THE LIPTON CHAMPIONSHIPS

March 24, 1998

Serena Williams

VERONIQUE MARCHAL: Questions for Serena.

SERENA WILLIAMS: No. I think she was very nervous so she called the trainer to get some time, get some coaching, I'm not sure what she did.

SERENA WILLIAMS: If you watch her matches, there's a pattern in that.

SERENA WILLIAMS: I didn't say she got coaching. I said she could have. Everybody probably gets coaching out there. I don't really know. Really doesn't matter to me.

SERENA WILLIAMS: I was just -- I don't know. I was just concentrating, trying to concentrate on what I was going to do.

SERENA WILLIAMS: Well, I don't know. Maybe I think I tried too hard. Missed a couple of shots yeah, that's it.

SERENA WILLIAMS: I was going to let it drop. I couldn't make up my mind, so I don't know.

SERENA WILLIAMS: Yeah. I decided maybe I should take it out of the air. By the time I made my decision, it was a little too late.

SERENA WILLIAMS: You're the guy that asked me that one question, aren't you?

SERENA WILLIAMS: No, about something else. I wasn't surprised at all because this is my home. Yeah, so I wasn't surprised, no.

SERENA WILLIAMS: I think I feel I could have done better. I don't think I played so well. I think I could have made a lot more of my shots, especially in the first set. But I guess I should be satisfied, but I don't know.

SERENA WILLIAMS: A lot of people think that black people can't rally, just think they're athletes and they can't think. As you can see, that's not true. I can rally, Venus can rally. A lot of people out there that can rally. What was the question?

SERENA WILLIAMS: Yeah. I think I could have rallied a little better. I was missing a lot of shots that I should have missed, so, I'll go home and work on that.

SERENA WILLIAMS: I don't want to talk about that. Maybe I'm just like Pete. Maybe one day I'll be No. 1, too. He lost two match points yesterday also.

SERENA WILLIAMS: I said I don't want to talk about that.

SERENA WILLIAMS: Well, he's different.

SERENA WILLIAMS: Yes. I have personal feelings about Martina Hingis. I think she's a very nice person. Every time she is in the locker room, she makes the effort to say hi. I really appreciate that. So that's my personal feelings towards Martina Hingis. Other than, that I feel she's a great player. She was able to pull out a tight match like today. Other than that, I think she always tries to be nice. She's a nice person.

SERENA WILLIAMS: I don't know. If I was tired, I probably would have called for a trainer, too. She just wanted to stay in the match. I really don't blame her, because I would have wanted to stay in, too.