NASDAQ-100 OPEN

March 29, 2003

Serena Williams

SERENA WILLIAMS: Questions (laughter)?

SERENA WILLIAMS: I think I was just being lazy and expecting the win to come without moving my feet. I was just being lazy and not working hard enough. So, yeah, that's definitely sluggish.

SERENA WILLIAMS: No, if anything, it motivates me to want to win. See, a lot of people -- I can understand, it's her third time in the final. Honestly, if she was playing anyone else, I would have liked to see her win. But just playing me, obviously, I want to go out there and win as well. But it just motivates me to be stronger.

SERENA WILLIAMS: No, I haven't been on my game today. But, I don't know, I'm going to go home and I'm not going to take some time off, I'm actually going to practice because I don't think I've been doing enough practicing. That's why my form is off, I'm hitting the ball a little off. Going into South Carolina, I really want to do well there. So I'm going to actually practice for once - actually practice.

SERENA WILLIAMS: Hanging out, relaxing, not working.

SERENA WILLIAMS: I can't keep doing it like that. There's people out there who's working hard and coming closer. It's not like I didn't want to, it's just that I think there are some things I can do to work harder that might make my day a little easier.

SERENA WILLIAMS: No, not really. I'm just always thinking positive. I think, going into anything, you have to think positive and you start feeling just uncomfortable and feeling like, "Gosh, you know, maybe I won't get it," then I think that's when you start to lose.

SERENA WILLIAMS: "Three sets." (Laughter).

SERENA WILLIAMS: Uh-hmm. I mean, I don't know if I felt anxious. She was actually -- I could say I did, a little bit. She was getting a lot of balls back. I made I don't know how many errors.

SERENA WILLIAMS: Oh, my God.

SERENA WILLIAMS: I slept well. Woke up, I watched this movie "Nash" or something like that. But I slept really well, right through the night.

SERENA WILLIAMS: It actually started in Scottsdale, so I was actually a little weary when I wasn't able to play Scottsdale. It was here, too, it was a big win for me last year, actually one of the biggest I've had in a long time. So it shows that I was able to be serious and keep going. I want to keep it up.

SERENA WILLIAMS: Well, I just said to myself, "I've got to get off to a quick start. Got to stay tough."

SERENA WILLIAMS: Oh, no, I don't think so. It's gonna be really hard. It's impossible to win them all. If you could, I would love to. That's going to be what I'm going to try to do, but I don't know if it's possible.

SERENA WILLIAMS: I mean, I'm tired of explaining it. I mean, just read the transcripts on it; I think a couple interviews ago.

SERENA WILLIAMS: It was -- mentally, I was up there. That really does have a lot to do with the match. I think, physically, and actually, playing-wise, I don't think I played that well. There was a lot of things I should have done, 41 errors, how well is that? You tell me. It's just -- I don't think it's well.

SERENA WILLIAMS: I don't think it dropped off after the first set. I think she played well in the first and second set. I just think I had to pick my level of game up.

SERENA WILLIAMS: I saw that she was getting a little tired in the third. I was just starting.

SERENA WILLIAMS: Yeah, maybe, she was up 40-15. I hit some nice shots, but I don't -- I don't know if it did. I would have kept fighting. But it's hard, you know, running. I don't know. It's very hot out there. So...

SERENA WILLIAMS: When?

SERENA WILLIAMS: Well, yeah, I'm just going to work on some things here and there and just focus.

SERENA WILLIAMS: Well... haven't been to the gym in about four weeks (laughing). I think my trainer's upset about that. Been eating some -- I had a Snickers the other day. I don't know how I stay so fit (laughing). I just -- I said to myself - because one time I was playing and I lost a match because I was tired - I said, "I never want to lose another match because I'm tired." ike I said, I slacked off a little this week, but I'll be back. I'll be back in South Carolina. I'm going to actually go to the gym.

SERENA WILLIAMS: I prefer to play the perfect in-the-groove match because then I won't have to struggle so much and fight so much and have to worry about making so many errors and it's just -- it just would be a lot easier if I could play in that groove a little more often.

SERENA WILLIAMS: Yeah, it's always nice. I can't say it's fun. I mean, if I win, it's fun to gut it out. It shows a lot of character that I'm able to stick in there and pull it out, yeah, fighter.

SERENA WILLIAMS: Pardon me?

SERENA WILLIAMS: Oh, the same. My goal is not to play too many, win all of them that I play, and I don't have to play that many.

SERENA WILLIAMS: I always say when you go into a match, you can't have a -- I think when she beat me, like, six in a row, I just , every time I went in there thinking, "This is a new match. The six matches before didn't count. This is a new day." That's how I think we, as players, go into a match.

SERENA WILLIAMS: J'adore.

SERENA WILLIAMS: The anti-French...?

SERENA WILLIAMS: Because they didn't want to participate in the war?

SERENA WILLIAMS: "Well, we don't want to play in the war, we want to make clothes. We don't want the war," (said in an accent.) I don't want a war either. I don't know many people who do want to be involved in the war. "They want to make clothes," (said in an accent).