Day 3 - Serena Williams
Wednesday, May 28, 2003
Q. Which is most tiring, the matches as it is now or the interviews?
SERENA WILLIAMS: It depends on how the match went that day. Mostly the
matches, though. But sometimes both of them can be a bit fatiguing.

Q. She hits the ball pretty hard. Did that present many problems for you?
Would you rather sort of have it that way?
SERENA WILLIAMS: It didn't present too much problem for me. I think I felt
she was going to hit hard in the warm-up. I felt she might start hitting
hard, but I wasn't a hundred percent sure.

Q. Obviously, since you started your drive early last year, you've had
fabulous records against virtually everyone out there. But Justine has beaten
you a couple times. What in Justine's game gives you a little bit of trouble?
SERENA WILLIAMS: I think she just played very well the last time we played. I
know the one time she beat me, it was really tight and we both were
struggling that day, and that was just a fun match. It was like 7-6 in the
third, if I recall. It could have been anyone's match. She just so happened
to get it. But it was a lot of fun.
Last time in Carolina, I just -- you had to have seen the match and seen the
way I played. I think I was pretty frightening that day, couldn't get a ball
in. It's tough, it's very hard to play matches when you're missing 99% of the
shots.

Q. Have you ever done that when you've really had a wretched day, been
totally off, still pulled it off?
SERENA WILLIAMS: There's definitely been days where I've been off and I've
been able to win, completely off and I've been able to win, but I can't think
of it offhand right now.

Q. Is there any stroke among the elite players that gives you the most
trouble out there?
SERENA WILLIAMS: I think for me I have to be ready for everything. It doesn't
matter what people give me, I'm going to eventually have to come up with a
way to counter that. So at this point I don't know. If I did, I wouldn't
necessarily say. But I can't think of anything right now.

Q. The ability to win when you're not playing well or your game's not on
seems to be what separates the champions from the contenders. I was just
wondering, is that an evolution to get to that point? How did you get to that
point, where you could win when you're not feeling good about your game on a
given day?
SERENA WILLIAMS: It's strange. I never really play at a hundred percent. It's
a very few times I have played at a hundred percent. So I think for me I'm
more or less used to winning when I'm not doing my best. I just am able to
come up with some different way, different means of being able to pull the
match out.

Q. Does that frustrate you, that you felt you never uncorked that perfect
match, or is that what keeps you in that game, striving for that match?
SERENA WILLIAMS: I think it's definitely frustrating. I'm never satisfied
with the way I play. When I walk off the court, I'm never really happy with
my form it's always something I would like to improve.
So it could be frustrating at times. But also for me I know there's a lot of
things that I'd like to improve on.

Q. At the beginning of the year, you set a goal of not losing any match. By
all standards you've almost achieved that, losing two matches this year. What
has motivated you to keep playing at your very best?
SERENA WILLIAMS: I just set my goals high. I don't know what other goals I
have at this moment. Just try to stay where I am: on top.

Q. You were talking about the perfect match. You said maybe you played the
perfect match against Lisa Raymond at Wimbledon.
SERENA WILLIAMS: Yeah.

Q. Now you've won four Grand Slams in a row. Somewhere in the last year --?
SERENA WILLIAMS: Played pretty good at the US Open last year. I played pretty
good.

Q. Against Venus? Would you pick out any particular match there?
SERENA WILLIAMS: Maybe against Venus. I didn't play perfect against Venus.
But throughout the tournament, I played really solid against basically
everyone besides the first round and the finals.

Q. Your clothing deal, I thought it was going to lapse. Did you sign up again
with Puma?
SERENA WILLIAMS: Well, everybody's in negotiations these days, except for
Labron James.

Q. So you're still negotiating with them?
SERENA WILLIAMS: Yes. Everybody's in negotiations.

Q. Isn't this the time of year when you start designing a US Open thing? Do
you do it in advance?
SERENA WILLIAMS: You do it in January. Last year's US Open I didn't know what
I was going to wear in the fall. It starts over a year in advance.

Q. Do you like the swoosh?
SERENA WILLIAMS: Who doesn't?

Q. Good number of people find your mom a pretty appealing figure, in part
because she's so outspoken and direct, interesting ideas. The other day she
made reference to the Kennedy family and their place in American culture. She
noted that there was no African American clan or family empire of that
stature. She thought it would be a good idea for the Williams to have or
develop that kind of empire or clan. Could you reflect on that? Is that
something you'd like to contribute to?
SERENA WILLIAMS: I think we all are entrepreneurs in our own way. Our parents
brought us up to reach for the highest goals, set our goals higher than
anyone possible. I think we do different things so we can reach that goal. We
have other means of income, so to say, as just one particular being. Like
tennis, you know, it's not our only way. Like for me, I'm starting my fashion
company, and Venus has her interior design company. There's also other things
I'm getting started on, as well.
So, I don't know. We just take it one day at a time and a year at a time.
Maybe one day, who knows.

Q. That entrepreneurial spirit, does that help you out on court?
SERENA WILLIAMS: You know, I can't say it does. I cannot say that that spirit
helps me out on court. I don't necessarily think about it. Only off the court
I'm so busy with so many other things.

Q. You obviously have gotten a lot of play recently in Sports Illustrated.
They listed your sister only at No. 40 in terms of most influential
minorities in the United States. Don't you think that is a little low, a bit
of a dissing considering what a pioneer she was?
SERENA WILLIAMS: I don't know why you use the word "pioneer." She's still
young. That's interesting. But there's a lot of people on that list. There's
a lot of people that weren't on that list, minorities that should have been
on the list. I don't know exactly what was going on.
It was interesting I think and more fun than I think serious. Maybe not a lot
of research was done on it. But I don't know. I'm really not sure. I didn't
see the list.

Q. Are you as hard on yourself in your acting roles, your fashion design, as
you are in your tennis? Do you give yourself more of a break in those things?
SERENA WILLIAMS: I think in the fashion, I am. It's really tough. I come up
with these fabulous designs, and I swear I see someone wearing them in People
Magazine. It's really discouraging at this point.

Q. Do you feel like you subconsciously were borrowing other people's ideas or
people are just manufacturing them before you?
SERENA WILLIAMS: People say, when you think of an idea, two other people are
already thinking of it. If you're not acting quickly upon it, it's already
being done. I've witnessed it several times.
Fashion is a circle. But I'm hard on myself in a little bit of everything.
I'm pretty much a perfectionist.

Q. Do you think that's what's enabled you to get as far as you have in tennis
or do you sometimes wish you could enjoy the journey more?
SERENA WILLIAMS: I think it's enabled me to get as far as I have in tennis,
and I also think that it makes it a little -- I love it and really enjoy it,
but at times I get a little stressed out because it's not the way I wanted it
to be and it's not perfect, it's not 100% there.
I think at times that can be a little tough, where other people are more
relaxed. I'm always tense, saying, "Out of 100 balls, I only moved up to 99."
So it's a little difficult for me at times.

Q. It's hard to imagine you tense.
SERENA WILLIAMS: I don't show my emotions as much anymore as I used to. I try
not to wear them on my sleeve. It's pretty much inside. Like a thousand
things going on in my head at one time.

Q. You're doing a library campaign now in the United States, reading
campaign. If you were to go back to the States and go to a library, what book
would you check out?
SERENA WILLIAMS: Oh, good question. I don't know. I'd definitely check out a
fiction book. Actually, I haven't been to the library in years. I don't know.
I don't know. I'll have to think about it.