ROLAND GARROS

June 1, 2021

Venus Williams

Press Conference

E. ALEXANDROVA/V. Williams

6-3, 6-1

Q. Can you tell us how you feel after this loss? I think if I'm not wrong, it's your fourth straight loss in the first round here. What are you feeling about competition and play? Is it something becoming more and more difficult over the years?

VENUS WILLIAMS: Oh, yeah, I didn't know that.

Yeah, I guess it happened. So moving on.

Q. If you assessed your performance today, what went wrong? Do you think it's just that she played better than you? You felt a bit tired? Is it something special that could come to your mind to help you assess what happened?

VENUS WILLIAMS: Yeah, she definitely played a better match. I think that's what happens normally when someone wins. You know, never really found the middle of my game. Sometimes too big, sometimes not big enough. It's nice when you can find that middle part.

Q. I was going to ask you about what you think is going to happen when you play doubles with Coco Gauff. What do you expect to happen? Are you playing backhand or forehand?

VENUS WILLIAMS: I think you'll have to wait and see. You know, I think we're hopefully going to be a perfect match. She's so extremely talented that I'll definitely be expecting her to do all the work.

Q. Did you ask her or did she ask you?

VENUS WILLIAMS: I think the feeling was mutual.

Q. You're one of the most experienced players on the tour. What was your reaction to what happened with Naomi Osaka and what she said about the pressure of doing post-match interviews? I was wondering if you had to compare those feelings in the past, how did you cope with all the media attention or media duties throughout your career?

VENUS WILLIAMS: Yeah, it's definitely not easy to do press I think for any person. I don't remember the rest of the question, sorry.

Q. How did you cope with it throughout your career and if you sometimes felt that you had to do unnecessary efforts.

VENUS WILLIAMS: For me personally how I deal with it was that I know every single person asking me a question can't play as well as I can and never will, so no matter what you say or what you write, you'll never light a candle to me. So that's how I deal with it.

But each person deals with it differently.