US OPEN

September 8, 2001

Serena Williams

MODERATOR: Questions for Serena.

SERENA WILLIAMS: Yeah. It was a bit tough out there. I was fighting the wind, fighting myself because I was making too many errors, and I was fighting Venus. Actually, too many fights going on. I should have reduced it a bit.

SERENA WILLIAMS: Yeah, my whole strategy nowadays is to come to the net anyway. Whether I want to or not, I try to come on in. Yeah, it was. I've been working on that in general.

SERENA WILLIAMS: Yeah, I was able to get myself back in it a bit. It was like I was struggling so much with making errors. I don't know, I couldn't seem to stop the errors from coming. I was too far behind the baseline, I think. I don't know, it was just -- it was weird. It was a bit windy. I don't know.

SERENA WILLIAMS: No, because I'm really emotional, so... I mean, it was just so deep, and she was so sincere, and that really touches one. I'm a really emotional person, so it was really making me pretty emotional there.

SERENA WILLIAMS: Not today (laughter). Maybe next time.

SERENA WILLIAMS: It's definitely become a lot easier for me. I think after the first time, it was easier. Overall, it's definitely easy. I really have no problem any more.

SERENA WILLIAMS: Yeah, we practiced together. We didn't have breakfast. We usually -- we practice at 10. We didn't want to wake up. We left around 9, so it was too early to get up to get breakfast. But, yeah.

SERENA WILLIAMS: Yeah, pretty much. I took a nap. I mean, we didn't nap in the same bed, if that's what you're getting at (smiling).

SERENA WILLIAMS: In the past, I would have been disappointed, but I've grown as a competitor more than anything. In that aspect, I've grown a lot. I've realized that you take them as they come. I didn't take my chances. I didn't get the moment. So it's all for Venus right now. There's always the next time, especially in sports. There's always a next year. It's not like it's, you know, football where there's just Super Bowl one time type thing. There's next year, and next week actually I'm playing a match.

SERENA WILLIAMS: No. I don't know. I guess they always like to watch entertainment. They always like sports. It just so happened that this is one of the times they wanted to come out. Hey, I wouldn't have missed it either if I knew something so historical was going to happen. I definitely would have tried to make it myself. So I guess a lot of people want to watch us. For me personally, it's really exciting because some of these guys are really superstars. I didn't really think that they would want to watch little me play tennis. But I guess we're really exciting, and I'm flattered.

SERENA WILLIAMS: Well, winning four out of the last six, I guess you could say she is. I don't know. I think she's beaten everyone.

SERENA WILLIAMS: No. I've only been off the court for about 40 minutes now. I haven't really had an opportunity.

SERENA WILLIAMS: He just told us to go out there and compete and have fun. One of us is going to win, and obviously one of us were going to lose. Just to have fun with it. This is history. Just enjoy it.

SERENA WILLIAMS: She said she didn't feel like she really won because she always wanted to, you know, kind of protect me. I told her, "Well, you won. Take it. You know, it's your win. It's your victory. If I would have won, I won. You won, you need it. It's yours. Don't feel that way because, honestly, there's not enough time in one's life. Time happens so fast." I just told her, you know, "It's yours. You won it."

SERENA WILLIAMS: I think Venus actually has taken a lot of power off her ball, and she's actually making less mistakes, using more tactics in her game. So power-wise, I think she's definitely taken a lot off. She tried something different this whole tournament, and I think it worked. Definitely when she wants to, she can hit it hard. But as for me backing up, that's just I didn't move forward.

SERENA WILLIAMS: I always have a strategy. But usually when I go out there, I go out there to play my game. It doesn't matter who you play, you're going to have to play your game anyway. I don't get involved in too much scouting out what this girl does, what this one does. It can become too much. I know a lot of people get involved in that. For me, I just go out there. I know the weaknesses usually, and then I'll play like that. I usually develop a strategy on some things that I want to try to work on throughout the match. But it's not a whole technical thing, because it can get hectic sometimes.

SERENA WILLIAMS: Yeah.

SERENA WILLIAMS: No. I think a lot of those errors came because for me it was a bit difficult for me to play in the wind. It's always a bit difficult. Especially on the return, I was really disappointed at one point because I just couldn't get them. There was like a 73 miles an hour one in particular, and I just couldn't get it. When I went to hit it, it was pretty disappointing, the wind would come up. You know, I've really cut back on my errors, in general. It was a weird atmosphere out there today.

SERENA WILLIAMS: I think it was the same for both of us. I think a lot of people wanted Venus to win. I think maybe the older sisters and older brothers wanted Venus to win. The younger sisters and younger brothers wanted me to win. I think it was even.

SERENA WILLIAMS: Maybe, yeah, sure, she did. Obviously she should have because if it's windy, you don't want to start pounding balls away.

SERENA WILLIAMS: Because in the Ericsson and The Open, it's weird, she always plays in the wind. I always play when it's not windy. It's kind of weird how it works out.

SERENA WILLIAMS: Well, no. You think of it just as a competitor. You're out there to compete. Believe it or not, it's the final of the US Open. There's a lot of things at stake, a lot of goals that I'm trying to reach this year. Honestly, you don't really look at it as playing your sister - maybe in the beginning. After a while , but not after a minute, you just get over it.

SERENA WILLIAMS: Well, I think my game, out of a 10 right now, my potential, I'd say I'm about a 4 or 5. I have a lot of room for improvement. You guys, you just haven't seen anything yet.

SERENA WILLIAMS: I'm really tired. I really spent a lot of mental work this whole two weeks because I really wanted to win, obviously. It's a Grand Slam. It's the final one of the year. I haven't been doing well lately - well, for me. I'm an insatiable type of person. I haven't been doing well for me in Grand Slams. I've been using a lot of mental work in my mind. I think I'm just going to relax.

SERENA WILLIAMS: Well, yeah, obviously there is. It's nice, that history. We've been really blessed, like she said, by God. We just really have our parents to thank for it. There's nothing to be bitter about, honestly. There's nothing I can do about it. It would feel worse anyway if I was bitter. So I'm happy. I've moved on. I have a tournament next week. I'm going to win that tournament.

SERENA WILLIAMS: Yeah, for sure. It's really not difficult now. Actually, I have zero difficulty in that. I have no problem with it. I'm sure she doesn't. Maybe after the matches, a lot of emotional ties involved. But during, you just -- you're out there to compete. We both want to win. We both worked a long 15 years for this. Sisters are rivals. A lot of people in our family fight. Not our family, but just a lot of people in families fight. I guess our fighting is done on the court only because we never fight.