Which are the qualities that enabled you to stay at the top of world bridge?

I play an aggressive game, rather unusual in women's bridge and thus sometimes a little unpleasant, but first of all, I always try to remain in control of the proceedings at the table and to get the tempo and the rhythm of the game going my way. Also, as I am a curious person, before any serious encounter I always prepare myself very well, studying the opponents' systems into the smallest details. As a result, they very seldom find me unprepared. What was your most significant victory? Without a shadow of doubt the gold medal at the European Mixed Teams, firstly because I was playing with my husband, and also because, in an absolute sense, this type of competition is always a little bit complicated for us, ladies. And your nicest victory in life?

Sabine Auken

Here as well, I have no doubts: my two sons.

Did you register only victories in your private life as well?

Though I feel very happy about my life, past and present, I can certainly not confirm that I have never lost...

The saying is that the winner in bridge is he who makes the least mistakes and not the one who plays best.

I fully agree: in bridge, to playing well there are no limits. You can always do better.

But can the errors help to improve one's life and play?

A dear friend of mine, Georg Nippgen, with whom I won the European Mixed Pairs championship in 1994, has often said to me that to make a mistake is not the problem, but the important thing is not to repeat it.

Which of these two usually prevails when you are playing bridge, feeling or reason?

For me, it's definitely the rational atmosphere that prevails, even if from time to time that typical female talent called intuition comes up to help me, though this is not one of my specific characteristics. At times, just looking at your opponents may give you interesting indications.

Do you have any particular certainty?

Yes, I firmly believe in man. I think that man is basically good and as a consequence, I am always expecting the best from the people around me, though I know very well that it's not always like that. But this optimistic stance allows me once again to live a better life.

As long as I restricted myself to being a wife, a mother and a bridge player, I have had no problems. The situation go a bit more complicated when I added a job to my already busy everyday life. You need an impeccable daily organisation if you want to do well in all these four respects.

Why is the lady, in bridge, less strong than the man?

I presume that this is a matter of a lack of talent to concentrate, maybe caused also by the many duties and responsibilities women have to fulfill simultaneously. For me personally, when I am playing at the table, I manage to completely forget the outside world, but I have to admit that this is not always easy.