win the U.S. Open.
tr.net:
In the first half of 2000, you were playing some of the best tennis
on tour. That might have been the year you could have won the
Open. Agreed?
Pierce: Yes, possibly. But
you never know.
tr.net:
Would you be disappointed if you ended your career without a U.S.
Open title?
Pierce:
Not at all. I’m very happy with my career. I'm very proud
as to what I’ve accomplished. If I never did anything again
and was unable to play for some reason, I’d look back at
my career and be very proud. But by the same token, as long as
I’m physically and mentally able to compete, I’ll strive
to do more and better.
tr.net:
The U.S. Open is a tournament where you have had your chances
and hard courts suit your game well.
Pierce: I shouldn’t say
I give myself a better chance to win the U.S. Open than Wimbledon,
but I do feel more comfortable on hard courts than on grass, even
though the more I play on grass the more I enjoy it and I understand
it more.
tr.net:
Do you think that when you get back on the court in January that
you’ll have the same confidence that you had in 2000?
Pierce: Definitely. No doubt
about it.
tr.net:
Were you able to watch tennis on TV last year? A lot of pros won’t
or don’t.
Pierce: Sure.
tr.net:
Who were you particularly impressed with?
Pierce: I was really happy
to see how well Jennifer did. I was happy for her and for her
family. It’s a great thing for women’s tennis and a
great thing for humans in general to see what’s she’s
been through and done. It proves to anybody that if you really
want it, you can do it, change your life around and be successful.
tr.net:
Even though she took your Roland Garros title, you were still
happy to see her win?
Pierce: Yeah. It was really
beautiful.
tr.net:
Venus played very pretty good tennis last year, too Do you think
she’s taken the game to another level and do you think that
other players are going to have a hard time competing with her
when she’s committed?
Pierce: The great thing about
women’s tennis is that we have so many girls with different
styles, personalities, looks, temperaments – that’s
what’s exciting for fans. For a player like me, it keeps
it challenging. Venus is a great athlete with a great serve and
powerful shots.
tr.net:
Some journalists believe that when Venus decides to play and is
committed, she’s nearly unbeatable and she showed that from
Wimbledon through the U.S. Open.
Pierce: Really? I wasn’t
aware of that.
tr.net:
Do you think she’s beatable when she’s committed?
Pierce: Anybody is. We’re
all human.
tr.net:
Do you see yourself as a top-five player in 2002 given good health?
Pierce: That’s a number
that I don’t like to put on myself but I have all the tools
and the experience to contend for the top.
tr.net:
Will you move to New York with your fiancé, [new New York
Met, Roberto Alomar]?
Pierce: We’re not together
anymore.
tr.net:
Maybe that’s a blessing in disguise, too. When did you two
break up?
Pierce: About a month ago.
tr.net:
Are you looking forward to a new stage in your life? It’s
been said that it’s difficult for two high profile athletes
to stay together. Do you see it as a good thing?
Pierce: I think it all comes
out for the best. It was a great learning experience those four
years, the life that I shared with Roberto. I wish him all the
best with his life in baseball and with his family.
tr.net:
Any chance of you winning another Australian Open title?
Pierce: You never know (laughing).
That would start the year off right.
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