THE CHAMPIONSHIPS

July 3, 2023

Venus Williams

Press Conference

E. SVITOLINA/V. Williams

6-4, 6-3

THE MODERATOR: Welcome to the press conference of Venus Williams.

Venus, tough day today. Just give us your initial thoughts on the match.

VENUS WILLIAMS: Just ready for questions.

THE MODERATOR: Questions.

Q. When you had that slip in the first set, it looked and sounded quite bad. Did you think you'd done something really serious?

VENUS WILLIAMS: I'm not sure what I've done. I'm going to have to investigate it tomorrow. It's late today. But it was quite painful.

Q. At the end of the match, obviously ended kind of on a bad note, you didn't shake hands with the umpire. Your thoughts on the call and finishing on a challenge.

VENUS WILLIAMS: I completely disagreed with the call. It was just that kind of day.

Q. You mentioned it was painful in the moment when it happened. Were you experiencing pain throughout the next two sets? How bad was it?

VENUS WILLIAMS: It was very hard to focus on what I was doing.

Q. A comment you made on Saturday about the equal prize fight you fought back in 2007, a young player was in here today saying she knew it had happened but has taken for granted that she will make as much as her male counterparts. Is that the point of fights like those? I can see the opposite being true, as well.

VENUS WILLIAMS: I don't think any woman should have to worry about if they're getting paid equal. I'm very happy that no woman again at a Grand Slam has to even concern herself with that. She can just play tennis.

Q. Several players in the last three days have been in this room and have spoken of how you inspire them, how much they admire the way you compete. What feelings do you get from the determination that you show in a match like today or any match?

VENUS WILLIAMS: I'm just being me. I live my life the best way I can. I'm a competitor. That's what I do for a living, so...

I did what I could today.

Q. The mention of equal prize money, that's not the case at all tournaments. How far do you think we have to go for genuine equality?

VENUS WILLIAMS: In what?

Q. To have genuine equality across the whole sport.

VENUS WILLIAMS: I don't know. That's like a question right now that I can't even process, to be honest. I'm sorry.

Q. Before your match Novak had a long delay because the court was too slippery to play on. Did you feel like it was slippery out there? Did you think it had an impact on your form?

VENUS WILLIAMS: Grass is inherently going to be slippery. You're going to fall at some point. It was just bad luck for me. I started the match perfectly. I was literally killing it, then I got killed by the grass (laughter).

Yeah, it's not fun right now. I felt like I was in great form coming into this tournament, and great form in the match. It's all very shocking at the moment. This is sports. I'm hitting the ball well. Hopefully I can just figure out what's happening with me and move forward.

Q. You spoke about how well you feel you're hitting the ball. If the test results are positive, will we see you in Flushing Meadows?

VENUS WILLIAMS: Yeah, I got to figure out my next plan. Right now I'm kind of in shock. I just can't believe this happened. It's, like, bizarre. I don't know. I'm still processing it at the moment.

Q. A little bit of a different question. If you could go back and give a word, comment or advice to the 14-year-old Venus who came out on court in Oakland, what would some of your thoughts be?

VENUS WILLIAMS: I think it happened all the way it was supposed to. I won my first match. Once I started playing on tour, I went on to the top. I don't think it could have been better.

Q. You are working with a new coach, Hugo. How did you meet? How has he helped you?

VENUS WILLIAMS: Yeah, I love learning new things from working with different coaches and different people on the court.

The exciting part in this game is you never stop learning. I've always continued to learn on the court and make changes to my game. Just a great opportunity for me to do that.

Q. I'd like to ask you about your relationship to the art world. Is that a world you want to be part of in the future? What kind of artistic styles are you most drawn to?

VENUS WILLIAMS: I am an art appreciator. Art is my favorite thing in life. Pretty much all I think of all day - outside of tennis. You'd be surprised (smiling).

At the moment I've moved from contemporary, from modern art. It's always changing. It's a whole world that I continue to immerse myself in. It's a lot of joy for me.

Q. Do you consider tennis an art?

VENUS WILLIAMS: In many ways, yes, it is an art. Sport is an art.

Q. You said you're still processing this loss. When an injury like that happens at this stage in your career, does it feel harder to process because you know there might be fewer opportunities to play on Centre Court again and be at Wimbledon again?

VENUS WILLIAMS: I think what makes this one hard to process is I've had so many injuries. I've been missing from tour for quite a while. This is not what I want for myself.

This kind of fall, I didn't do anything wrong. I just went for the ball. There's nothing I can really do about it. Those kinds of things are hard to process emotionally, mentally and physically on the court.

I just couldn't figure it out today. It was just real challenging. I've played through a lot of injuries and won a lot of matches injured. It's almost a specialty of mine. I just couldn't figure it out today.

Q. Did you consider ever stopping the match?

VENUS WILLIAMS: No. I was trying to figure out how to win the match, try to fight to live another day.

Q. For so long American women's tennis has been all about Venus and Serena. Thinking about the next generation, Coco Gauff, Kenin are playing a thrilling match, do you feel like American tennis is in safe hands with that generation coming through?

VENUS WILLIAMS: Oh, of course. I'm a big, big, big supporter of American tennis. Not only the women's, but the men's. I'm always watching that more closely than all the other matches.

So, yeah, I have high hopes.