US OPEN

August 29, 2005

Serena Williams

THE MODERATOR: First question for Serena, please.

SERENA WILLIAMS: It was definitely relatively quicker than the other matches I had, so it's a decent one, yes.

SERENA WILLIAMS: I'm feeling really good. I'm just -- I'm not feeling too much pain out there at all.

SERENA WILLIAMS: It is, yeah. There's no better stage than the US Open for me. I definitely love it.

SERENA WILLIAMS: I haven't seen the statistics for it, but I don't think I made that many first serves. But it's so much better than I've been hitting in a while and it's definitely going faster and there's definitely a lot more pace. I'm feeling a lot more confident in the serve whereas I'm actually going for bigger serves. So that's cool in a way. My second serve is back to in the 90s, so that was really cool as well?

SERENA WILLIAMS: It definitely threw me a few times. I was like, "Okay." I actually -- I don't know, I told my hitting partner to hit me some easy serves. I was like, okay, maybe I should just work on it. I'm glad I did. The 69 ones kind of threw me off, but other than that, I was able to do a little bit better with that.

SERENA WILLIAMS: Oh, you know, I was really, really upset, but I realize I have to focus on my first round, and, you know, hopefully I'll get there and beyond.

SERENA WILLIAMS: I didn't get tired at all, I think I just started out flat. Maybe I was thinking about something else. I just was really flat. I knew it. I was like, "Serena, get more pep in your step." Once you got down, I just got a little more footwork. I was just flat for some reason.

SERENA WILLIAMS: You know, I don't remember. I think it was in the first set I want to say.

SERENA WILLIAMS: Well, one fell, and so I didn't put it on tight enough because I was rushing to go out. So I was hoping it wouldn't fall, but I knew in the back of my mind it would, and it did. I was like, "Okay, I'll just put them on earlier in my next match."

SERENA WILLIAMS: No. I wore 5 karat diamond earring studs at Wimbledon. That was pretty hot. And here, these are more chandeliery, in-style.

SERENA WILLIAMS: Yeah, when it fell out, I was like, let me just -- I should have put it on better. I was rushing and I forgot about them. I was like, "Okay."

SERENA WILLIAMS: It's 40,000. Earlier this week I was wearing a 33 karat black diamond ring on loan. I had to give it up. But I think I'm going to get it. I was so in love with it. And these are -- I think they're like 15 karat, or something like that, they're really hot.

SERENA WILLIAMS: No, what happened was I was rushing at the last minute because I forgot to put them on because I was stretching and stuff. I was like, "Oh, my earrings." I'll just put them on earlier, it will be better.

SERENA WILLIAMS: Yeah, it was definitely something really special I wanted to do. For me it's the biggest stage. I love playing in New York. I love the US Open. I love the court, I love everything about it. Except sometimes the line calls, but other than that (smiling)... It's a great place to be at.

SERENA WILLIAMS: It is. I mean, every time I walk out there on the court, it's different. Sometimes in practice it gets a bit redundant, I must say. It's like, "Okay." But the moment I walk out on the court, whether I'm in Canada, because I was in Canada -- it doesn't matter what city I'm in, I just feel totally different walking out there and just realizing how much I do love to perform.

SERENA WILLIAMS: I was unaware of it, but I can't say I'm sad (laughing). I can't necessarily say I'm very disappointed.

SERENA WILLIAMS: I just kept strengthening every day. I didn't take a day off. It was really time-consuming. That was the number one, two, and three priority for me, was to just keep strengthening my leg. That's what I was able to do. I just needed a little more time - not too much more, but just a little more - and I was able to get that.

SERENA WILLIAMS: No, the guy said, is it Mike? He just said my bling was more money than the young lady I played. And so, I don't know, maybe they were like -- I guess New Yorkers are trying to be fair. In all fairness she was only 16, so when I was 16, I think I lost in the first round to Ann Miller 6-1, 6-1. I'll never forget that.

SERENA WILLIAMS: I think she had a very solid performance. She had a very solid performance. She's really young so she can definitely take this match and build from it.

SERENA WILLIAMS: Yeah, it definitely could be very soon, but the only way to think about it is, uhm, you know, just play to get there, don't go out before. That's all we can do, you know. There's nothing else I can do except get back to 1 and 2 in the world.

SERENA WILLIAMS: I haven't said anything to her about it, actually.

SERENA WILLIAMS: The most beautiful 1%?

SERENA WILLIAMS: I don't understand the comment.

SERENA WILLIAMS: Yeah, they're always models. The guys like to date models. I'm not competing with nobody out there (smiling). There's no competition that I'm in.

SERENA WILLIAMS: Hey, I'm not in the competition (smiling).

SERENA WILLIAMS: No, they always date beautiful women, for sure. It's always a model or something. I'm no model.

SERENA WILLIAMS: Yeah, I'm definitely, you know, excited about my -- I've always accepted my curves (laughing). There's nothing I can do about it, so I've learned to accept it and live with it. I mean, I read an article in USA Today that was talking about these new ads. Nike had this new campaign. I told my Nike representative, "Why didn't you guys use me for this?" It was a joke, but it was about curvey women. Like I said, I'm not in the competition.

SERENA WILLIAMS: Uhm, I grunt -- I don't know. I just, honestly, when I was younger I used to love Monica Seles, she was like my role model. I loved her game. I loved her grunt. So my grunt is kind of like hers a little bit where it's like a double-grunt, instead of just like one long one, it's like two of them. I don't know why I grunt. Grunting actually is a way of breathing. That's how I'm breathing out instead of going... I'm actually grunting to get the air out.

SERENA WILLIAMS: Uhm, I don't remember. I don't think so. I don't think so.

SERENA WILLIAMS: Uhm, I definitely have found a balance. I've had so many offers in the past to do different movies or, you know, different things, and I always chose tournaments over it. So I definitely -- and practice over all that stuff. So it's important to find that balance, and I finally found it.

SERENA WILLIAMS: I definitely do. No one gets me more motivated than Venus because I don't want her to catch up with me yet. She's at five now. I still have seven. So I got to keep ahead.

SERENA WILLIAMS: Absolutely and I'm going to definitely go for that, as well as I might play a little bit more in the fall, just go out there and just start playing matches.

SERENA WILLIAMS: Instant replay, I would have used it today to see. I think I hit a serve that was in. But hopefully, I think it's the future of tennis for sure, and it's just a matter of time before it's introduced at different tournaments. But it's definitely the future and it's definitely coming soon.