WIMBLEDON

June 22, 2004

Serena Williams

THE MODERATOR: Serena Williams for you.

SERENA WILLIAMS: When I first walked out, I felt really excited to be out there. It was great. You said I made it hard work?

SERENA WILLIAMS: No, no. Not my normal unforced errors.

SERENA WILLIAMS: Well, I don't know, I'm playing good. I wanted to come to the net a lot. You never hear me say I'm playing good. So that's pretty confident for me and bold for me to say.

SERENA WILLIAMS: The most special thing I think is coming back as a champ. I mean, win, lose or draw, it's just a great feeling to be, you know, defending champion at Wimbledon for some reason. I don't get that feeling at any other Grand Slam. I just get it here at Wimbledon.

SERENA WILLIAMS: No, I don't think it took me time to adapt at all, no.

SERENA WILLIAMS: Yeah.

SERENA WILLIAMS: Well, I'm going to come in here, you guys are going to coach me now? You guys are going to be coaches now? You're going to talk about unforced errors? Honestly, I think one of the few times I think I did pretty decent. Like I said, I'm working on different things, and I think it's important to get that in the first round as opposed to try to work on them in the quarterfinals and semifinals. Then you'll find yourself under too much pressure and making too many mistakes. There's been some things I've been working on in practice that I wanted to try today in my match going into a first round, so, yeah. But feel free to come out on the practice court if you guys want to help out.

SERENA WILLIAMS: It's so hard. We're so busy. More than anything, I say right now that it's really a place that I really want to go to. I mean, I'm really trying to make it this year.

SERENA WILLIAMS: I'm really trying to make it. I really want to go more than anything. I mean, even just for vacation I think it would be fun.

SERENA WILLIAMS: You know, actually I would love to go to the East Coast. Is that the Ivory Coast?

SERENA WILLIAMS: West coast of Africa like Ivory Coast, and that area, and look at a little history there. I would love to go on a safari. I'd love to go to different countries like Zaire and Nigeria.

SERENA WILLIAMS: No, I don't. That's why I really want to go to the west coast of Africa and see that area because, unfortunately, I'm not a hundred percent sure of my background. And so I think in order to get ahead in life, you have to know your history. So I'm trying to figure out my history.

SERENA WILLIAMS: I mean, I don't know yet. Hopefully.

SERENA WILLIAMS: Well, Venus and I, we love to play football. We were just having fun with the soccer. Then, you know, next thing we know, the guy had a camera around. "Okay, why not, just take a shot." But it was fun. We were always playing in the yard because, you know, we're trying to -- we like the English soccer.

SERENA WILLIAMS: Yeah, every -- all the time I'm like in one of those US publications every week now, whether it's People, Us, or In Touch. I can count on being in there every week. It's like, "What did I do this week? What did they come up to say this week?" I think that's when you really know you're a crossover celebrity, when you're always in that. Like I said, we were just having fun.

SERENA WILLIAMS: It's weird. I've become an amazing English fan. I'm a huge Tim Henman supporter now. I was like when England was down 1-Love and they made the goal, I was like, "Whoa."

SERENA WILLIAMS: I was watching it at my house. I was so excited. I was like, "Yeah." I was screaming. Thinking, "Why am I screaming so hard?"

SERENA WILLIAMS: I don't think he's pudgy at all. He's only 18. That's a horribly, mean thing to say. The kid is 18. The kid scored, what, two goals yesterday. He's doing really good. Yeah, he's a real sweetie.

SERENA WILLIAMS: I'm a big fan of Rooney now and obviously Owen and Beckham. Especially Rooney because he really saved the team, so I'm real excited. I can't believe I'm even talking the lingo here.

SERENA WILLIAMS: No, not yet. I haven't gotten that far into it. But soon. I think I'll be supporting whatever team Rooney is on.

SERENA WILLIAMS: Off-side? No. I just know that everyone falls down. Doesn't seem like they're really hurt, though. They'll just like take a fall. I'm like, "Okay. Well, he didn't even touch him." It's like he fell because a gush of wind when the guy must have passed by.

