INTERNAZIONALI BNL D'ITALIA (WOMEN)

May 16, 2008

Venus Williams

ROME, ITALY

J. JANKOVIC/V. Williams
5-7, 6-2, 6-3

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. In the third set do you think you lacked matches? You were tired? In the
third set.
VENUS WILLIAMS: Did I what?

Q. Do you think you have a lack of matches? You looked tired.
VENUS WILLIAMS: No, I think that, you know, I had a lot of great
opportunities, and I made a lot of opportunities for myself. But then, you
know, I made a mistake. I mean, I felt like I had the point set up, and then
I made an error.
You know, I played an aggressive game, and I just needed to add some more
spin. Maybe I went for a little too much.
But, you know, that's my game, you know. On the clay I think a combination
of, you know, a little more -- a little less aggressive, but at the end I'm
still going to play moving forward.
So just need it add some finish spin and cut down on my errors, and I think
that can be a win for me.

Q. Have you ever went so many times to the net on clay?
VENUS WILLIAMS: No. And you know what? It's not like I planned to come to the
net. I'm just playing the ball. So if I have an opportunity I come in.
I'm just playing the ball well, and when I get up there, you know, I win
almost pretty much every point. So it's a good play for me.

Q. (From Italian) Do you feel satisfied with the way you played? Do you think
you had a lack of energy in comparison with your opponent, or does this
experience end in a positive way, to sum it all up?
VENUS WILLIAMS: I just try to take the positive obviously out of everything,
and then figure out what I could have done better and go from there. But
that's every match.

Q. (From Italian) Could give us an opinion of the way you played today?
VENUS WILLIAMS: Yeah, I think I played a lot of good points. Sometimes I
played some, you know, some points that weren't so good, just, you know,
early errors.
You know, that's always nice for your opponent when they get those, so I
think -- I just think I played good. I just need to correct some things. But
I feel positive about my game.

Q. You was very surprised, a little bit surprised, just surprised about the
retirement of your sister?
VENUS WILLIAMS: No, I mean I didn't know anything about her injury, and I
still don't know what the problem is, per se.
But just have to be ready to play, because I'm not going to retire before
even your own sister. You just got to be ready.

Q. Are you looking forward to the French?
VENUS WILLIAMS: Yeah, I'm always looking forward to the French. Yeah, I mean,
obviously I would have loved to be in the semifinals tomorrow, but now I have
the opportunity to work on my game and to just do some work, and I feel good
about that.
Yeah.

Q. Are you going to France, or are you going to stay around?
VENUS WILLIAMS: No, I'm going to stay around. I like it here so, I'll be here
training and -- training mostly. I can't say that I'll be sightseeing. I'll
be training, but I like it here. It's nice.

Q. Will you stay in Rome?
VENUS WILLIAMS: Yeah.

Q. What do you think of Jelena Jankovic, and who do you think will be the
winner of this tournament?
VENUS WILLIAMS: Well, she always plays well and consistent. Everyone knows
that, so that's good for her.
Who will win? At this point it's not important to me. I'm moving on to the
French, so good luck to them all.