WIMBLEDON

June 21, 2005

Serena Williams

THE MODERATOR: Serena Williams. First question, please.

SERENA WILLIAMS: I think Angela played extremely well. I think she was serving really good. She was really focused. I think she played actually unbelievable.

SERENA WILLIAMS: Well, honestly I expected a tough match because, especially playing against me, she obviously wanted to win. It would be probably the first big match of her career. She had nothing to lose. So I felt that I really needed to be focused and I felt it was going to be a tough match going into it.

SERENA WILLIAMS: There was a point where I was disappointed where I did lose my focus a little bit, especially in the first set. I kind of got a little off track. But it was good 'cause I was kind of feeling my way through and I was able to come up with the win.

SERENA WILLIAMS: Yeah, I heard him, too, actually. Yeah, so I did. It was accurate. I had to because she was playing really well. If I hit a little bit harder, she had a little bit tougher time getting the balls back.

SERENA WILLIAMS: I'm definitely drawing on that mental and the fact that I just didn't want to lose this match today. It just made me work a little bit harder and go a little bit harder.

SERENA WILLIAMS: I felt really rusty, you know, especially I just kind of felt like I was feeling my way around. I felt that I made some errors that shouldn't have been made, but it was just kind of getting back in the rhythm of things. I felt really kind of rusty out there. But towards the -- as the match went on, I got a little bit better with everything.

SERENA WILLIAMS: I kind of twisted it in the second set maybe. But I was able to walk it off.

SERENA WILLIAMS: I got a second wind in the third set. First set -- the second set I got a little fatigued, but then all of a sudden I just was like, "Okay, Serena, you have a six-hour limit and you're only at two hours. Let's go."

SERENA WILLIAMS: No, I haven't.

SERENA WILLIAMS: I remember playing Els Callens on that court.

SERENA WILLIAMS: Not when I was walking out there. No, it didn't enter my mind 'cause I just felt that I had to be better than them, the myths.

SERENA WILLIAMS: I think you just have to be fit to do it. I was fit. I was fine. I think you just have to be ready mentally. I wanted to win Wimbledon really bad. I was ready. You have to definitely be mentally prepared because at the end of the fortnight you do get tired. The first round is usually like, "Okay, I'm back at it again." Because it's so close, the French and Wimbledon are really, really close. I think it's important to take some time off after the French, even though it's kind of weird because you have to workout. But I think it's important to take like a couple days off and then come back.

SERENA WILLIAMS: I did have a major letdown because I felt I should have won the tiebreak, and I felt she hit a ball that was clearly out that was on one of my set points that no one called. So I did definitely have a major letdown. But I was just so angry that I felt that I must go to a third set.

SERENA WILLIAMS: You could say so (smiling).

SERENA WILLIAMS: You have to be real strong.

SERENA WILLIAMS: Just two this week, which is good for me. Usually I'm at five. I have a really short temper. But it makes the game exciting, I like to say.

SERENA WILLIAMS: I gave them the broken racquet because I couldn't do anything with it. I have one at home, just sitting, upset.

SERENA WILLIAMS: If I break it, I give it away.

SERENA WILLIAMS: I remember hitting next to her a few times because we used to practice at the same park, the public park. I remember hitting next to her, actually all the time. She was so little at the time. She was so small. She would always move her feet. She would never stop. She'd hit a lot of angles. So that's what I remember. She was just always out there, just like us. We were out there a lot.

SERENA WILLIAMS: I remember playing her sister. I remember playing doubles with her brother. I don't quite remember playing him.

SERENA WILLIAMS: Oh. Probably got a win over the whole family. Now I just got to get the dad and the mom.

SERENA WILLIAMS: Just in general, I'm here at Wimbledon, so... I can't say it's been a low this year.

SERENA WILLIAMS: I -- well, I want to see the Cup come home. When I was in Delray, I vowed to go to Moscow, so I like to keep my word, unless something happens where I can't go. But it's tough definitely to go to Moscow after this. But I would love to see -- I think we have the best players, although a lot of people think otherwise. I think we still have the best talent. I think as of right now with Lindsay and Venus and myself, we could bring the Cup home. I plan on going to Moscow.

SERENA WILLIAMS: It's an amazing story, it really is. I mean, who would have thought that these people from Compton are playing Wimbledon. It really is, if you think about it, amazing to be that young. I just remember all those days we would be out there, and they would be out there as well, just training and training and training, still struggling, just trying to make it. Why do I think? I just think it boils down to -- she has a great father and a great mother who always pushed her, but at the right tempo, I guess. And myself, I have a great mom and dad who always knew how to push us, even if we didn't want to be out there some days. You have to go out there. That's the only way to do it.