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WIMBLEDONJune 27, 2013Serena WilliamsLONDON, ENGLAND S. WILLIAMS/C. Garcia THE MODERATOR: Questions, please. Q. Andy Murray has challenged you to a showdown in Las Vegas. What is your answer? SERENA WILLIAMS: He's challenged me? Q. Yes. SERENA WILLIAMS: Really? He wants to play me? Is he sure (laughter)? That would be fun. I doubt I'd win a point, but that would be fun. Q. You've done that before. Do you remember that match in Australia? SERENA WILLIAMS: Yeah. I was really young. I'm a lot more experienced now. He's probably one of the top three people I definitely don't want to play. But, yeah, maybe we can have a little bit of a showdown. That would be fine. I get alleys. He gets no serves. I get alleys on my serves, too. He gets no legs, yeah. Q. How about Karsten, if you played him now? SERENA WILLIAMS: I don't know. I probably would still lose to Karsten. Q. On a scale of 1 to 10, how would you rate your performance so far? SERENA WILLIAMS: I still feel like I'm trying to adjust a lot. I feel like today, uhm, I played a little better than my first‑round match. I feel like I definitely had to play better. But I'm still adjusting. Q. With Caroline and Maria out, what do you think?  Are you happy or... SERENA WILLIAMS: No. They're on different sides of the draw. I have to focus on my match. I thought, you know, I just have to be focused on me more than anything. Q. Your next opponent is Japanese veteran Kimiko. What are your thoughts on her? SERENA WILLIAMS: Well, I've never played her. I have so much respect for her. I think she's so inspiring to be playing such high‑level tennis at her age. And she's a real danger on the grass court, I know that. I definitely will have to be ready. It's for sure not going to be easy, but I'll be ready. Q. There have been a few comments from some of the other players talking about the way the courts have been playing, slips and withdrawals. How have they been playing from your point of view? Any different from previous years? SERENA WILLIAMS: Well, seeing all the falls, seeing all the slips, I definitely was a lot more aware going out there today, a little more on my toes. So for me it played okay. But I went in there with a mind frame of be careful and be ready. Q. In your experience, have they been playing as well as ever? SERENA WILLIAMS: I'm not the best person to ask. I could play on any court, so... They all seem the same to me. So I'm definitely not the best person to ask. Q. When you were here two days ago we asked your reaction to Rafa's upset loss. Now Roger has lost. What is your reaction to that and to yesterday, in general? SERENA WILLIAMS: Well, I really was shocked pretty much that Federer was not able to win. I think Stakhovsky played really well. I think he played excellent. I thought Roger played well. Obviously Roger can play a lot better, which is something he can always take with him. So it's just weird, that's all. Q. Seeing some of those surprising results, how much attention do you pay on a day when you're not playing to what else is going on at a tournament? When there are a bunch of big names losing all at once, does that leave any sort of impression with you or put in your mind the idea of, Hey, there's some crazy results out there, got to make sure nothing like that happens to me? SERENA WILLIAMS: Yeah, the first thing I do is I'm like, Okay, Serena, stay focused. This happened before. I don't know when. I want to say it was the US Open, though. A lot of players were losing. I thought, Definitely want to stay focused and stay serious. So that's what I did again yesterday. I was like, Okay, be on your toes and be ready for anything. Q. Martina Navratilova and Boris Becker have been praising your play this week and throughout the whole year. They also said a 31‑year‑old Serena would beat a 21‑year‑old Serena in a match. Is this the most confident you've ever felt in your career? SERENA WILLIAMS: I always ask myself that question. I mean, who would win, you know, at different ages, would I beat myself at a different age. I think either way it would be a super, super tough match. I really feel honored. I wouldn't want to play me at 21 or 31. But I feel really honored that such champions, like Martina Navratilova, that I grew up completely admiring, as well as Boris Becker, could look at me and say, Wow, she's really playing well. Q. With Venus not here this time, did you give any thoughts to giving the mixed another shot this year? SERENA WILLIAMS: No, definitely not. Q. About your next opponent, she played your sister two years ago here. I was wondering if you watched that match, what kind of impression did you get? You said Kimiko can be dangerous, especially on grass. What do you think makes her difficult on grass? SERENA WILLIAMS: Kimiko has great hand‑eye coordination. She returns unbelievable shots. Doesn't matter how hard you hit it, she sees the ball and gets it back. She has great hands, has a wonderful great volley, comes to the net a lot, which on grass can be tricky. She plays really flat, so the ball stays really low. I did see the match. I think I lost four years of my life watching that match. So I will definitely be talking to Venus and figuring out what I can do to do the best that I can in my next match. Q. Madison Keys talked today about you being an inspiration to her. She also talked about you giving her advice on her nails. Could you tell us your relationship with her and the secrets on the nails. SERENA WILLIAMS: Well, I think she's a wonderful girl. She's a beautiful girl. I love seeing, you know, a young American girl doing so well. And she's so talented. I really am completely impressed by her game. We can work on the nails a little bit. I can definitely teach her how to get some designs in there. Hopefully we'll be able to play Fed Cup soon and she'll be on the team, because she hasn't been on a team when I've been on it. We'll definitely take some suggestions there. Q. You and your family have been through so, so much. When you talked to the family of the teenager in Ohio, you mentioned that you had learned so much and realized a number of things. Can you reflect on what she went through and what you learned about that whole issue. SERENA WILLIAMS: Yeah, I could, but I just don't want to right now. I feel it's sacred between me and the family. Q. Back to the Andy Murray thing, you must be confident you'd be taking some points off him. SERENA WILLIAMS: Indoor, grass, I'm going to have to choose grass indoor. Actually, I might go clay. I think I might go clay with him. He loves grass. I do, too. But I'm going to definitely go clay. Q. You get better and better each year. What is your biggest motivation behind life? SERENA WILLIAMS: Wow, there's so many things that motivate me every day. You see people that aren't born with the same opportunities that I'm born with or same chance or same health. You know, it's just many, many, many stories every day that completely motivate me, just completely keeps me on my toes. Just to finish the Andy question. Maybe I can get a game. I'm not sure, but I think I can get a game. Q. Back to Kimiko, she's 11 years older than you. Do you see yourself playing at 42? SERENA WILLIAMS: I didn't see myself playing at 31, so I don't know how to answer that. I definitely do not see myself playing at 42. Q. What's the meaning of the POW? SERENA WILLIAMS: It's just cartoons. I was influenced by a lot of animation. Sometimes in the old Batman cartoons they always say POW and WHAM. Q. Did you do that? SERENA WILLIAMS: No. Q. Laura Robson, a young British hope. What have you seen of her in this tournament? Generally on the tour, what have you made of her game? SERENA WILLIAMS: She's a great person, first of all. I think that starts a really good career. She has an unbelievable game. She's so powerful. She's so positive. She's just so good. I think those are all qualities of what it takes to be a top player. She definitely has them all. Q. Do you think she should be top 10, top 20? SERENA WILLIAMS: I think she can go further than that. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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