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AUSTRALIAN OPEN

January 27, 2010

Serena Williams

MELBOURNE, VICTORIA

S. WILLIAMS/V. Azarenka
4-6, 7-6, 6-2

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. You said on court after the match that you were surprised. What did you mean by that?
SERENA WILLIAMS: Well, I mean, I wasn't playing my best, especially in the first two sets. I definitely think I played well in the third.
But, you know, I was down the whole match from the first point until the end. So I was like, okay, well, I was surprised. I wasn't surprised but I was definitely shocked.

Q. Was it a letdown from the Stosur game?
SERENA WILLIAMS: No, I knew that I couldn't play that perfect that soon, so I was just happy to -- I was happy to -- able to get my serve towards the end of the second back.

Q. Was that the key to it all, getting your serve back?
SERENA WILLIAMS: Yeah, I think in the second set I had 42% first serve, which really isn't very good. I was still able to manage to win that. I knew if I could just do a little better and make a little less errors -- I made a lot -- I knew I could be better.

Q. You've had some great comebacks here. Where does that one rate?
SERENA WILLIAMS: Um, I don't know. It's like I can't say it's No. 1 because I've been down match point several times, especially 2007. I was down a couple match points and, yeah, I think that was pretty cool. And then I know in '03 I was down some match points. It's nothing like being down match points, so...

Q. But 4-Love to a young player who's tearing the cover off the ball is not easy to get back.
SERENA WILLIAMS: Not at all. And at that point she was playing so well. She's obviously young and does well. She's no pushover, that's for sure.

Q. Did you sense her drop off, back off a little bit in the way she was playing? She mentioned she probably backed off a little bit.
SERENA WILLIAMS: I don't know. I thought she was aggressive the whole time, you know. She's the kind of player you really have to take it to. I thought she played excellent.

Q. Is there any different mindset when you play a match and your sister just lost?
SERENA WILLIAMS: Yeah, I just try not to think about it too much. It was obviously on my mind. Just tried to do what I could.

Q. How much of Venus's game were you able to see waiting for your own match? Are you busy doing your own thing?
SERENA WILLIAMS: Well, I saw maybe one or two points, maybe three. I don't want to watch too much. I get too nervous watching and my stomach is just sick. I get way too emotionally involved. So it's not really good for me to be watching her match before I play.
And, um, obviously I was incredibly disappointed. Yeah, just try not to deal with it.

Q. At what point do you find out whether she's won or lost?
SERENA WILLIAMS: Well, no, no, no. Pretty much the locker room is in a frenzy, so you pretty much know what's going on.

Q. You said on court that you were thinking about maybe getting a flight home on Friday if you lost doubles. You didn't feel that way did you? You didn't count yourself out of the match.
SERENA WILLIAMS: Well, I don't know. I was just trying to do what I could. Wasn't feeling that great. I thought, Well, worst-case scenario I can go home. I never really count myself out. Those are random thoughts. I can think about anything at any point. That was one random thought I thought about.

Q. You weren't feeling physically good or mentally, what?
SERENA WILLIAMS: You know, physically, but I was able to push through it. You know, I think that's fine. Like I said, I don't make any excuses. Win, lose are or draw, I'm here and I have a heartbeat, and that's more than a lot of people have.

Q. You had your left calf bandaged.
SERENA WILLIAMS: I have everything bandaged.

Q. Is that the latest edition to your ailments or injuries?
SERENA WILLIAMS: No, that's been bandaged. So, yeah...

Q. What are your thoughts on the next opponent?
SERENA WILLIAMS: You know, she's a fighter. I have to be ready.

Q. You said you got a heartbeat left. How big is it? Two more matches and five titles for you. Got to be motivating?
SERENA WILLIAMS: Yeah, I don't think about that. I just think about my next round. Hopefully I can win. That's all.
I just got to do the best that I can. I can't be disappointed with anything. Just I feel like I've been on an uphill battle this whole tournament and I'm still alive. No matter what, I feel like if I can stay positive I'll be fine.

Q. That's been your history here. Not every single year you've won, but at least three of them you've been uphill, uphill and still win the title.
SERENA WILLIAMS: Right. Hopefully if I can get through tomorrow and be in the finals, that'll be great.

Q. Are you surprised at all with the fact that there are two Chinese girls in the last four? Compared with 2008, when you were playing against Jie Zheng, which is quite unusual for you, because in the last four usually you play against Russian girls maybe.
SERENA WILLIAMS: Oh, my God there's no Russians in the semis. Is this a first?

Q. Yeah.
SERENA WILLIAMS: Wow. I'm not surprised. There's a lot of contenders that play for China. Tons. They're all really good. Especially with Jie doing so well and Li Na doing so well, you gotta expect people in China to be excited are going to want to put their daughter in tennis.

Q. Will you bring the concept of revenge to the next match? Because you said that when you were playing against Navarro, I think.
SERENA WILLIAMS: No, I mean, my concept is just to do the best I can and stay focused.

Q. How have you found the support from to the crowd this year?
SERENA WILLIAMS: Yeah, I always have really good support here. It's fun. I always hear people in the back yelling some things. That's really encouraging and I really enjoy it.

End of FastScripts

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