AUSTRALIAN OPEN


January 23, 2010


Serena Williams

MELBOURNE, VICTORIA


S. WILLIAMS/C. Suarez Navarro
6-0, 6-3


THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. Was that the toughest first set, 6-Love you've ever played?
SERENA WILLIAMS: Yeah, think it was definitely the toughest 6-Love set.
Especially in the end because she was really fighting for it. She was too. I
didn't want to lose that game.
At the end of day I'm glad I didn't lose that game. Yeah.

Q. How would you assess your game overall?
SERENA WILLIAMS: I felt like I played okay. I still feel like I can do
better. I think my forehand was solid today. I liked it today a lot.

Q. Were you having trouble on serve occasionally, the ball toss?
SERENA WILLIAMS: Just on that one game. It was so sunny on this one end.
Usually in a match like that, you know it's gonna be one or two games you're
gonna serve in the sun. I couldn't see the ball, and it was um, tough. But I
was able to get through it.

Q. In the last game of the first set after a number of deuces, you went to
the back of the court, turned your back to the net and just had a moment with
yourself. What did you think about? What were you telling yourself?
SERENA WILLIAMS: Well, just try to relax. I really enjoyed the game and I
really had a lot of fun. I thought, Okay, Serena, don't put too much pressure
on this. Worst case scenario it will be 5-1. But way to keep fighting.

Q. You had a couple tough matches with Sam Stosur over the past year. How do
you rate her as an opponent?
SERENA WILLIAMS: I think she's playing great. She beat me the last time we
played, so she has a lot of momentum. A ton of momentum.

Q. Does that make you want to beat her even more?
SERENA WILLIAMS: Well, just to go to the next round, obviously. But she's
serving incredibly well and moving even better.
It was good the match I played today, because the girl I played today moved
well. So I was given a good job for the next match.

Q. What are your memories from the last encounter with Sam?
SERENA WILLIAMS: I just remember I hit some great shots and she returned them
back for winners. It was good that we played last because I know what to
expect. She's on the up and up and is a nice girl. She has nothing to lose
going into this match.
Neither do I. It'll be fun.

Q. You weren't terribly complementary after that match. You called her a good
framer. That she hit a lot of balls off the frame of the racquet.
SERENA WILLIAMS: Yeah, I don't remember that.

Q. You don't remember that?
SERENA WILLIAMS: No.

Q. You said she hit some lucky shots and she was a good framer.
SERENA WILLIAMS: Like I said, I don't remember that. She's a good friend of
mine, so I like her a lot.

Q. Will experience matter for you?
SERENA WILLIAMS: No, I don't think so. She has tons of experience herself.
She's been playing well for so long. I know she got injured and then she, um,
came back playing even better. So she has a lot of experience, too.

Q. You want to talk about her serve because her serve gave you a lot of
problems in the match in Stanford. You serve at a high level, too.
SERENA WILLIAMS: Yeah, I have to work on my return. She serves great. She
gets a lot of big, big first serves. She's such a powerful player even though
she's small. She definitely plays with a lot of power. I think that's cool.

Q. What are you expecting from the crowd? Obviously gonna be a big match.
SERENA WILLIAMS: I definitely expect the crowd to root for Sam. I mean, I
would. So I don't see why they should root for me. Hopefully my mom will
cheer for me. I should be fine.

Q. Were you surprised the way Kim Clijsters lost yesterday?
SERENA WILLIAMS: Oh, you know, I didn't see the match. Obviously I heard the
result. I had my own match today. Everyone has good days and sometimes people
play really, really well.

Q. She said after the match she didn't feel the ball at all, and she maybe
has that once a year. Do you have that sometimes or have you ever had it?
SERENA WILLIAMS: Yeah, I've had it. I've had it a lot more than once a year,
unfortunately. So hopefully I won't have it too much.

Q. When you have a day like that and just nothing goes right, doesn't feel
right to you, do you just try and blank it out of your mind? Does it sit with
you for a while? How do you get past that?
SERENA WILLIAMS: Well, you know, I just go for shots and I really zoned out.
Don't remember what you said. What was your question? (Laughing.)

Q. When you have a day like Kim had yesterday and you don't feel the ball,
how do you move past that and process it?
SERENA WILLIAMS: Oh, you just realize --

Q. You can answer a different question if you want.
SERENA WILLIAMS: Yeah, can you guys ask more fun questions. You realize that
you're gonna have those days. I had a day like that last year, I remember. I
don't want to talk about it. I leave that stuff in the past.
But, you know, we're athletes and we're human. We're doing the best we can on
any given day. It's totally normal to go out there and not have your best
day. It's happened to all of us at some point.

Q. Can you tell us about your meeting with Prince William? Maybe that's more
fun.
SERENA WILLIAMS: I think I'm just tired. It was super cool. Prince William
was really dapper and suave. You know, he was just basically, shazam.
(Laughter.)

Q. Could you share with us one key sort of tennis fashion tip for the year?
SERENA WILLIAMS: One key fashion tennis tip is, you know, own it. You know,
whatever you wear, own it. Some people come out here with crazy designs but
they own it. They really feel comfortable in it.
I think as long as you feel comfortable in what you have and what you do,
you'll be fine.

Q. You've met a lot of celebrities and politicians, all that. Did you get
nervous meeting Prince William? Can you remember a time when you met someone
and said, Oh, my God I'm speechless?
SERENA WILLIAMS: Every time I see Leonardo DiCaprio I get totally speechless.
Every time I'm like, Hi.
No, I wasn't really nervous to meet him. He was my age. I kind of always
wanted to meet him, so it was kind of cool. We're the same age, so I thought
it would be really cool.
I told him that I might like his little brother better because he's the
little brother, and he laughed and said he might like Venus better because
she's older. So we just had a little joke about that.

Q. So double date is gonna happen?
SERENA WILLIAMS: No. Unless Leo is there.

Q. What is it about Leo? Titanic?
SERENA WILLIAMS: I think it was. I think it was how he just sacrificed the
life. (Laughter.)

End of FastScripts