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INTERNAZIONALI BNL D'ITALIA (WOMEN)

May 7, 2009

Venus Williams

ROME, ITALY

V. WILLIAMS/A. Radwanska
6-1, 6-2

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. You had a comfortable win today. How do you assess your performance, also comparing to previous matches which were longer and tougher?
VENUS WILLIAMS: Yeah, you know, it's just, like I said when I came the other day, it's just important to play a lot points and to hit a lot of balls and to find a rhythm.
Of course, I'm still playing my aggressive game, but I'm also patient, more patient than the other matches. Just learning from my mistakes. You know, talk to my coaches after, and then trying to apply after the match, you know, apply it in the next match.
So, you know, when I play a match and it's not exactly how I want it, I stop getting crazy about it and realize I know how to play and I just have to play, try the next time to play better.
So that's what I'm doing.

Q. The problem was the clay? It was to move well on clay? It was light? Or it was because it was cold? Which was it?
VENUS WILLIAMS: Yesterday?

Q. Yesterday.
VENUS WILLIAMS: You know, I think I'm moving better every match. You know, it helps when you feel good physically. I really am feeling good.
You know, I've had time to think about mistakes I made and try to correct them.

Q. The mistake was how you was moving?
VENUS WILLIAMS: Because I was moving better today.

Q. But the biggest mistake was?
VENUS WILLIAMS: There were a lot of mistakes. You know, my toss on my serve; footwork; rushing; a lot of things.
So just try to play one shot at a time, especially for an aggressive player like me, because I can mistake a lot happen. It's not always necessary to make so much happen. Just slowing down. It's important to slow down.

Q. How much is difficult to don't be too much upset about yourself when you're not able to play good?
VENUS WILLIAMS: You know, I've always been like a pretty calm player, so for me naturally usually I don't get too upset.
Sometimes I do because I expect a lot from myself, but I try to leave the past in the past. Not always easy, but I try to.

Q. Now you can feel very confident for tomorrow?
VENUS WILLIAMS: Yeah. Obviously to have a great match in the quarterfinals and going into the semifinals, I mean, do feel great about tomorrow. So I'll do more of the same thing as today. Just really keep trying to be better and keep trying to come in and really work on my game.
Really just, you know, swing freely, just to feel free on the court.

Q. Did you see Dinara before?
VENUS WILLIAMS: A little bit.

Q. She did not play so well the beginning of the match.
VENUS WILLIAMS: Well, you know, I'm sure the other girl was playing great. I didn't see a lot of it, but when I play tomorrow I'll assume she will play well. If she doesn't, I'm doing what I'm doing on my side of the net. That's it.

Q. In the past you beat her in two matches, but on another surface. Do you think tomorrow will change anything on the clay?
VENUS WILLIAMS: Yeah, it's always great to play players on different surfaces and use different strategies. So, you know, like I said, tomorrow I'll be controlling on my side of the court and playing my shots.
Whoever is across the net, for me, it's not about that. It's about really like getting my game together at this point.

Q. What of those elements that you were talking about earlier, being aggressive and also patient, going into a match with a player like Safina, will you go in playing very aggressively? Will be you patient at first?
VENUS WILLIAMS: I play the ball. So the ball lands short, I come in. If the ball goes deep, I move back. So doesn't matter who I play, I'm going to play the ball.
If the ball says play aggressive, I play aggressive.

Q. You and Kuznetsova maybe have the same attitude. Does not depends about your opponent, depends most of what is in your mind, if you are in the right mood or not. Do you an agree that Kuznetsova is the biggest opponent you can have in general after Serena?
VENUS WILLIAMS: I don't think so much about my opponents. I really never thought about her like that, to be honest. I mean, for this tournament, I mean, we could meet in the final if we can play well tomorrow. That would be great.
I mean, I don't have like have like moods and stuff. I don't know what she has. She never told me. (Laughter.) So, yeah.

Q. How did you assess your clay court preparation at this point? Are you at the point where you want it to be?
VENUS WILLIAMS: Yeah. Who is where they want to be? No one. So I can always can ask for more. What's happening now is okay, so it's important sometimes not to ask for too much.

Q. What do you at 11:00 in the night now in Rome?
VENUS WILLIAMS: Well, you see, I have this thing called FOMO, and it's called fear of missing out. I hate going to bed. I feel like I'm missing out. I need to read and I need to get a lot of things done. I can organize my room.
I don't like to go to bed, so I have to focus on going to sleep. It's hard, because I feel like I'm going miss out on something.
So I'm going to try really hard to go to sleep. (Laughter.) FOMO is a really big problem for a lot of people.

End of FastScripts

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