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BRISBANE INTERNATIONAL PRESENTED BY SUNCORPJanuary 4, 2014Serena WilliamsBRISBANE, QUEENSLAND S. WILLIAMS/V. Azarenka THE MODERATOR: Questions, please. Q. Congratulations. SERENA WILLIAMS: Thank you. Q. How exciting was that? SERENA WILLIAMS: Definitely it was exciting. I think it wasn't an easy tournament to get through, and I'm happy to be standing next to the winner's trophy. Every time I win a tournament now I'm just really excited and happy. Q. What was the key to the victory? Started out pretty well, hiccup there in the second set, and you regained your composure. SERENA WILLIAMS: Yeah, I had some chances. I probably should have been you up 3‑Love and I made some serious errors. That just goes to show you what a great player Victoria is. She makes you make a great shot. I wasn't able to make those shots that I should've made. So I just tried to stay calm and realize that it's not the end of the world. Just stay relaxed and do what I can. Q. Any fatigue or soreness from last night? SERENA WILLIAMS: No, not at all. No reason to be sore or fatigued. Q. Seemed like apart from the second set, seventh or eighth game you were trying to pump yourself up, yelling at yourself, saying, Get going, get going. You finally did. SERENA WILLIAMS: Yeah, one of my goals is to stay relaxed, but I don't want to fall into the trap of not having the intensity. So I wanted to make sure I had the intensity. Seeing someone on the other end that does have a lot of intensity, I don't want my level to drop. For me, it was just kind of important to stay not only focused but to stay pumped as well. There is a title on the line. I wanted to be holding the winner's trophy at the end the of the day. Q. How much of a test was this week and this match for the Australian Open? SERENA WILLIAMS: It was a great test. It showed me where my level was, and I feel like I definitely have some room for improve and things that I want to improve on going into Melbourne, and things I have to improve on if I want to win. I'm happy I was able to play both Maria and Victoria, because they brought their A games against me. I know now what I need to do for Melbourne. I look forward to it. Q. Can you compare the intensity level of the semi and the final? Seemed like a lot more intense in the semi for whatever reason. You had sort of manufactured tension as you got down in the second. SERENA WILLIAMS: No, I think both intensity levels were pretty intense, both matches. So, yeah. Q. Which match during the week did you gain the most out of? SERENA WILLIAMS: Definitely against Cibulkova. I felt like I was serving well, I was moving well, I was using the balls right, and I was doing the things that I should have been doing. That's the one match where I started to do the things that my dad and I worked on in the pre‑season. So that was the one match that I felt like even though I might not have served as well as I wanted in my semi or the final, I still had the foundation of doing the right thing. Q. Your dad doesn't travel with you as much as when you were a kid. When you go back to train, are things a little bit different? Has the relationship changed? SERENA WILLIAMS: No. Things are the same. My dad has always been, for me, my greatest coach and the best coach ever. He knows when to step back. He knows when to say yeah. He knows when to be like, Okay, this girl is nuts. I'm not going to say anything right now. He knows me better than anybody else. Today he knew what I needed to do. He's like, Serena, you're not doing A, B, and C. This isn't what we worked on. I knew going into this match I needed to do a little bit better. Q. Meaning what, dictate more? Taking control of the points earlier? Was it a serving thing? SERENA WILLIAMS: You know, just some technical things. I'm obviously not going to tell you, Matt. (Rolling eyes. ) Q. Your favorite topic. SERENA WILLIAMS: Isn't it? Okay, how about ‑‑ you know, what's another word for technical? Q. Strategic. SERENA WILLIAMS: Strategic things. Q. Will this result, say you meet her in the final, will you walk on feeling you got a psychological edge on her? SERENA WILLIAMS: No, not at all. I feel like if I were to play Victoria in the final, if I get to the final, it's a new match. It's definitely brand new. Obviously I'll have a little confidence. But at the same time, we both start at zero‑zero. We both have to kind of get there. Q. I guess based on the last couple years, the question going to Melbourne is how are the ankles doing? Everything seems on track so far right now. SERENA WILLIAMS: Yeah, everything seems so far so good, so going to maybe have a little extra tape in Melbourne. We'll see. Q. 58 titles now. What do you do with all the trophies? SERENA WILLIAMS: Honestly, I don't know where they all are. Some in are Florida and some are in L.A. and some are in Paris and some are MIA. A lot are MIA. So I'm not the kind of girl that flaunts her trophies, Oh, look at me, look at this. I'm the kind of girl that's just like, I'm everybody. I'm you. I go to the movies. I'm most like traditional person when I'm at home. I never pontificate about what I've done and how much I've won. When you walk into my house, you won't find a trophy sitting out in the front. Actually there is one, but that's jut because I just unwrapped it and left it there. It's not a big title or anything. We're just running out of space because I live with Venus who has a ton of trophies, too. Q. Billie Jean King used to say she would give people her Wimbledon trophies because they make good gifts. You ever done that? SERENA WILLIAMS: I've never given away a trophy, actually. Lost a couple, but never given anything away. I think that once my career is over I'm going to be like trying to gather my trophies together and I'm going to be like, Oh, I remember. Then I'll be able to kind of enjoy the moment more. Right now I don't want to become satisfied with all the titles and everything. I want to be able to keep going and keep winning. Q. Put them in a museum someday, or what's the final destination? SERENA WILLIAMS: I thought about it with all my outfits and the trophies. I thought it would be really cool. I have kept every single outfit I have. Q. Did you talk it Venus last night? SERENA WILLIAMS: I did. I talked to her this morning after her match as well. She did great. Like I said she's been playing really well. You know, she's just doing so much better. Q. Did you guys realize before that you haven't won a title in the same week since '99? Long time. SERENA WILLIAMS: Yeah, I thought it was '98‑‑ no, '99. I won Paris and she won Oklahoma. I think it's only happened once. Q. Did you chat about it? SERENA WILLIAMS: No, we didn't chat about it. Not at all. Maybe we'll have to try again. We both got to the final, so that was good. We'll see. Q. Are you playing doubles in Melbourne with her? SERENA WILLIAMS: We are. Q. For sure? SERENA WILLIAMS: For sure. Q. Any shot at mixed? SERENA WILLIAMS: Honestly I was going to ask Roger because I saw he was playing doubles here. Venus was like. Let's play doubles, and I was like, Okay. I can't play three events. I still rather play doubles than mixed, even though I don't have the mixed title. I still would much rather play doubles than mixed. It's my sister, it's fun, it's great. I love playing doubles. I'm pretty good at it. Q. You and Roger should try to at least once before you retire. SERENA WILLIAMS: I don't know. I don't know. We'll see. Have to figure out the best way to win Australia and the French Open in mixed. I've got to figure out how to do it. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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