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SONY OPEN TENNISMarch 21, 2013Serena WilliamsMIAMI, FLORIDA S. WILLIAMS/F. Pennetta THE MODERATOR: Questions, please. Q. How do you go about picking your outfit for matches? SERENA WILLIAMS: Well, I actually design them at least a year in advance, maybe a year and a half. We do colors, we do designs, and it's just a big thing. It's nice. Q. What's your favorite color that you like wearing most of the time? SERENA WILLIAMS: It definitely changes. I don't know my favorite color to wear. I really do love wearing white because I don't wear it often, only at Wimbledon. So I really do enjoy wearing white. Q. I could see those nails all the way up to press row. Those are fantastic. I heard you a couple of times in the first set kind of go, Come on. Were you frustrated or is that just a motivating kind of... SERENA WILLIAMS: Well, thanks for the compliment on my nails. (Smiling.) You know, it was a little frustration because I felt like I should be putting the balls away for my opponent quick, but she was so quick and she was running every ball down. I was trying to get myself more pumped up and more energy because I was playing a former‑‑ I believe she was in the top 10 at one point. Q. You haven't played for a while, since you left Doha. Rust? SERENA WILLIAMS: I don't think it was too much rust. I think I missed a few shots, but only because I wasn't‑‑ you know, footwork‑wise, I think I was off footwork‑wise. But it's always just good just to win a match and stay in the tournament and keep going. Q. Do you come here with a different attitude being No. 1, or same as you approached it when you have been No. 1 or not been No. 1? SERENA WILLIAMS: Well, my attitude is always ‑‑it always feels better when you're No. 1. There's nothing like when they announce you and they say, The No. 1 player in the world. So for me it definitely gives you a little bit more confidence, I think I little more pep in your step. It's just a great feeling. Q. You have won everything, everything there is to play. You have been playing a long time. What is it that's driving you now? What keeps you still going at this level? SERENA WILLIAMS: Well, this keeps me going. I'm No. 1. I'm pretty good at it still. So I feel like if I'm, you know, doing something well I don't want to stop, and I shouldn't stop. I don't have to play another match if I don't want to, but I'm having fun. I'm enjoying it. Q. Do the history books matter to you? SERENA WILLIAMS: They don't normally, but, you know, when you get close and are closer to a goal, you can't help but start thinking, Okay, I want to do history. In retrospect I have made history already, so I just try to keep it going a little bit at a time. Q. Which history? Which item of history would you still like to... SERENA WILLIAMS: Obviously it's the Grand Slam. I don't think I could ‑‑I don't know if I could ever top the No. 1 Margaret Court, but, you know, I don't know. It would be exciting and try to reach some of my fellow countrywomen that are ahead of me. Q. Would you consider Sony Open to be a fifth Grand Slam? SERENA WILLIAMS: Well, growing up it was dubbed the fifth Grand Slam. It's a great tournament. It's not a Grand Slam, but it's definitely a great tournament to play. Q. You're a five‑time champion of the tournament. You are tied with Steffi Graf. What would it mean to you to pass her mark and be a six‑time champion? SERENA WILLIAMS: That would be really cool. I have a lot of matches to play. If I can just stay relaxed ‑‑I really feel like I can do it, but, you know, I'm sometimes my own worst enemy. I just want to get through every match one at a time. Q. Two weeks ago I saw the documentary film about you and your sister. I would like to know your opinion. Did you like it? How was the experience for you? SERENA WILLIAMS: It was interesting having people follow you around a little bit. I think their timing was kind of cool because it was right when I first started coming back, you know. I believe I started ‑‑I won Stanford and I won Toronto. I got to the finals of the Open, which was just ‑‑and I had only played four tournaments and I had won three out of the four. It was ‑‑actually, two out of four. I have to work on my math. But it was, you know, definitely a cool time to have that story be revealed and see the fight and the work that I had to do to and that I was doing to get to the top. Q. How did it feel when the audience member said you're their hero. How inspirational was that to you? SERENA WILLIAMS: It was so inspirational. I felt amazing at that point. I felt it was really just cool. I had a moment where I had to stop and think to myself that that is the ultimate compliment someone could give. I just never ‑‑when I was growing up, I never dreamt of being‑‑ someone saying that to me. So I hope I can encourage whoever that was and who's ever out there that feels that way, because that's what I'm here to do. Q. Will you come back and watch your sister play tonight, or do you have to kind of just lay low and get treatment? SERENA WILLIAMS: Yeah, I actually think I will. I won't play tomorrow, so I'll come back and watch her tonight. Q. The US Open have announced the prize money increase. They're going to double it in the next five years. How impressed are you with the way that Roger Federer and one or two on the men's side have negotiated that situation? SERENA WILLIAMS: Well, it wasn't only the men's side, for the record. They definitely led the challenge.  You know, I'm on the player council with the ladies, so we had a lot to do with ‑‑we met with all the Grand Slams in Doha, in the middle of the tournament. We sat down with all the top players and every Grand Slam chairman came in, and we told them, Look, we need to change. I mean, this is people ‑‑we just want to be at a different point and earn more money and just ‑‑ not necessarily earn more money, but just do better for the sport. Show people a reason to play tennis. Get more people involved. What can we do to make that better? So, you know, we were in those meetings and all biting our nails, both the players and the Grand Slam chairmen, you know. We're all like a little ‑‑ sometimes it gets a little testy, especially with some. (Smiling.) But, you know, I think it was worth it. We still want to climb and we still want to make improvements, obviously not for me or for my generation, but for the next generations to come to say, you know, that tennis is such a great sport and you can do well in it. Q. Can you talk about your I guess role as an icon for young girls in sports and young girls playing tennis? SERENA WILLIAMS: I embrace it. I feel good. I feel like I play tennis because I have a lot of fun. And, you know, like I was saying, it's such a great sport. You can play it professionally, on a college level, or recreationally. It's a great way to stay fit. So it's a great sport, and I feel that a lot of girls can definitely be involved and feel good about themselves by playing any sport, really, but namely tennis. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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