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ROLAND GARROS

June 4, 2017

Venus Williams

Paris, France

T. BACSINSZKY/V. Williams

5-7, 6-2, 6-1

THE MODERATOR: Questions in English.

Q. Obviously you came back from a big deficit in the first set. Did you have a letdown after that? Where was your energy last couple of sets? How did you feel about the match overall?
VENUS WILLIAMS: Yeah, I think she just played really well. She had so many answers today. I just give her credit for, you know, playing well every point, even in the first set.

Q. Obviously second year in a row that you went out to her in this round. Is it something she does that bothers you out there or just...
VENUS WILLIAMS: She just played well. I mean, there's no particular -- I think there were just some points where she just came up with great tennis a lot of the times in the second and the third set. You know, sometimes it's just bad luck.

Q. What was going through your head with each passing dropshot that she just employed time and time and time again? How frustrating were those? Because she broke up the rhythm so often with those.
VENUS WILLIAMS: Yeah, those were some great shots. Some of the points I won, and some of them I didn't. The risk was rewarded for her.

Q. When you play well on clay, how much confidence does it give you for the rest of the year, especially going forward to grass where you've got such a great record?
VENUS WILLIAMS: I mean, this is a completely different surface, so the strategy is definitely different. Obviously playing well at tournaments is ideal, pretty much.

Q. Were there things today that you wanted to do and impose on her that you were not able to do?
VENUS WILLIAMS: I really haven't seen the stats yet, but I think, you know, she just had a lot of balls in. I think sometimes I was controlling the point and there were some errors, and those don't help. I think I'll have to look at the stats and evaluate the match from there.

Q. Wondering with Wimbledon coming up and everything and what happened yesterday in London, and then the Manchester a week before, do you have any trepidations about the travel these days, particularly to like places that have been hit by terrorism or you just have to go on with life?
VENUS WILLIAMS: There's a lot of stuff happening in the world today. I don't have any answers. I really don't. If I did, I promise you I'd fix it.

Q. Just in general, going to Wimbledon and with your form over the year from Australia, how much confidence are you taking in to the grass?
VENUS WILLIAMS: Yes, I'm not playing any events until then so it's back to the practice court for me, and just to continue to improve my game, and that's all I can do.

Q. You're also the last Grand Slam champion remaining in the draw, so we thought it was going to be a pretty wide open tournament. Can you give me your thoughts on that going forward?
VENUS WILLIAMS: Yeah, I have no idea. It's all behind me now, so whatever happens in this tournament is not necessarily my concern anymore.

I'm looking forward into my own, you know, next tournament is all I can focus on right now.

Q. If the WTA and the ITF and events organizers came up with a new rule and said you don't have to do any media conferences or press conferences, you've got 10 minutes to do something nice instead, what would you do? Or would you miss us too much?
VENUS WILLIAMS: I don't think that's going to happen, so I don't think I'm even going to, like -- you know, I don't even know.

Q. When you're back in Florida, do you find grass courts to practice on or you just practice on the hard?
VENUS WILLIAMS: Yeah, just on the hard. Just keep it simple. It's worked so far.

Q. LeBron James, a while ago, purchased a wonderful home in Los Angeles and then it was vandalized the other day with clearly racist graffiti. He said in America even if you're wealthy, if you've got great fame and popularity, if you're an African-American, you still have to deal with racism. I wanted to know what your thoughts about that are.
VENUS WILLIAMS: Well, it's sad that people are still wasting their energy on that. You would think that if you spend your energy building yourself up and others up, then you could create a world you like, but that's not always the case with everyone.

Q. When you say you practice on hard in the buildup to the grass court season, why do you do that? Is it because practicing too long on grass doesn't do you any good? Why is the reason behind it?
VENUS WILLIAMS: It's not that easy to find a grass court so you have to practice on hard.

Q. I know Andre Agassi used to say the longer he played on grass the worse he felt, in terms of just pure ball striking.
VENUS WILLIAMS: Oh, no, I didn't have that issue, I don't think. But I only play on one grass tournament a year. Yeah.

Q. Your takeaway from this tournament and your takeaway from the 2017 season so far?
VENUS WILLIAMS: Yeah, I feel like I played well this tournament. I played well in Rome. I feel like I played well today, but, you know, I didn't quite figure out the solution in time.

So I have to move on to the next one.

Q. Your season?
VENUS WILLIAMS: Yeah, it's been nice. It's still going. I'd like to just continue to rise.

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