INTERNAZIONALI BNL D'ITALIA

May 12, 2021

Serena Williams

Roma, Italia

Press Conference

N. PODOROSKA/S. Williams

7-6, 7-5

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. She already has three French Open semifinals, but what do you think about
Podoroska game and what she's able to do next month or next years in the tour?

SERENA WILLIAMS: Yeah, you know, she has a good game, for sure, obviously.
She's very consistent.

Q. I wonder if you could just give us a brief assessment of how you felt you
played. Curious to know if you would consider playing another match at
another event in the next two weeks before Roland Garros?

SERENA WILLIAMS: You know, it's tough to have a first match on clay. It was
definitely kind of good to go the distance and to try to be out there, but
clearly I can do legions better.

I just gotta get there. Maybe I do need a few more matches, so I'm going to
try to figure that out with my coach and my team and see what we would like
to do. But, yeah, I just feel like it's different. I have been training for
months, but it feels definitely different on clay to make that last
adjustment.

Q. Do you think that having the two weeks, normally it's just one week and
you'd be right back into Roland Garros, but having two weeks of additional
preparation, is that a good thing? Is it a frustrating thing? Obviously it
lengthens the amount of time. What's your take on it?

SERENA WILLIAMS: Yeah, I think it's a good thing, you know. Can always use
more time when it comes to playing at Roland Garros, for me at least. I think
more time is a good thing. Yeah, I can't say it's a bad thing.

Q. You said that you have been training super hard and just didn't find it
maybe on the match court today. Where did you find the biggest gap? Just in
reading like the match game and finding your rhythms there, where did you
feel like the biggest kind of gulf is there for you?

SERENA WILLIAMS: Yeah, just filling out the game, finding the rhythm. Even
sliding and confidence with that, with movement, and just not wanting to
break my ankle when I moved. That's always like a little struggle in the
first two matches, and then I'm raring to go.

Yeah, that's kind of where I was struggling a little bit, and just final
shots. Like, I had a lot of opportunities to win, like, final shots and just
kind of missing those.

Overall, it was good for me to play such a clay court player on clay today,
but it's a little frustrating. But it's all right. It is what it is.

Q. There was something I was just going to raise with you and ask you, the
first match since the Australian Open. How important was it for you to be
actually getting out on the court and playing a match to start getting it
back into the rhythm of match practice?

SERENA WILLIAMS: Yeah, like I was saying, I think it's good because I feel
like sometimes, you know, I'm not playing as many matches. I'm just doing a
lot of training. So it's actually really good to get out and to play some
matches.

But I usually don't take this much time off on a clay court season, so
usually I play like a Charleston or a Madrid or somewhere. So my season
doesn't usually start this late on clay. But the training isn't for nothing,
so I know that it's just a matter of time.

Q. You said you thought that having an extra week would help in terms of
preparing for the French Open. I wonder what you feel the effect might be for
you and for other players on your preparation for Wimbledon, having one week
less to play on grass or to practice for Wimbledon.

SERENA WILLIAMS: Yeah, well, actually I'm a pro at that, you know. Most of my
career Wimbledon has been only two weeks after the French Open, and I was
super elated when it moved to three weeks for probably, what, three years
maybe? Two, three years? So I'm used to it. So it will be fine. It's a quick
turnaround. Yeah, I'll be ready.

Q. Can you talk a little bit about the amount of time between last year's
French Open and this year's French Open? It's only seven months. Is that a
negative that there is so much play on clay in a crazy year it's been already?

SERENA WILLIAMS: No. For me, no. I actually love clay. I love playing on
clay. So I don't think it's a negative, but, you know, I think if anything it
helps to keep that rhythm of clay.

Unfortunately I only played one match last year on clay, and I haven't been
playing a lot on clay in the last two years. So, yeah, it will be good to get
back and keep working on it.

Q. Nadia said that you are one of her heroes when she was young. I would like
to know what did she said to you when the match was over, the net.

SERENA WILLIAMS: I didn't know that she said anything. We just tapped
racquets.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports