INTERNAZIONALI BNL D'ITALIA (WOMEN)

May 18, 2007

Serena Williams

ROME, ITALY

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. When you won seven games in a row it looked like you turned the match in
your favor.
SERENA WILLIAMS: Yeah. I just -- yeah, I was playing a little better and she
was playing a little worse at that point.

Q. Did you think you would go on and win comfortably from there?
SERENA WILLIAMS: Naturally I thought I was going to go on and win, but
comfortably or not, I didn't think about that. I just thought about winning
points.

Q. Was it that you couldn't rely on your backhand? Seemed to be so many
errors there.
SERENA WILLIAMS: Yeah, I made a lot in the first set. Got a little better in
the second. Backhand has actually been my better shot in the past few
tournaments, including my past few wins. So I just got a little frustrated
with it today.

Q. Were the conditions very tough because of the wind, because of the lack of
clay sometimes?
SERENA WILLIAMS: Yeah, it was strange conditions. It was really windy on some
points. It wasn't -- I mean, I play in the wind a lot, especially in Miami.
It's way windier than it is out here. It was a different court out there than
it was yesterday.

Q. In terms of preparation for Roland Garros, do you feel as though you're
tuned in quite nicely now on the clay courts?
SERENA WILLIAMS: Yes, especially European clay. It was a nice couple rounds.
I feel, you know, especially that I'm not going back on the Har-Tru.
It's good to get here on the red clay and get some good matches and a lot of
long points under your belt.

Q. Are you planning on playing an extra tournament next week, or just
practice?
SERENA WILLIAMS: No, no. Just going to be training. I think the best think
for me right now is practice. That's always my best asset.

Q. How confident are you going to Paris?
SERENA WILLIAMS: Really confident. I feel like I'm getting there
fitness-wise. I feel like I can hit a lot of the balls. I feel like I'll
really enjoy myself there, and obviously I have nothing to lose.
It's going to be -- I'm going to do well, and I think once I start believing
that it'll happen.

Q. Is it a family strategy, the fact that you come here and Venus doesn't,
she goes Istanbul and you don't? I mean, if there is a good preparation for
Roland Garros it should maybe be the same for both of you. Why is she doing
something and you do the opposite?
SERENA WILLIAMS: I can only answer for me. I do my schedules myself.
I enter whatever tournaments I want to enter, and I'm sure she does, too. We
don't sit down together at all and say, I'm doing this and I'm doing that.
We were together in Charleston and she didn't play in the beginning of the
year, so it wasn't -- I was actually glad she wasn't here. She probably would
have took me out in the first round.

Q. Why don't you talk together? Because you don't want to waste time, or
because you think it's useless, or for what reason? Because normally two
sisters, they talk.
SERENA WILLIAMS: We talk all the time, but I don't talk about my schedule
with her no more than I talk about my schedule with Justine Henin.

Q. What do you think was the difference between the two points? I mean, you
got down to 5-All.
SERENA WILLIAMS: Yeah, I just didn't make the shots I was supposed to make. I
made way too many errors today, probably about 50, which is considerably good
to get to 7-6 in the third with all the errors I made today.
I was very inconsistent and I just didn't play well today. I take solace in
the fact that I played out of two negative -- no, like I was at a one out of
ten for sure. I can take solace in that.

Q. You go Paris to train?
SERENA WILLIAMS: I don't know where I'm going to train. I'm going somewhere
in Europe. I haven't decided yet.

Q. Are you back to 100 percent fitness now after your groin problems?
SERENA WILLIAMS: Yeah, I'm getting there. I think not winning today is going
to actually end up working good for me because I get to get even more fit.
So, you know, I'm going to obviously want to work harder and just do some
things different.
So I mean, where I am today, in Paris I'll probably be even better. So you
know, it's good.

Q. Which is your purpose for the end of year? I mean, if you have some plan?
SERENA WILLIAMS: I haven't decided yet. At the end of the year, which usually
is after the Open for me, I -- I don't know, I want to go to Venice. I've
never been there.

Q. Why did you play with the protection today?
SERENA WILLIAMS: Oh, I play with it all the time. I hate it. Makes my legs
look really thick. But I have no choice. It's better than twisting my ankle.
I'm constantly twisting my ankles.

Q. Do you have any other goal apart from tennis this year that you want to
do, or perform some, I don't know, big role, or, I don't know an actress from
some movie, anything in TV, project, whatever?
SERENA WILLIAMS: You know, my goals this year have been so focused on tennis
that I haven't had a chance to even think about like what other things I
would liked to do.
So my goal is just to get through the year with as minimal injuries as
possible.

Q. No. 1?
SERENA WILLIAMS: My goal is to get through the year with minimal injuries,
and if I can do that I'll do well.