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WIMBLEDON

June 27, 2011

Venus Williams

LONDON, ENGLAND

T. PIRONKOVA/V. Williams
6-2, 6-3

THE MODERATOR: Questions.

Q. Not the best day for you or your sister.
VENUS WILLIAMS: No, definitely not our best day. I think, you know, we both envisioned seeing this day going a little bit different.

Q. What went wrong for you today?
VENUS WILLIAMS: You know, just sometimes when you start making errors, sometimes it can just be easy to keep going.
You know, I didn't seem to get the ball in. She took her opportunities.

Q. You said you were going to compete better against her this time. What went wrong? Why weren't you able to do that?
VENUS WILLIAMS: Yeah, I just didn't put the ball in the court; you know, simple as that. Unfortunately, uhm, you know, I seem not to have my good days against her.
But she played well.

Q. You had to play your way back into form, you and your sister. Obviously difficult in a slam. Did you find yourself lacking sort of the tools or the touch that you'd had before the break, before your injury?
VENUS WILLIAMS: I think, uhm, definitely we both hit the ground running, coming back as fast as we could. We didn't want to miss another major. And obviously, uhm, we were playing great tennis. At times today, I just wasn't on my best game.
I think I have the opportunity throughout the summer to play more matches and be better and hopefully avoid moments like this.

Q. When you're lacking matches, is it hard to call up the best game?
VENUS WILLIAMS: Yeah. Uhm, I think when you haven't played as many matches, you just really have to focus very hard on every point. And I think I did a good job doing that in the first three matches. But today I really kind of let it go and kind of let things go too far with the errors, shots that I thought normally would land in kind of kept going a little longer or wider, in the net a little bit inexplicably.
I think it just went a little bit too fast.

Q. When was the last time you and your sister both went out on the same day of a tournament?
VENUS WILLIAMS: I don't keep the stats now.

Q. You can't remember a day yourself? 2008 French Open.
VENUS WILLIAMS: Thank you. Great to remember all these losses, right?

Q. Does it make it worse you both went out on the same day, or can you share the disappointments or half the sadness?
VENUS WILLIAMS: We both want each other to win. But unfortunately since we weren't able to, we'll both be able to train together, I suppose. Obviously it's not something planned. We rarely lose on the same day.

Q. Were you aware of her result when you went on the court?
VENUS WILLIAMS: Yeah, I was. Yeah, I saw what happened.

Q. Did that affect you at all?
VENUS WILLIAMS: I tried not to watch the match. It's a little distracting, if you can imagine.
But, no, I think my loss today is just my own doing. But I feel positive because I'm still playing great tennis and my game's just going better and better, obviously except for this round. But I'm looking forward to the summer.

Q. Just in match play, when you haven't had a lot of matches, do you find it tougher to get a rhythm when you haven't played a lot of matches or is that not the case?
VENUS WILLIAMS: Yeah. Today, you know, I missed some overheads and swinging volleys, shots I never miss, approach shots. That wasn't especially encouraging.
You know, it's just not always easy to find the rhythm right away. Matches like this are super important to win and can make a difference. But I just couldn't do it today.

Q. What is your appraisal of your opponent's game? Obviously you've had tough matches with her now.
VENUS WILLIAMS: It's kind of inexplicable why I manage to play some of my worst tennis against her. It's not like I'm intimidated at all by anybody on tour. I'm not sure why. I don't play my best against her.
She runs down a lot of balls. Very consistent off the ground. You know, I had some chances in the second set, but I just kept making errors.
But, you know, at least I wasn't making errors kind of trying to keep it in. I made errors that normally would go in as winners. So those balls will land pretty soon.

Q. To what degree do you consider her a serious threat to do much more than she has in her career to date and go far?
VENUS WILLIAMS: I don't know. I'm trying to think about my own career at this point (smiling).

Q. Would you consider doing a real active schedule, particularly playing Stanford and San Diego?
VENUS WILLIAMS: I would love to play Stanford. I don't play more than two weeks in a row, though, typically. My focus will be definitely the bigger events this summer.

Q. You'd accept a wild card from Stanford?
VENUS WILLIAMS: If I had one, that would be awesome. But I'm not sure what will happen with that.

Q. It's not just yourself and your sister that went out. Caroline Wozniacki went out. A big shock in the women's game today. Is that coincidence or is there something more to it?
VENUS WILLIAMS: Well, these matches you have to go out and win. No one gives it to you. It's very competitive nowadays.
So if you don't come out serving and running and hitting the ball in the court, which is quite important, then you're not going to win the match.
I'm not sure what happened with Caroline. But obviously not what she expected.

Q. So you're 17 years into your career now. You'll be getting on the plane going back home. Do you look forward to grinding on the practice court, or is it kind of tough going through four or five hours a day like when you were a teenager?
VENUS WILLIAMS: No, I look forward to it. I got ready for this tournament so fast. You wouldn't even believe how quick that happened.
With more time, I think I can definitely play better, more matches. Obviously I would love to have peaked here. But, you know, I'm moving on.

Q. She's 5'10". Does that get to you? Is she able to get balls that maybe somebody else couldn't and bring them back?
VENUS WILLIAMS: My opponent today?

Q. Yes.
VENUS WILLIAMS: I think she just has great foot speed, watches the ball well, and kind of runs with the percentages. Most shots are probably going to be cross-court or whatever.
But she definitely moves excellent. That's I think a huge strength in her game.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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