MUTUA MADRID OPEN

May 6, 2015

Serena Williams

MADRID, SPAIN

S. WILLIAMS/V. Azarenka
7-6, 3-6,7-6(1)

THE MODERATOR:  Questions, please.

Q.  What a match.  It was incredible.
SERENA WILLIAMS:  Thank you.

Q.  What was your first impression after that?  What's your opinion about the
match in general?
SERENA WILLIAMS:  Yeah, it was an interesting match.  I feel like the first
two sets went by and then we ended up in this long third set.
I could have won; she could have won.  I really ended up winning, and I don't
know how.  Yeah, I feel like it was intense.  I don't feel like there was a
lot of long points, which was weird.
I just feel like it was just intense, I guess.

Q.  You've done so many matches around in your career.  Does it give you
extra confidence when you're back is on the wall like 6-5, 40-Love?  Do you
keep the hope because you've done that so many times already?
SERENA WILLIAMS:  Not really.  Sometimes when you're at that point you have
nothing to lose.  You just kind of play and hopefully go down with dignity.
That's kind of how I felt at that point.

Q.  Did you at all believe that you could still win at that point?
SERENA WILLIAMS:  I don't know.  I thought I had actually lost already
because I missed so many easy shots.  I think my unforced errors must have
been about 80 by then, so it was just like a little frustrating for me.
I know I could have played and made some better shots.  At that point I even
threw my hands up when I missed the last forehand.  I was so frustrated.  So
I just thought today wasn't my day.  That's literally how I felt.  I felt
like it wasn't my day and I'll have a go next time.

Q.  You and Victoria were at the start of a really good, enduring rivalry
before injury sort of pretty much took her out last year.  The fact that
you're saying you thought you were down and out is very interesting.  So you
think you'll be at a stage to pick up that rivalry?  Looks like she's very
much on her way back.
SERENA WILLIAMS:  She's absolutely on her way back.  It's so good to see a
Grand Slam champion like her playing so well.  I'm always rooting for
Victoria when she plays.
Yeah, so it's good to see her on her way back.  She's clearly doing great.

Q.  Do you think she did anything different today with the new coach?
 Anything particularly special?
SERENA WILLIAMS:  I felt she served a lot better than she had in the past.  I
felt like she was really able to hit a lot of aces and do a lot of things
like that.
Yeah, she did some new things, but it's good to play her.  Now next time I'll
know what to expect.  I'll be able to play better, and then I'll be better.
Same for her, she'll be ready for me, too.  I think it'll be an even better
match, believe it or not, next time.

Q.  What exactly were you thinking when you were 40-Love in the last game,
6-5?  You started to play such amazing points with so much power and so
inspirational.  Did you think something before that point when you were three
match points down?
SERENA WILLIAMS:  Well, he was really angry at that point.  I thought I made
so many errors and I just was so upset.
So I thought, Okay, I'm down Love-40.  I have a 2% chance I'm going to win.
 I had a match point earlier in the match, so I thought, At least win one,
that way it'll kind of seem like we're even because we both won a match point.
Only difference is she had three in a row and I didn't.  Only wanter to win
one, and from that point just kept going literally one point at time.

Q.  You said that you got fed up with yourself and you were feeling it wasn't
your day.  How did you see it when suddenly Victoria started to really mess
up and start double faulting?  I don't know, I almost lost count.  What were
your feelings at that point?
SERENA WILLIAMS:  Well, she almost hit an ace and just missed it by not even
three centimeters.  So I thought, Wow, she shouldn't challenge that.  If she
challenges she's going to hit a double fault.  Sure enough, she did.
Then it was only deuce.  It was still her serve.  She had been serving really
well.  So I felt like she could still do well.  I just think that I was
returning halfway decent maybe, so maybe it was just-- it's a lot of stress
out there.  I hit several double faults and I double faulted a game away.
She did, too.  Nothing abnormal.

Q.  You have any memories of pull out of any other situation like this?  Is
today the greatest escape of your career that you are remind of?
SERENA WILLIAMS:  Well, this is definitely an escape you can say.  I've had
some other escapes.  I don't know, think I've been down Love-40 on someone's
serve.  I've been down 15-40 on someone's serve.
Yeah, that was another one.  Came back and won that one, too.  This is
definitely probably up there.  Hopefully won't keep happening.

Q.  How do you recover mentally and physically for your next match?
SERENA WILLIAMS:  Well, I'm going to go do some cooldown and just really have
to talk to my coach and really go over why I was in this situation, figure
out what I can do to be better for my next match.
Like I said, hopefully not be in this situation, but if I am, hopefully I can
come through it again.  There is a reason I got down so much.  I wasn't where
I should have been.  So I need to figure out why I wasn't and what can I do
to get better.

Q.  You saved three match points.  Are you now more mentally strong for the
rest of the tournament?
SERENA WILLIAMS:  I think so.  I don't know.  I came in here, like I said,
not satisfied with my clay court preparation.  I'm still alive and in the
tournament, so that feels really good right now.
Whenever you're down a match point and you come back it pumps you up a little
bit.  So I definitely feel a little bit more pumped.  I don't want to get
ahead of myself.  I still have some tough people to play.
I can't think that far ahead.  I got to stay focused.

Q.  You're such a champion.  You've won almost everything.  Where do you get
such strength and how do you keep motivated tournament after tournament year
after year?
SERENA WILLIAMS:  I don't know.  I mean, the only thing that motivates me is
the fact that I think I love what I do obviously.
That is the reason why I continue to play and why I continue to do the best
that I can on a daily basis.
You know, if that's winning, that's great.  If it's losing, my attitude is a
little different.  I've done a lot of winning in my career, so everything now
is just a bonus.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports