ROLAND GARROS

May 25, 2014

Serena Williams

PARIS, FRANCE

S. WILLIAMS/A. Lim
6-2, 6-1

THE MODERATOR:  Questions in English, please.

Q.  Can you tell us how do you feel playing on a Sunday, Sunday start during
a Slam?  Is it a good thing, you think, for a tournament?
SERENA WILLIAMS:  I think it's a good thing for the tournament, for sure.
 They get an extra day, they're able to have more fans come out.  It's
different for the players.  Usually you're ready to start on Monday.  But,
you know, now if you come to Roland Garros you might play on Sunday, so
you've got to get ready for it.

Q.  Can you tell us what you thought of the match?  The beginning you were
fighting hard.  It was close a little bit first three, four games.  Then you
steamed the whole match.
SERENA WILLIAMS:  Yeah, the beginning was --I think the match, a lot of the
matches went to 30-All or so.  So I think the games were actually pretty
close.
It was interesting.  I was a little nervous, like I always am in my first
round.  It's kind of always hard for me to shake those nerves and go from
there.

Q.  Can you talk about your friendship with Alize?  I know you two have spent
a fair amount of time together, and she's not even on the main, high-level
tour yet.  So how close are you?
SERENA WILLIAMS:  She's been doing a lot better.  She's been playing a lot.
 She's been just getting so much better, and she just made up her mind that
she wanted to compete and be one of the best.
I'm really proud of her.  She's just rising in the rankings really, really
well.
Yeah, we train, you know, in the same facilities.  It's hard, though, because
everyone is on tour, and so, you know, we see each other.  It's fun.
We just kind of all get along.  We just go to dinner every now and then.  So
it's interesting.  It's fun.

Q.  You said you were nervous today, which might surprise some considering
how long you have been a performer, but others not.  Just talk about your
nerves over the years.  What event were you the most nervous?  Was it the
Olympics?  Was it your coming out tournament?  How your nerves have evolved
over the years.
SERENA WILLIAMS:  I think in general for me I'm always, always have a little
bit of nerves and just I try to harness them and put it in the right place.
As for the most nervous is very difficult to say.  I was extremely nervous
last year here in the final.  The whole match I could barely get there.  I
was really, really, really nervous.  Then also the US Open I was nervous.
 But then in my career early on, you play big matches, you get nervous.
So I think it's nice to have a little bit of that, because it means that you
still have a passion for it.  You still have this inside feeling that you
want to do really well or else the nerves wouldn't be there.

Q.  Can you remember just your body shaking at one particular match or your
hands shaking?
SERENA WILLIAMS:  Not my body per se, but definitely I have had a few hands
shaking every now and then.
But not so often.  You just kind of try to get through those moments.

Q.  How would you compare your form this year on the clay compared to last
year?
SERENA WILLIAMS:  Well, I was in really top form last year on the clay, or at
least I thought I was.
This year I'm just going day by day.  I'm not --I do have to say this year I
don't feel as much pressure on myself as I did last year.  And that's it.  I
just am doing the best I can.

Q.  Can you talk for a second just about what it's like to see Venus still
out there competing.  And secondly, also just talk for a moment about how
your relationship with her has evolved, without going through your whole life
story.
SERENA WILLIAMS:  For me, it's not shocking or like super --I don't know,
"exciting" isn't the right word.  But super like weird to see her perform,
because we live together and we train next to each other.
So of course I expected to see her out here and I expected her to even do
better and I expected her to win and to play the best that she can on that
day, as she doesn't know sometimes how she feels.
I feel good.  I think for other people they might have a different feeling,
but seeing that we live in the same environment, I definitely feel like I'm
proud of her, but at the same time, I want her to keep going and do better
and do more and do more.
And then, you know, our relationship, we have just grown older, we are still
really close.  It's evolved, where it's evolved I think in a good way.

Q.  Venus played Bencic, who is about roughly half her age.  And there is now
twice as many 30-years-old playing in this tournament than teenagers.  What
would you say the factors are that careers are extending so long and that it
takes longer to be good?
SERENA WILLIAMS:  I --I don't know.  I feel like people just don't want to
stop now.  I think honestly, I feel like when I was growing up I felt like,
okay, I'm going to have to retire long before 30, because it was just what
everyone did.  It wasn't --it was just perceived as a tennis player career
was over at 30, or before 30.
And I think that's just what I thought.  And when I got close to be 30, I
felt like I didn't want to stop.  I just wanted to keep going.  I think maybe
just people are just more or less feeling that way.
Also, technology has changed.  Training has changed.  People's bodies are
better.  People are more healthier for a longer amount of time.  So maybe
that has something to do with it, as well.
Careers are able to last longer through just modern thinking and modern stuff.

