CHASE CHAMPIONSHIPS OF THE WTA TOUR

November 18, 1999

Venus Williams

VENUS WILLIAMS: I was just -- my goal was to play better than yesterday. As long as that happened, that was okay; I didn't lose serves. I didn't take any opportunities from myself by losing a serve. Naturally, if I didn't break serve, okay. Theoretically, you're not supposed to break serve. Everyone is supposed to hold because the server has the advantage. So, I only had one break, but that's okay.

VENUS WILLIAMS: No. I didn't feel like going around (laughs).

VENUS WILLIAMS: Not that I'm aware of, I don't think so. I just played a little better at the tiebreak, and it seemed like she broke down a little bit under the pressure. She just missed some shots. You can't do that in a tiebreaker because it doesn't go to deuce.

VENUS WILLIAMS: I haven't jumped the net since I was so little.

VENUS WILLIAMS: Yeah. See, I was going around. It seemed like such a long ways. She was going to beat me around the net; so, I was going to jump it.

VENUS WILLIAMS: Yes, but at the end of the match, to shake the person's hand, just jump the net.

VENUS WILLIAMS: No, no. I'm not allowed to buy jewelry until next March.

VENUS WILLIAMS: I like interior design in general; so usually a nice piece is good for me.

VENUS WILLIAMS: Homework is not done. I wish.

VENUS WILLIAMS: Yeah, I suppose so, because I'm not all stressed out because I have so much homework. It's not done, but it's not like I'm behind, to catch up on the two weeks that I missed. It's like a bad feeling when you have in the back of your mind that you have to do something and you actually don't have the time to do it; that's when it's not easy. But I'm feeling good now. I can concentrate on my tennis.

VENUS WILLIAMS: We don't have a rivalry.

VENUS WILLIAMS: No.

VENUS WILLIAMS: I guess so.

VENUS WILLIAMS: I just played regular tennis last week, not anything extraordinary. But I'm doing my best to improve every match. This is the last match of the season -- or the last tournament, and I want to work on things that I'm working on in practice, just to have momentum for next year so I can come off the year with a good feeling, and just feel like I'm going to start off the next year with the same -- the same things.

VENUS WILLIAMS: Any title means a lot to me. Because, really, when you're in a tournament, it doesn't matter which one, you really don't want to lose. At least, I don't.

VENUS WILLIAMS: I can't say it is because I just -- any tournament, I like winning a tournament. I like my name -- people saying "Venus wins." I like seeing the ranking go up. I like all those things. So I can't say any title is more important, because I like to win them all.

VENUS WILLIAMS: We're different players. And a lot of it has to do with body structures. I'm so tall and she's more compact.

VENUS WILLIAMS: My Grand Slam tennis, basically. I haven't been doing too well in them, and that's really where you can move ahead.

VENUS WILLIAMS: Sure, definitely. Just got to -- when it comes down to doing it, taking the next step, I'm going to have to take that step. I can't be moving backwards.

VENUS WILLIAMS: I've been working on my serve, yeah. My serve goes up and down a lot.

VENUS WILLIAMS: Yeah. She wasn't returning so well today. I can't exactly pinpoint why. Usually, she returns well. When I played her in Munich -- maybe it's the court, too, because it's faster and lower. The ball just goes a little lower, I guess because there isn't as much cushion under it; so the court is much harder. So I think that had a lot to do with it. I'm not returning my serve; so, I don't know.

VENUS WILLIAMS: Yeah, because it's one of my most important classes --.

VENUS WILLIAMS: Because I was going to have to play doubles that night; so I took a later flight.

VENUS WILLIAMS: No, because when I'm out there playing, I play for me, because I want to play tennis. I want the title for me, or whatever is there, whatever I'm playing for. In general, I think everyone plays for themselves. And naturally there's other motives, also, or other things that can rub off on you. But in the end, even Arthur Ashe, I think they played themselves because I think they wanted to be there. I don't think they made a decision to tennis because they wanted to do it for black people. They played it because they wanted to play for themselves.

VENUS WILLIAMS: It just seems like I'm always in New York. I don't know. It just seems like that, because the US Open passes so slow. I think it's all the traffic that just gets to you.

VENUS WILLIAMS: I think it's a more enjoyable because I get here late. I got here late Tuesday night. So I'll leave Sunday night. I'm assuming that I'll be in the final; that's all I can think. (Laughs). But my ticket is arranged for Sunday night; so I'll be quick. It's different. It's cold. But it gives me reason to buy a jacket.

VENUS WILLIAMS: I just felt that I was an extremely tall player and extremely powerful. I felt that after that match, at least if I lost, I should have just been striking the ball; so after that, I changed, and things haven't been the same since then.

VENUS WILLIAMS: Yes, I've just actually been going for it a little more, especially on the serve. And I felt that I deserved to win sometimes, too. I felt that sometimes my mom should be happy, too.

VENUS WILLIAMS: We've played twice since that time. My mom's been happy, I think. I have a good opportunity against her. It looked like she's playing better. She was playing nicely in Philadelphia. I didn't see any of her matches, a little bit when I was passing by. At least when I go out there, I'm going to play well. I'm going to go for it.

VENUS WILLIAMS: I think once you play well, when you're playing well, when it's a good match, they are really into it. But when it's going quick, they are more quiet. So they are quiet until it gets close; that's how the crowd is. They want it to be close.

VENUS WILLIAMS: Thanks. I don't remember. Probably just talking about nothing, small talk.

VENUS WILLIAMS: No, I'm not on top of my game. Not in any way, no.

VENUS WILLIAMS: Yes, because she's never had a win against me, and it's not fun losing to the same person all the time. So she really wanted to play better against me, or at least to win or win a set, something, so bringing out her best game.

VENUS WILLIAMS: We shared a square.

VENUS WILLIAMS: I'm thinking we probably did a bad job. We're not comedians.

VENUS WILLIAMS: They ask you all the questions that you will not know the answer to. Just -- I don't understand it. It seems like there should be a subject before they do the game with each -- Tic-Tac-Toe with each one. It should be a subject. But they just ask questions at random, and if you don't get the answers before you go out there, you just -- most of them you aren't going to know. For instance, I was born in 1980, and they asked me: Which movie did Molly Ringwald star in with a lot of teenagers? And I don't know any things like that. And a lot of things that -- who was the fourth President of the United States? I don't know. And even -- what sport did teenagers participate in -- what's the physical activities people in Texas participate in? I don't know. What? I don't know. See, it's questions like that, how can you know the answer? It makes you look bad. It's not fair. They should ask questions that are reasonable. But other than that, it was okay. I felt highly uneducated?

VENUS WILLIAMS: We had six different squares, or five.

VENUS WILLIAMS: I don't know. I probably won't get a chance to see it, anyway. I'm not sure if we have cable.

VENUS WILLIAMS: I don't think so.

VENUS WILLIAMS: (Shakes head.)

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