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THE CHAMPIONSHIPS

July 6, 2019

Serena Williams

Wimbledon, London, England

S. WILLIAMS/J. Goerges

6-3, 6-4

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. Clean, efficient tennis today. American television wants you on later so they can see you in the afternoon. Do you prefer as a player and as a mom, a person with a lot of other businesses going on, getting on court first?
SERENA WILLIAMS: I do like to get on court first because it's easy. You can get your match over with and have the rest of the day. But also the later matches have been fine because I spend the whole morning with the baby. I sleep in. We have fun, so...

Now it's pretty even.

Q. It was a good performance today. In your interview I saw you almost look relieved. What needs to go right in terms of your body and fitness to go the distance in the second week?
SERENA WILLIAMS: Yeah, no, I just need to keep it up. Like I said, each match for me really counts. I haven't had a tremendous amount. Literally each match counts for me. It's just keep going, doing what I'm doing in practice hopefully.

Q. There was a serenity today in your match, everything seemed to be working. Would you like that every match? You were very calm and focused.
SERENA WILLIAMS: Yeah, I think I play pretty good when I'm calm, but also super intense, just finding the balance in between there. So it's a hard balance to find because sometimes when I'm too calm, I don't have enough energy. Still trying to find that balance.

Q. It's the first time we've seen you since it was confirmed you're playing with Andy Murray. Talk about why you made that decision, how you think it will help your singles. Andy has said you've been talking about parenting skills, family stuff.
SERENA WILLIAMS: I always ask about his girls. I think his youngest daughter is almost the same age as my daughter, just a month apart. That's pretty cool.

I feel like I always play doubles, and the doubles really is able to help my singles game. That's super, super important for me.

Q. As someone who started young, looking at Cori Gauff, do you have any advice for her?
SERENA WILLIAMS: I think she's doing everything great. Big fan actually. I am so excited for her. Love her family. Gosh, I just couldn't feel more proud.

I would be wrong to step in right now and give her advice. I think she's doing great.

Q. How would you compare the hunger that you experienced to get to the top with the hunger you've had all these years to sustain your game at the top?
SERENA WILLIAMS: Getting to the top is often fun. You have nothing to lose, especially if you've never been there. It's like a great climb.

Sustaining that for years and years takes a lot of work, a ton of work. You don't want to fall because you know what it's like to be at the top, you know how it feels. At least I do, I know how it feels, how you want to stay there, how you want to get back there.

That's how I would describe it.

Q. Back on Coco. On the men's side of the game there's been quite a lot of talk about young champions, whether it's still physically possible to have a Grand Slam champion below the age of 20. Is it a similar situation in the women's game, whether anything is holding a 15-year-old back physically now that's maybe different from when younger guys like Hingis came through? Do you believe she could win Wimbledon here, for example? I know you'll probably want to stop her yourself.
SERENA WILLIAMS: I think it really depends. I think there's some 15-year-olds, like me, who wouldn't know what to do at Wimbledon. Then you have a 15-year-old like Coco who knows what to do. It really depends.

I think she's definitely on a different level, so I think she's totally capable and ready, to be honest. Yeah, I just think it just depends. Not every 15-year-old is the same.

Q. How much preparation have you done? You practiced with Andy the other day. Have you decided who plays forehand, backhand? Have you scouted Guarachi and Mies?
SERENA WILLIAMS: I think he won the French Open, is that right, so we don't have an easy first round.

Andy and I both love the competition. I know we both want to do well. We're not here just for show. We want to play well. We both have been champions at Wimbledon. It's like we want to continue to do that.

I always play the forehand side. If you want to play with me, I play forehand. It's just the only rule I have.

Q. Andy Murray is a big national treasure for the British people because he won Wimbledon after decades of drought. He's back this year after two years. Do you feel you have the weight of the British people on you?
SERENA WILLIAMS: I feel what it's like to do that.

We don't feel pressure. Like I said, we really want to win. We'll see what happens. We know what it's like to win. We also know what it's like not to win. Obviously we want to do our best to get there.

Q. In your side of the draw is Ash Barty. Have you had a chance to watch her play here? If so, what do you think of her game, what you feel you need to do to play against her?
SERENA WILLIAMS: Yeah, I've seen her play a lot recently, too. I've always from the day I played her in Australia had a tremendous amount of respect for her game. I just thought she's just a beautiful player. She has great technique. I love that. I'm really a technical player. I like when people, you know, have a beautiful game and they do the right techniques. It's so right up my alley.

Like I always say, she's just someone in the locker room that you just always root for. But in general I have been watching her game because I know that she's a force to be reckoned with. Yeah, so I've been watching a lot.

Q. It's a simple question. Often with great doubles partnerships, there is still a captain. Two greats of the game, big personalities. Have you flipped a coin? Rock, paper, scissors? Who is the boss? If so, how did you decide?
SERENA WILLIAMS: Yeah, actually we need to talk about that (smiling). To be honest, Venus always is the leader of our team. I'm used to being co-captain. I actually prefer that role. I'm definitely going to have a talk with Andy to definitely take the lead.

When the captain is a little nervous or something, like Venus and I sometimes, sometimes she's not having her best day, then I'm there to bring her up. I definitely want to have that same role. It's kind of just what I'm used to. We'll have to just talk about that.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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