SERENA WILLIAMS: Obviously, I don't know of any. You can't do that in tennis, I don't think. But, gee, these guys are just falling out left and right. I'm like, "Wait a minute."

SERENA WILLIAMS: I was really nervous. I was like, "Oh, no." I like never watch sports. I literally turned it to the channel because I really wanted to watch. I purposely turned it there. I was like, "Oh, no, they're down, they're down. No, no, no." But then they came back, so I was like, "Yes."

SERENA WILLIAMS: I think it's important for me because I think I've always been a fashion innovator, especially on the tennis court. But nowadays, as well, off. So I am currently starting, especially with my new line, Aneres, I'm starting a new trend that I'm excited about that I hope soon everyone will be wearing. A lot of big things planned.

SERENA WILLIAMS: You know, I read an article about Donald maybe last year, and I was -- I'm really happy to see that he's doing so well. I think it's important at this age that he is now to really get a lot of practice on the court and really develop those techniques, I mean, stay out five hours if you have to, but every day, and to be really almost religious about it. You can't miss a day, because this is such a fundamental stage when you're building your solid foundation and you don't want it to crack. So I think that's really important.

SERENA WILLIAMS: Well, I mean, like I -- I'm kind of looking at it just from my point of view, and I have myopic views, kind of look at it that way. Because I don't feel a young player, a young athlete, tennis player, should play all those tournaments because it really is a lot of pressure. And you see parents putting all this type of pressure on their kids to win, and it's not that serious. You really need to go out and you need to develop your game, you need to make sure you're not doing it for your parents, you need to do it for you. So I think when you're playing all these tournaments, it gets a little stressful. Even if the kid says it's not, indirectly I think it does. And I think you just -- I mean, it's okay to play a few, but I think if you play too many... Then it gets a little bit redundant. You get to the pros, you've always been to Australian Juniors, you've already done the French Open Juniors, you've already done the Wimbledon Juniors. It's like, "I've already done this." You become jaded. I don't think you can enjoy it, for instance, as much as I've enjoyed my experience.

SERENA WILLIAMS: Yes, Aneres. It's my name spelled backwards. It's really cool.

SERENA WILLIAMS: Uhm, I think, you know, just putting all jokes aside and just really looking at it really seriously, Venus and I have made an incredible impact on the inner city. I mean, seeing we come from Compton in the inner city, we come from that type of background. You know, it's not the easiest thing to be in such a situation. And we are really blessed because we had parents that really supported us and parents that wanted to see us do better than them. It's like you have to have a lot of elements going into that. But I think that when you see someone that has the same background as you, that has the same -- that had the same status as you, that still keep it real, so to say, even though we're on a different level, we're in England, we're playing Wimbledon, we still find time, you know, to be ourselves. We're not being anything different. I think that it really helps people believe that, you know what, "If they did it, I can, too." I think it's just really -- it's really great. And I feel honored that I was chosen to have an opportunity to be that role model for those people in the inner city and the inner communities, and just for them to realize, "You know, Serena did it. You can do it too." I didn't have this, I didn't have that, but I did it, and you can do it too.

SERENA WILLIAMS: I just see it all around. I mean, when I meet some parents, and they'll say, "You know, my child is doing A, B, C and D because of you." For someone older to come up to me and say, "I started my kid, not necessarily tennis, but being a better individual, trying to get better grades because of what you and your sister have done," then I think -- I get that all the time, and I really, really appreciate that because it makes me realize that, you know, people really do look up to me and they really appreciate some stuff that we've done.

SERENA WILLIAMS: The way I felt walking out on the court today, you know, knowing I'm going to play at 1:00, even though I made 24 unforced errors - look up, look up - it's no feeling like that. When I'm on the set of a movie, it's exciting. I love it. I love being there. When I'm designing a dress, an outfit, I'm really into that. But it just doesn't beat walking out onto Centre Court at Wimbledon.