SANEX CHAMPIONSHIPS

November 2, 2001

Serena Williams

MODERATOR: Questions for Serena.

SERENA WILLIAMS: I wouldn't say she is because she works hard, she plays a lot of tournaments, and she wins a lot. So she deserves to be ranked where she is. But I have a decent record. I only played her twice. She played me a lot better this time. I had to make sure. She's working on new things. I think her game from the short time of The Open till now has went up like 50, 60%, which is a lot. I think she did really well. I think she's a good player.

SERENA WILLIAMS: Oh, for sure.

SERENA WILLIAMS: Dreading a third?

SERENA WILLIAMS: No. I could be out there ten hours, it wouldn't matter. I'm all day. I stay all day. I'm in the best shape right now, mm-hmm. Actually, I'm ready to go run a marathon really quick (laughter).

SERENA WILLIAMS: Really? No, I lost focus a bit. But I was able to come back. I never doubted the fact that I would win. I just never doubt that I am going to go out. I don't think like that anymore at all.

SERENA WILLIAMS: I really didn't think I played that great today. I played decent in the first set. I was at home, I was working really hard on my serve. It's still not coming for me right now. Next round hopefully it will be better. I'm not doing bad (smiling).

SERENA WILLIAMS: No, not at all. That was crazy. I kept trying to come to the net. It's like, "Come on, come on." Finally I made it. A volley. Another volley. "No." Another volley. "No." She hit a lob. It was on the backhand, too. I was like, "Gosh." But I practiced that shot in practice. Venus and I, when we're at home, my dad always has us work on those shots. The little doubles that we do play, I hit that shot well.

SERENA WILLIAMS: No. When I was younger actually my dad used to always say, "Every time you break a string, don't change the racquet immediately, play the point out." These days, if I break a string, I walk off the court and get a new racquet. Those years of doing that eventually paid off a bit.

SERENA WILLIAMS: It was. It was broken three different places. It was crazy.

SERENA WILLIAMS: Well, maybe not (smiling).

SERENA WILLIAMS: No, not at all. I'm a real health nut now. I don't think so. You know what, tennis players don't really get much time off. I can only take a week, at the most a week and a half off, before I start practicing again. I don't think it came at the wrong time. I think if I can end this year on a good note, very positive. I don't have many points to defend in Australia - actually nowhere except for The Open I did well. Other than that, I lost in the quarterfinals. It's pretty easy to get to the quarterfinals.

SERENA WILLIAMS: Yeah. I thought I was going to play all -- I was supposed to play like five tournaments this fall. I only entered one class. If I had known I was going to play one tournament, I would have been in more classes. I'm only in one class. I actually had a class online. That's really simple. You can take your computer and go anywhere. I didn't get in any classes because I thought I was going to play a full fall schedule.

SERENA WILLIAMS: You guys are going to get tired of seeing me. Let's put it that way. I'm going to be everywhere, "Hey."

SERENA WILLIAMS: Yeah, yeah.

SERENA WILLIAMS: Yeah, for sure. There's something in particular I've been really working on - actually a few things. You guys are going to be really excited to see in January (laughter).