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SONY OPEN TENNISMarch 24, 2014Serena WilliamsMIAMI, FLORIDA S. WILLIAMS/C. Vandeweghe THE MODERATOR: Questions, please. Q. You seemed happier with your performance out there today; is that fair? SERENA WILLIAMS: Yeah, I was definitely happier today. I was really struggling my first two matches, so I just wanted to have a better performance today. Q. What were you able to do to stop the skid, I guess? SERENA WILLIAMS: Well, I knew I couldn't get worse (smiling). Going into the match I knew I could only do better. That kind of helped out, too. Q. Can you talk a little bit about the conversation you had at the end of the match, because she said you asked her to play doubles. She was very excited about that. She was very excited. SERENA WILLIAMS: Well, not excited as I am, I don't think. I think we'd make a great team, actually. It would be really fun. I have been trying to just play around and see if I can ever play a tournament when Venus isn't there and I just have some extra time on my hands and play some doubles matches. Q. Are you still looking to add the mixed? French is coming up. SERENA WILLIAMS: Definitely still looking to do the mixed thing. I still have time. I'm not going to rush it. Q. What is it that you saw in Coco's game that prompted you to ask her to play doubles, besides the huge serve? SERENA WILLIAMS: Besides the obvious? Well, she's improved a great deal. Her focus is so much better. Her movement is good. Her attitude is great. She's a nice girl. You know, it's always fun to play with young Americans, I think, and just enjoy it. It's so good to see another American doing really well. Q. You relatively haven't gotten to play many of the younger Americans. You haven't played Madison or Alison Riske or Taylor Townsend or some of the others coming up. Do you look forward to those, or do you not like it? SERENA WILLIAMS: Eventually you have to play everyone. Each match is definitely difficult. I look forward to it. I think it will be a great experience for me as well as them. I think, you know, I will look forward to it as long as I can play good. Q. Your next match is against Angelique Kerber. Totally different opponent. What do you expect? SERENA WILLIAMS: It will be good to play a different opponent. I feel like I have played the same person three times in a row. It will be nice to play a lefty, someone that just plays different. Angelique has been able to beat me in the past, so I have to be really focused and be ready in that match. Q. I don't know if you saw any of Sloane's match last night, but she had sort of a rough go of it, 1 and 0. Had a tough time finding a way to do well when she wasn't playing her best, which is something you have gotten good at in your career. How does that work? How do you still learn to still win when you're not at your best? SERENA WILLIAMS: Well, it's not easy. You have to go out and do your best. Honestly some days you're going to lose matches. You're not going to win everything. For me, it's not that big of a deal. She's young, and it's going to be fine. Q. Were you already asked about Coco said that you mentioned to her at the net about playing doubles. SERENA WILLIAMS: Yeah. You missed it. You have to get the transcript. (Smiling). Q. What did you see in her game that you'd like to play doubles with her? I'll read the transcript. Someone asked some good questions (Laughter.) How about the rain delay? Were you asked about that? SERENA WILLIAMS: No, not yet (smiling). Q. Did that bother you much at all? Didn't seem to. SERENA WILLIAMS: No, it didn't. I just knew that I felt calm going into that rain delay. I was serving at deuce, and I felt like, you know, I just would come back and hit some good serves and I could hold there. So it didn't happen that way, but that's kind of how I saw it in my mind. Q. When you're in a little bit of a funk like the first two matches, do you pull yourself out of the funk on or off court? SERENA WILLIAMS: Well, both. Actually I think actually more off court. Like I said, I knew I couldn't get worse, and so I knew I could only do better. There was literally only one way to go for me. Q. How does it feel to feel like you can't do worse... SERENA WILLIAMS: It doesn't feel great. You know, I felt like ‑‑and then that also gave me confidence to know if I'm winning these matches when I'm playing some of the worst tennis I have personally played in the past couple of years, then, you know, it gave me a lot of hope, I think. I was clinging on to hope. Q. Venus, she's been really playing well this year and playing well this here. Can you talk about how nice it is to have your sister seeing some success. SERENA WILLIAMS: It's good. She's been playing really well. She's doing great. You know, I'm obviously always rooting for her. She's working hard, like I was‑‑ like I said from the beginning, since last year, she's really been putting the time in and she's been so dedicated. You know, I think it's finally starting to show, all the work that she's put in on the court and off the court. Q. Steffi Graf used to always play first matches, she liked playing early; Maria was in here and she was saying she liked playing at 11:00, especially with the rain coming in. Do you have a preference for time of day you like to play? SERENA WILLIAMS: I hate morning matches. I'm not a morning person. So 11:00 is tough for me, but I do it if I have to. That's not what I request, though. Anything after 11:00. But anything doesn't matter. Q. Night matches, day matches? Preference? SERENA WILLIAMS: Doesn't matter, /I don't like to play the second night match. That's difficult. Sounds like I'm too picky, yeah? (Smiling). No, I'm okay. Wherever they put me, I don't complain but I don't traditionally like to play the very first match of the day. Q. Last three times you played Angelique was in faster conditions, Cincinnati and indoors. Do you think it will make a difference tomorrow? SERENA WILLIAMS: Yeah, these conditions are incredibly slow, so I think it will make a difference for both her and me. I will have a little more time and she will too. We both run fast, so it will be a good match. Q. Going back to the funk, does your mood affect your tennis or does your tennis affect your mood or both? SERENA WILLIAMS: I guess in a way it could. It's important for your mood not to affect it and to just always stay positive, I think. Yeah. Q. Do you feel like you're in a good mood now? SERENA WILLIAMS: I'm in a better mood (smiling). It was impossible for me to be in a good mood after I played those last matches. Q. They had a video the other night. Pretty or tough. They were asking the fans if they think Maria Sharapova is pretty or tough, and then they asked her what she thought she was. Do you think of yourself as pretty or tough? SERENA WILLIAMS: Oh, gosh. I never thought about that, but I definitely am a tough girl. I definitely go out there and be as tough as I can on every one that I play. Q. Seems like these days athletes can be pretty and tough. SERENA WILLIAMS: Yeah, absolutely. I think it's really important for females to realize that you can be strong but still be sexy at the same time. There is nothing wrong with being strong and beating up on the boys (smiling). FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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