COMPAQ GRAND SLAM CUP

October 1, 1999

Serena Williams

WTA: Questions for Serena.

SERENA WILLIAMS: Is that who I play?

SERENA WILLIAMS: I didn't know that.

SERENA WILLIAMS: I wasn't here at the match. She won?

SERENA WILLIAMS: I know she won the first set. I thought she lost the second.

SERENA WILLIAMS: 6-4 in the third? I thought it was like 8-6 in the third.

SERENA WILLIAMS: No, I just heard.

SERENA WILLIAMS: I mean, sure. We both played two rounds each. There's nothing better than being in a final after playing two rounds, pretty awesome. Both going to take the maximum amount of prize money home. That's what we want to do. Is it $800,000 and $400,000, $1.1 million, or $1.2 million. Not bad.

SERENA WILLIAMS: I saw Venus' match. She played much better than what I played. Unless I pick it up, I don't think I'll be able to win. I definitely will have to play better than I did today and in my other matches. I'm trying to beat my record of 16 matches. I really need to win the next match to beat it. We'll just have to wait and see.

SERENA WILLIAMS: Yeah, definitely. It sunk in a little while ago. I can always say I'm the US Open Champ, the last one of the millennium. That's pretty cool. Made history here and there. I won the doubles, won the mixed before. It's definitely great to win your first Slam. That's very exciting. I look forward to winning plenty more. Next year I'm going to shoot for Wimbledon and the French Open.

SERENA WILLIAMS: It's great. I'm looking forward to it. Should be a good match-up. I don't have anything to lose. We're both going to do our best out there and be the happiest.

SERENA WILLIAMS: Naturally I'm going to try to win. I don't go out usually to try to lose a match. I'm just going to play and see how everything goes. That's the plan. Venus is playing very, very well. Make sure I pick up my game a little also.

SERENA WILLIAMS: She just calls me US Open Champ.

SERENA WILLIAMS: She just says, "That's no way to treat the US Open Champ," or, "Good morning, US Open Champ." It's really ridiculous.

SERENA WILLIAMS: I call her "legs" because her legs are so long. Sometimes she calls me "muscles." Sometimes it's US Open Champ, sometimes "muscles."

SERENA WILLIAMS: Sure. Naturally you would. We're all pretty excited. It was a good moment for the Williams family as well as everyone, minorities, just everyone around the world that loves tennis as a sport.

SERENA WILLIAMS: Yeah, $1.2 million. We got the maximum amount available. No, $1.3 because I get an extra $100,000. So, yes. I'm guaranteed at lease 500 now.

SERENA WILLIAMS: I'm really happy about that.

SERENA WILLIAMS: I might treat myself to something. I've been thinking about it. I haven't bought anything since The Open. What did I get there, like $915,000. I'm getting up there. I mean, gee. Got to slow down. I'm going to hate to see my tax return.

SERENA WILLIAMS: I don't know. I don't know. Maybe. Maybe. I don't know. Maybe Venus and I can put our money together and buy us an expensive car.

SERENA WILLIAMS: I don't know. You'll have to ask him that. I'm not sure what he'll do in that situation. That's definitely a tough situation either way you look at it. It's going to be interesting for sure.

SERENA WILLIAMS: I don't think there's going to be too much of a problem. We always get along. Our parents always taught us that family was something that's really important. It was what comes first in life. After tennis, you're still going to have Venus. I don't want to have a family feud just because we play each other a few times in tournaments. That wouldn't be so good. I think we're going to talk to each other. I plan on talking to her. I think she plans on talking to me. If she doesn't want to talk to me, I'll still talk to her and force her to talk.

SERENA WILLIAMS: It really doesn't matter to me. I definitely would rather play Venus because, like I said, we get the maximum amount of everything. You don't get points here, but of everything else. It's just exciting. It really doesn't matter who I play. I'm glad we're both able to make it to the final.

SERENA WILLIAMS: I never said that?

SERENA WILLIAMS: Huh-uh.

SERENA WILLIAMS: I mean, I might have said that, but I don't remember saying that. That's what I should say. I don't remember saying that. I would prefer to play her in the big matches because that's what we dreamed of, always being in the finals of big tournaments like Wimbledon and the US Open. That's definitely better than meeting in the second round. We don't have to worry about that anymore. Do you know what I mean, kind of?

SERENA WILLIAMS: That was a pretty big match. It was a big tournament. I probably meant that I prefer to meet her in the finals, period, or in the finals of a larger tournament than just a quarterfinals and semifinals.

SERENA WILLIAMS: Yes, for sure because the winner gets to take home $800,000.

SERENA WILLIAMS: Lindsay's a great player. She's been playing great matches. I don't think she played that well today. She made a lot of unforced errors. I don't know. I have a pretty good record against her. It's always tough to play a person that's bigger than you. She's bigger than me and taller than me. I just go with the flow, just do what I can do.

SERENA WILLIAMS: I don't really care who I play. Just doesn't matter to me. I don't care at all.

SERENA WILLIAMS: I don't think I'll be able to make it this year. I'm only playing a couple more tournaments. Even if I won them, there's not enough points. I'm 2,000 points behind the No. 1 spot. That's two Grand Slams, plus the US Open, I'm losing a lot of points there. That's three Grand Slams away. I'm losing a lot of points. I definitely think that next year I can make it there, but not this year because I'm 2,000 points away from that spot. Venus, I believe is maybe 1,000 points away. I don't know. I don't think she's playing enough either. But next year we're both shooting for that spot. It's going to be great because Lindsay, Venus, myself, and Martina, all four of us are going to try to be No. 1. It's really exciting.

SERENA WILLIAMS: I'm going to school next Monday. I have to be there. I just talked to the lady there. She told me I need to be there by nine o'clock. Unless I lose early, I might not make it.

SERENA WILLIAMS: That's in Florida. Not this Monday, but next Monday. It actually starts Monday, but I can't go because I'm playing a tournament. I'm going the next week.

SERENA WILLIAMS: It goes until December, like Christmas break.

SERENA WILLIAMS: I'm studying fashion design, but also taking a psychology class. I was thinking about getting like a side major in that.

SERENA WILLIAMS: In the fall again, yes. I can't, because tennis is my career right now and I have to concentrate on that. That's most important.

SERENA WILLIAMS: Can't think of anything.

SERENA WILLIAMS: Monday, I was on the Today Show. Actually, something that blew my mind was after the final, the very next day, on Sunday, I couldn't walk. I played Monica Seles, and I had actually fell in that match and twisted my ankle. Oddly enough, two matches later I had just a little side effect. But on the Sunday, I couldn't walk at all. It was so strange. We barely got through the doubles that day. That was just so crazy how if the final had been on Sunday, I don't know, I wouldn't have been able to make it at all because it was horrible. It was like I literally couldn't walk.

SERENA WILLIAMS: Sometimes I feel I'm invincible.

SERENA WILLIAMS: Then I come back to myself.

SERENA WILLIAMS: Usually just in practice (laughter). Especially when I was practicing at home after The Open, I was like, "Wow, I'm really hitting them pretty good." No one can win forever. No one goes on a winning streak of a thousand matches. I think there's a man who ran track, called Moses.

SERENA WILLIAMS: He was pretty super. Pretty great if I could go on a streak like that.

SERENA WILLIAMS: No, because I actually thought I was going to win the French Open last year (laughter). I don't know why I thought that, but I thought for sure I'll win that tournament.

SERENA WILLIAMS: This year I thought I had a chance. Last year I thought I for sure was going to win. Actually I thought I would have won.

SERENA WILLIAMS: Yeah, if I hadn't lost, I would have won.