ROLAND GARROS

June 2, 2018

Serena Williams

Paris, France

S. WILLIAMS/J. Goerges

6-3, 6-4

THE MODERATOR: Questions in English.

SERENA WILLIAMS: So if we could just go fast, I have to go. We'll keep this a
little shorter than normal.

Q. Is anything wrong?
SERENA WILLIAMS: No, I need to get back to my baby, so she's still awake. I
need to go home. Thanks.

Q. You said in Indian Wells on a scale of 1 to Serena you were somewhere in
that first S. Have we moved further down the alphabet?
SERENA WILLIAMS: A little bit. I'm definitely off the S at least, but there
is still a ways to go, but it's moving in the right direction. And I think
that as long as it's moving in the right direction, I know I will get there,
and I feel like every match I play I'm getting better and I'm playing tougher
opponents and I'm hanging in there, and I feel like it's going to hopefully
keep going.

Q. Today Mike Tyson was in the stands in Suzanne Lenglen. What sort of
inspiration do you have from a champion like Mike Tyson?
SERENA WILLIAMS: Well, I didn't know he was there until after the match. And,
you know, just seeing him there is always pretty cool. He was obviously such
a great champion. You know, I'm still a little, I think everyone, when they
see someone like that, is always a bit of a fan, all the great stuff he did
in the ring.

Q. I know you want to get back to Olympia, work with me here, please.
SERENA WILLIAMS: Work with me (smiling).

Q. We're in this together, baby.
SERENA WILLIAMS: No, we're not; you're not going home to a screaming baby.

Q. I have been waiting about 14 years to ask you this question. After the
2004 Wimbledon match with Maria, I had the opportunity to interview Donald
Trump on his LA golf course, and he said that Maria's shoulders were
incredibly alluring and then he came up with this incredible analysis: That
you were intimidated by her super model good looks. My question is: Have you
ever been intimidated by anyone on a tennis court, and what are your thoughts
about that occurrence?
SERENA WILLIAMS: I honestly don't have any thoughts about that. I can't say I
have been intimidated by anyone. That's all. That's it.

Q. You're playing her for the first time in a couple years. What are your
thoughts on what this match will hold? And more generally, how do you
describe the last two-and-a-quarter or so years since you two played in your
own life? How it's been?
SERENA WILLIAMS: It's been different. We are both on a comeback for two
totally different reasons, and she's been on her journey for over a year and
I just started mine a couple months ago.

So, you know, it's just something new and different. I don't know what else
to say.

Q. You started much better today than in your first couple of matches here.
Did you feel stepping out on court like you were in a better place already
than you had been?
SERENA WILLIAMS: I just feel like if I'm going to compete in any match, I
need to kind of start a little bit better. So that was something that, you
know, in I was doing before I had the baby, and I wanted to kind of
definitely get back to that. It's just one of the many things I have been
trying to work on.

Q. Why do you think you have been so utterly dominant against Maria? She said
in her book the other year that she puts it down to her beating you in the
2004 Wimbledon final, and also she said it was because she heard you cry in
the locker room afterwards. I wonder if you'd agree with that.
SERENA WILLIAMS: I think the book was 100% hearsay, at least all the stuff I
read and the quotes that I read, which was a little bit disappointing.

You know, I have cried in the locker room many times after a loss, and that's
what I have seen a lot of people do. I think it's normal. I think if
anything, it shows the passion and the desire and, you know, the will that
you have to want to go out there and do the best.

It's a Wimbledon final, you know. So it's just, like, I think it would be
more shocking if I wasn't in tears. And I am emotional and I do have emotions
and I wear them on my sleeve.

You know, I'm human. So for me I think it's totally normal. I think what
happens there should definitely maybe stay there and not necessarily talk
about it in a not-so-positive way in a book.

But regardless, that's that, and...

Q. How much have you seen of Maria play recently, whether in this tournament
or leading up to it? And do you think that this, the matchup itself, the
tennis itself, might be different just because of the reasons you said that
you guys are coming back?
SERENA WILLIAMS: Well, quite frankly, she's probably a favorite in this match
(smiling), for sure. You know, she's been playing, like I said, for over a
year now. I just started. So I'm just really trying to get my bearings and
trying to feel out where I am and see where I can go.

But I think this will be another test. I think this is just one of her best
surfaces, and she always does really, really well here. So this would be a
good opportunity for me kind of to see where I am and just hopefully continue
to go forward.

Q. Whatever your feelings are about each other, the two of you have this in
common: You're both household names. You both have been very successful off
the court. Is this match about something, does it mean something outside of
tennis? Is it a measure, has it been a measure for you over the years every
time you play her?
SERENA WILLIAMS: So I don't have any negative feelings towards her, which
again, was a little disappointing to see in that hearsay book. So I have
always, you know, and especially having a daughter, like, I feel like
negativity is taught. One of the things I always say, I feel like women,
especially, should bring each other up.

You know, a lot of people always assume that I feel a different way and it's
not true. You know, if anything, I feel like we should encourage each other,
and the success of one female should be the inspiration to another, and I
have said that a thousand times. So for me, I always get inspired by other
women that are doing well.

Before her incident of drugs or not, you know, I just feel like she was, you
know, doing good before that. So I feel like now she's doing well again, and
I have never had any hard feelings toward her.

So I feel like whenever I play her, obviously I go out there the way I play
everyone else. I go extremely hard, and, you know, I don't play anyone
different. I play everyone so hard because they play me really hard and I
always have to be ready for it.

Q. Just to get back on the book, and I don't think you addressed it before
today. Just wondering what you thought of being such a big part of the book.
Because she did seem to be somewhat preoccupied with you as sort of a
defining, almost obsessed character in her own life story.
SERENA WILLIAMS: Well, yeah, I mean, you know, as a fan, I wanted to read the
book and I was really excited for it to come out and I was really happy for
her.

And then the book was a lot about me. I was surprised about that, to be
honest. You know, I was, like, Oh, okay. I didn't expect to be reading a book
about me, that wasn't necessarily true.

So I was, like, this is really interesting, but, you know, I don't know. I
think maybe -- I don't know. I think maybe she -- I didn't know she looked up
to me that much or was so involved in my career.

Q. So you read her book?
SERENA WILLIAMS: Yeah, like I said, I was a fan -- not a fan -- as a person
that just wants to just be involved in the sport. And I was one of the few
people that, you know, said that she was, when her whole drug incident, I
was, like, she was brave to say something. I didn't have anything negative to
say about Maria. So of course I wanted to read it and just see what was going
on.

Q. Is there any urgency, any thoughts about your baby while you're playing,
or how do you, like, keep that at the back of your mind?
SERENA WILLIAMS: It keeps me inspired more than anything, because I think
sometimes I'm like, okay, the sooner I get off, the sooner I can get to her.

But, you know, I can't necessarily think like that because then I start to
rush a little bit. And then just, it's just great because I feel like no
matter what happens, I have an amazing human being that I love so much that I
can go home to, and I can just be joyful with.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports