AUSTRALIAN OPEN

January 18, 2013

Venus Williams

MELBOURNE, VICTORIA

M. SHARAPOVA/V. Williams
6-1, 6-3

THE MODERATOR:  Questions, please.

Q.  Were you a little bit surprised at the way Maria played tonight?  She
seemed to be on form out there.
VENUS WILLIAMS:  She played very well.  I expect her to play well.

Q.  Did she play better than you thought?
VENUS WILLIAMS:  You know, I think I've seen her game a lot of times.  I
think I knew what to expect.  Like I said, she played really well.

Q.  What about your own performance?  Do you feel you played poorly tonight
or it was a matter of Maria playing too well?
VENUS WILLIAMS:  Yeah, definitely not my best day today.
But, you know, there's always other days to play better.

Q.  Do these results motivate you to get back to where you were or is it a
kick in of the guts because you're trying hard?
VENUS WILLIAMS:  Honestly, every day that I practice is a day that I'm
motivated to be better.  Regardless of my results I want to be better, the
best, the best that I can bring.

Q.  Obviously not your A game.  She was making it hard.  At the end of the
second set did you feel like you might be getting in there and start to turn
things around?
VENUS WILLIAMS:  Yeah, definitely.  You know, one or two holds makes a big
difference between 3-All or having a break.
So it's always important to take those opportunities.

Q.  Was there anything in particular in your game that you thought was
dissatisfying?
VENUS WILLIAMS:  I just had a lot of errors.  You know, that never helps.

Q.  What is your schedule like from here to Miami?
VENUS WILLIAMS:  Well, I'm playing doubles tomorrow, so that's definitely my
focus right now.  And after that, I mean, that's pretty much all I'm thinking
about right now, is the doubles.

Q.  How did you feel out there in your first round?
VENUS WILLIAMS:  Yeah, I think in the beginning we just were getting used to
playing doubles again.  We hadn't played in a while.  Hopefully we'll keep
playing better during the tournament.

Q.  What are some of the positives you'll take out of your singles tournament?
VENUS WILLIAMS:  I haven't really thought about it yet.  But, yeah, at this
point I just feel like, you know, I'll focus on the doubles and then get
ready for the next tournament.
I mean, I have to wait till French Open to play another major in singles, but
there will be a lot of tennis in between.

Q.  On a non-tennis note, did you watch any of Oprah's interview with Lance
Armstrong?
VENUS WILLIAMS:  No, I didn't.

Q.  Is it something that players are talking about, his confession to doping?
VENUS WILLIAMS:  I think everyone is pretty much focused on the tennis.
 Maybe other players are talking about it.  I have no idea.

Q.  Do you have any reaction?
VENUS WILLIAMS:  I can't talk about anything I don't know anything about, so
I'm just going to keep my mouth shut.  I'm not an expert on that stuff.
 That's all I can say.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports