US OPEN

September 3, 2002

Venus Williams

MODERATOR: Questions for Venus.

VENUS WILLIAMS: It's real nice to be in the quarterfinals.

VENUS WILLIAMS: Yeah. I mean, at that point I had rushed so many shots, missed so many, I was just happy to be able to get through those points. You know, today wasn't my best day, so it was nice to win on a day where I was off.

VENUS WILLIAMS: I don't know. Just playing the point. It was nice that I got a few first serves in, I think maybe four in a row, finally. You know, I just shouldn't have -- I should have just closed it out, really stayed tough while I had the lead instead of, you know, letting it get that far. But it wasn't all my fault. I think she played really good.

VENUS WILLIAMS: It was about to break.

VENUS WILLIAMS: Well, I was trying. I was trying to hit some forceful shots, give myself a chance. I definitely didn't want to go to the tiebreak. Of course, if I had to, no other choice to play it. But it was nice to hold serve and not have to be down a break. I tried to tell myself, "It's better than being down a break trying to close out the match off her serve."

VENUS WILLIAMS: Not difficult at all. I would have loved to have played yesterday. I don't know why they canceled my match. That's how it happens.

VENUS WILLIAMS: No, not at all.

VENUS WILLIAMS: I don't think I had a very good practice this morning. Maybe that transferred over to the match. But it's always important to at least feel good in practice, if you can.

VENUS WILLIAMS: Oh, no, not at all. I know she was going to play well. All she had to do was come out and beat me. I was making so many unforced errors. Sometimes on those slow serves, I just couldn't -- they were so slow (laughter).

VENUS WILLIAMS: She's playing real good.

VENUS WILLIAMS: I don't know. To me all I care is that it goes in, whether it's hard or slow. Normally I'm not going for a really big second serve. Sometimes I do.

VENUS WILLIAMS: Depends on how I feel, how I'm feeling that point, how I hit it.

VENUS WILLIAMS: I wouldn't say necessarily you have to go out there and have very tough matches to play your best. Surely, maybe it can make you work a little harder, be a lot more serious about the later rounds.

VENUS WILLIAMS: I was thinking a little bit, this is how I used to play in '98, back in the day. I don't like to go backwards to those times. Those were tough times for me. I like to live pretty much in the present, or play like I'm playing now and not digress.

VENUS WILLIAMS: I didn't see it. I saw one point.

VENUS WILLIAMS: I didn't see that one. I had match point at 7-6. I didn't even know it was on. I think I was on my way to the tennis center. I didn't see the match.

VENUS WILLIAMS: Probably not.

VENUS WILLIAMS: Well, I'm happy to be in the quarterfinals. It could have definitely went the other way. If I play her, if I play Monica, I'm just very happy to be here at this point.

VENUS WILLIAMS: Sure. I think my whole game can improve.

VENUS WILLIAMS: Sure.

VENUS WILLIAMS: I'd like to have better placement.

VENUS WILLIAMS: Yeah. Even when I was down 5-2 in the second, I thought that I was going to win that set, but I didn't. Only when it got to be about 4-3 did I start to think that I was definitely on a tightrope.

VENUS WILLIAMS: Yeah. Hopefully I can play better than what I played in those days.

VENUS WILLIAMS: Yeah. Back then I really made an unforced error every other point. I'd like to think that I'm not playing like that anymore.

VENUS WILLIAMS: Sure, it was definitely important to win the match, otherwise I wouldn't have been in the finals. Still I made a lot of mistakes. I'd like to be better every year.