Q.  As an extension to that, like when you had a long career, about 16 years,
and how do you feel women's tennis has evolved over that period, and has the
style of play also changed?  Like, what would you attribute the changes to?
SERENA WILLIAMS:  I think the style of play --I don't know.  I have played so
many people in different generations and different decades (laughter). But I
feel like the style is similar, like, we have power hitters, the '90s and
2000 power hitters.  And we had players that weren't so much power, but they
were able to get the ball back and you have fast runners.
I still feel it's like similar to that.  I think obviously the level has
gotten a lot more depth, but still, it's put a lot of similarities.

Q.  Is there any players like, say, Martina Hingis, like, who could move the
ball around?  Is there some kind of player like that who you would like to
face?
SERENA WILLIAMS:  Yeah, there are several girls on the tour who do that
really well.  Lots.

Q.  You mentioned technology.  You really have a perspective over the years
both about training and those things, but there is also this technology of
these flying cameras all over the courts.
SERENA WILLIAMS:  Yeah.

Q.  Australia they are a little bit more down with you, but here there is
just that airplane thing.  Do they ever distract you?
SERENA WILLIAMS:  It did today.  I was about to serve, and I saw this
airplane.  I thought, is there an airplane flying?  Then I realized it was a
camera.
But it's fine.  You know, listen, I'm keeping up with the times.  32, I'm
trying to stay young.  So that's my secret (smiling).

Q.  Do you think they are good for the sport, for spectators or are they just
a sort of unnecessary distraction?
SERENA WILLIAMS:  Listen, it's all about --the more camera views, the more
people you can reach on TV, the more people who get involved in the sport.
 It's just looking at it in the bigger picture.

Q.  Venus played in Auckland in January, and at the time she had such a good
time she said she was going to speak to you about it and try and convince you
to maybe play in New Zealand at some stage before you retire.  At this stage
of your career, is that something you would consider playing in like a
smaller tournament like that ahead of the Australian Open?  Are you thinking
about it?
SERENA WILLIAMS:  Yeah, absolutely.  I was just thinking about it recently,
because I already have to think about my schedule for next year.
So I have to pick out what tournaments I want to play.  Obviously I love
going to Brisbane, but I have never played in New Zealand.  My whole thing
now is just to try to go to as many new places I have never been.  So we will
see.

Q.  You know Venus probably better than any of us.  She's, you know, pursuing
her business degree.  She has her two design businesses and everything.  Yet
she really fought her way back to the top of the game.  What is it that you
think that drives her to like try to achieve all these things?  You know,
most people are like playing is enough.
SERENA WILLIAMS:  Yeah, you know, I think in general we both like to play,
but we both know that tennis isn't all that we want to do.  We just try to do
as much as we can.
But I don't know.  She's the smarter sister, so that's why she's doing so
well (smiling).

Q.  The whole mess with Donald Sterling of the Clippers has opened a lot of
conversation about race issues in America.  In particular, 50 senators the
other day just came out with calling for a change in the name of the
Redskins.  You are a minority owner in the NFL and dare I say long ago had a
little bit of a social connection with that team.  What would your thoughts
be about changing the Redskins' name?
SERENA WILLIAMS:  Well, it's interesting.  I don't really know much about
that.  So I can't comment on something I'm not fully educated on.
The little bit I know is that, is it -- I'm asking you-- is it from an Indian
tribe and there were, it was -- was it a popular name amongst the Indians; is
that correct?

Q.  It's seen as a slur, like the N word.
SERENA WILLIAMS:  Yeah, so again, I can't really commentate on that
obviously, because I don't know much about it.  I have heard that once and it
did cross my mind, like, wow, really?  I think, yeah, the people standing up
for that can be really positive.

Q.  I was just wondering if you were able to attend any of the wedding
festivities for your friend Kim these past few days?
SERENA WILLIAMS:  Yeah, I went to a few of the festivities.

Q.  Which one?
SERENA WILLIAMS:  I went to the dinner in Versailles and stuff, dinner and
stuff.

Q.  Was it fun?
SERENA WILLIAMS:  Always fun with Kim.

Q.  On the clay, how does play here affect your clothes and your shoes?  They
come off more dirty here than at other courts?
SERENA WILLIAMS:  Yeah, I always throw away my ankle bracelets after the
French Open, and I don't really wear my socks again.  Yeah, that's about it,
though.  Just that.  And the shoes are clay court shoes, so you can kind of
keep those.  But, yeah.

Q.  Since the topic of weddings was brought up.  You sent out a very
supportive note to Caroline Wozniacki a few days ago saying that you stood
with her.  How would you compare a devastating loss in sports like you have
experienced with a devastating breakup?
SERENA WILLIAMS:  Oh, I would rather lose any day than break up.  It's always
hard.
But, you know, definitely easier to take a loss, you know, because that's
--you always have next week.  But at the end of the day when you really are
young, you always have next year and you have the rest of your life.  Once
you know that, everything goes together.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports