Samantha Stosur defeats Venus Williams
6-3, 4-6, 6-3

VENUS WILLIAMS

Q. Venus, you and Sam had a battle, and you broke her serve that last game of
the second set, and then seems like you were both struggling to kind of get
momentum early games of the third. Can you just talk about that part of the
match?

VENUS WILLIAMS: Yeah, it was a well-contested match, and she came out on top
this time. And I think especially in the third set I let her dictate the
points, but at the same time, you know, when she got her racquet on the ball,
she was just going for it, so sometimes it's hard to defend against that, and
they all landed and she played well.

Q. Venus, overall considering who you played and how you played, are you
pretty pleased with the way things went here in Charleston?

VENUS WILLIAMS: I did my best. I know I can play even better. You know, I
think sometimes my errors, you know, didn't help my cause. I have to make
less errors, definitely. But at this point I'm just learning, learning and
just learning more. So I learned a lot from this, and sometimes a loss you
learn more than from a win, so I'll try to do better on the clay in the next
tournaments.

Q. Venus, I know you talked a lot in Miami about how important the Olympics
were to you this year, how your goal is really to make that cut there, and
you've moved up a lot these past two tournaments. You'll be close to the top
70 I think this week, I think. With that in mind are you pleased with that so
far? Are you going to adjust your play schedule because of the success you've
already had here?

VENUS WILLIAMS: You know, I've never been so happy to be 70 in the world, but
I'd love it to be better. You know, it's quite a big jump already, and I'm
just going to actually go home and try to just get fitter and do my best to
prepare for the rest of the clay court season.

Q. Are you planning on doing any tournaments besides the standard Rome,
Madrid?

VENUS WILLIAMS: No, not really. I feel like I'm on the brink of my first goal
to compete at the Olympics, and I'm going to play Rome and Madrid and the
French Open, I think I have three more tournaments. So I just need to stay
healthy enough and fit enough, and with the way I've been playing I should be
able to make my goal.

Q. Venus, did you expect Sam to be a little more tired after she played
almost a full match earlier in the day?

VENUS WILLIAMS: No, I mean she's so fit. She's extremely fit. She works very
hard. She's very focused, so I definitely wasn't expecting any kind of
letdown or anything like that. And you know, I wasn't expecting her not to
play well either. So I think I got everything I expected.

Q. At one point when you were walking back to the baseline and you went like
this (indicating) to someone or something. Can you tell me what was happening
there?

VENUS WILLIAMS: When was it?

Q. I believe it was in the second set, later on in the second set.

VENUS WILLIAMS: I don't know. There was like weird stuff happening during the
match, like coughing as I was serving and dropping bottles, so there was some
weird things happening today. I don't know. So many things happened during
the match.

Q. I thought somebody was saying something to you.

VENUS WILLIAMS: No. I barely keep the score in the match, so I don't remember
stuff that happens.

Q. Venus, Sam is one of the kind of few players on tour who actually has a
game that can match power for power like big players like yourself and your
sister. Is that actually kind of difficult? There are a lot of times when you
step on court the match is on your racquet because you're so powerful, the
adjustments you have to make for her?

VENUS WILLIAMS: You know, I think it just took me a set and a half to really
get used to her game again. I just haven't played her in a long time, and she
plays a lot differently than everyone, so I needed some time to adjust.
I don't mind power. Every game is so different, I enjoy the challenge of it,
but obviously she plays a power game well and executes it well, so that gives
her a lot of advantages.

Q. Obviously we're a ways out from your next tournament, but building up to
wanting to play both singles and doubles at the Olympics, have you thought
about adding any doubles to your next three tournaments?

VENUS WILLIAMS: Yeah, Serena and I talked about when we might be able to play
doubles. We don't know yet. I guess I'm holding her back. (Laughs).
You know, I used to be strong. I used to be able to do all that. But now I
have to be realistic. So we'll see, but we definitely want to be able to play
some, and I need to work on my volleys.

Q. Do you have any advice for your sister tomorrow playing against Sam?

VENUS WILLIAMS: Definitely. I think she played her also a week and a half ago
in Miami, so she's probably pretty fresh on it. Maybe I could have used more
advice from her. Maybe it should have been the other way around.

Q. Coming back from a long layoff with an illness and figuring all that out,
what's been more challenging for you, the physical rehab or mental?

VENUS WILLIAMS: Wow. It's a little bit of both. Probably physical is probably
tougher. But you know, things are reversed for me, you know, the fact that I
day in, day out have this issue.
I'm so relaxed when I get on the court most of the time. I make mistakes.
Sometimes I don't do as well as I want, but I just literally have nothing to
lose. I'm just, you know, out there playing. So it's definitely given me a
different perspective.
I was definitely nervous my first match back, for sure. That was hard. But
after that it got easier and easier to play. So it's definitely something I
live with every day, and every day I have to be stronger mentally than the
next player. I have to push myself a lot more.
But now I'm used to it, and I like it. Now it's part of me. So I'm used to it.

Q. Venus, how long do you think before -- obviously you were diagnosed or you
announced your diagnosis at the U.S. Open. How long do you think the symptoms
of this were affecting you earlier in your career?

VENUS WILLIAMS: Oh, my gosh. I would say since 2004. I didn't have anything
affect me off the court until this summer. But definitely on the court. I was
always every week like I'm really going to train hard this week, because I
never was in shape. I just like never had fitness, but even just warming up
and like running around the court once was really hard. So it was just years
and years of just like living that way. So now, since I know, I'm not in the
dark anymore.

Q. Are there matches you look back to now that happened in the past, you're
like, oh, okay, I understand why maybe I ran out of energy in that match or
something?

VENUS WILLIAMS: Yeah, totally. It was something I lived with all my matches,
and I was always stressed out because I didn't know how I was going to play.
But I didn't know why, so it was like in the back of my head, kind of
subconscious, and I just, you know, every now and then I'd go get a workup,
and nothing came out. So I would just, you know, keep going. And I had a lot
of great results still with all those issues.
Now, now I'm more forgiving to myself, I guess, and now it's definitely all
mental for me. I have to be mentally focused 100 percent. But at least I have
a second chance.

Q. There were times when you looked frustrated like you weren't quite hitting
the mark you were aiming for. Do you think that is something that'll come
back in time or were you just not getting some bounces today?

VENUS WILLIAMS: No. The court is not that easy to play. I didn't really -- I
don't know if I got the hang of it before I was exited the tournament, this
court.
You know, I think a lot of the times I was too far away from the ball. I
didn't -- wasn't quite right on my ground strokes yet this tournament, I
don't think, but it's nothing to be upset about. I'll get better as time goes
on. I think my serve will continue to be a threat the more I get a chance to
work on it. So I'll definitely be working on a lot of things going into the
next tournaments.

Q. Venus, there have been times since you've come back, you know, you've been
winning a lot of matches, and there are definitely big stretches in certain
matches where you're playing No. 1 like the Kvitova third set and second set
today. Does that encourage you like you can see that it's coming back more
and more?

VENUS WILLIAMS: I don't know. It's all been unexpected for me. I didn't know
what to expect when I came back. I was like, I hope I can make it through a
match. So it was like, you know, all this stuff is like icing on the cake. I
don't know what's going to happen when I walk out on the court.
What I do know is I'm going to give 100 percent mentally and I'll do
everything I can physically. And I have to fight urges not to run for balls,
you know. So for me it's like really staying focused. So when I do have like
really good moments when I'm playing well, for me it's in my head. It's not
even in my body. It's like I'm willing that to happen, so it's become a whole
new ball game for me, and I've learned a tremendous amount from how to
improve my mental game. So I'm learning a ton.

Q. Venus, Lisa Kleybanova came back also in Miami from a long layoff, and she
said, you know, finally being diagnosed, finally learning why her body was
feeling subpar was actually quite a relief, regardless of how serious the
diagnosis was. Was that a little bit for you as well, to finally understand
like why your body was not operating the way that you thought it should?

VENUS WILLIAMS: Yeah. Totally. It's relief and it's denial, and then every
day I don't see myself as this person who has an autoimmune disease, but then
also at some point I have to accept that I do. So it's, you know, a way of
how I see myself. Some days it's frustrating if I don't feel great and I
can't train, then you know -- I rarely get frustrated, but every now and
then, you know, maybe once in a while. But I just do the best I can that day.
All in all, though, I've come so far, so far from the U.S. Open that I
shouldn't complain.

End of interview