WIMBLEDON

June 27, 2007

Serena Williams

LONDON, ENGLAND

THE MODERATOR: Serena Williams for you.

Q. It was kind of strange, the ending. Did she make the challenge or did the
umpire ask her to make a challenge? What happened there?
SERENA WILLIAMS: It was weird. The umpire said -- because I don't think
Alicia heard that the ball was called out. She said the ball was called out.
If she wanted to challenge it, she could, so...

Q. That was fine with you?
SERENA WILLIAMS: I mean, I would have. I told her, I said, You may as well. I
would have challenged it, too. I'm not upset. I'm not going to hold it
against you. She was like, Okay.

Q. Yesterday you encouraged your sister. Today you were sort of like yelling
at yourself, agonizing. Was this a tough match? Were you just not playing
well? She was serving well.
SERENA WILLIAMS: Yeah, she was serving really well. She's playing really well
on the grass court. She has one of the biggest serves in women's tennis. She
has a very consistent serve.
She's hitting a lot of slice. She's really a good grass court player. If she
probably hadn't have played me, she probably would have gotten really far in
this tournament. I knew that going in. It was just a match like that.

Q. What is the state of your game right now?
SERENA WILLIAMS: You know, I'm feeling better about it. I'm excited to get
through today because I knew it wasn't going to be really easy at all.

Q. Were you troubled to any degree by the hamstring injury?
SERENA WILLIAMS: No, not at all. Not today. I was feeling better. Don't jinx
me.

Q. What are you thinking when you're down 4-1 in the first set?
SERENA WILLIAMS: I was really angry. It's like, Okay, Serena. I don't know, I
just got really angry. I thought it was unfair that I got down so far. I was
like, Okay, it's just one break.
But 4-1 looks worse than one break. I thought if I could just hold and break
and hold, I would be okay (laughter).

Q. What do you think the cause of the unfairness was?
SERENA WILLIAMS: I don't know. I was just saying that. She's a tough match to
play in the second round I think more than anything. She's been off a while,
which is probably why she isn't seeded here. But it's not an easy
second-round match.
I don't think that was unfair. I mean, obviously I was just saying I just
need to play better.

Q. Yesterday you were so into Venus' match. What goes through your mind when
you're out there?
SERENA WILLIAMS: She was playing really bad yesterday. It was like Venus
never gets down on herself. She's like -- she's the type of person I want to
be. You can never see if she's angry. You can never see. She doesn't have any
emotion. She's just like one track. You can't read her.
Yesterday I could read her. I could tell she was frustrated. She was hitting
every ball out. It was like she wasn't playing well at all. I was just
thinking, Oh, my God, I just got to tell her to stay in there, just like stay
focused.
Because she's practicing much better. It was just one of those days that you
don't want to go out in the tournament in the first round when you're playing
so bad. It's like, okay, if you could just get through this, it would get
better.

Q. Is it weird because here your sister is, you're so close to her, but yet
she is such a different personality type.
SERENA WILLIAMS: I know, it's so weird. We're so close. We have complete
opposite personalities almost. I guess it works well. Geminis and Libras are
like a perfect match. That's what I credit it to.

Q. Air signs?
SERENA WILLIAMS: Yeah, I don't know. Are they both?

Q. Which one are you?
SERENA WILLIAMS: I'm a Libra and she's a Gemini.

Q. When do you play doubles?
SERENA WILLIAMS: I don't know. We might play tomorrow. I thought we would
play today since I was first on, but I guess not. I don't know. We'll see.

Q. What about your third-round opponent?
SERENA WILLIAMS: I played her in Paris. Is that the same girl I played in
Paris? She played well, especially in the second set. I think she was a
little nervous in the first.
She has a great volley and a good slice. Just another slice player I have to
play.

Q. Instant replay is new. Do you think the umpire should suggest to players
they should question calls, or is that up to the players?
SERENA WILLIAMS: I don't think they should. I mean, I thought that was a
little weird. I would have appreciated the suggestion maybe. I don't know. I
don't know if that's in the handbook to suggest to challenge a call.

Q. Players often go into tournaments overlooked. Is there any player in this
tournament you feel has been overlooked?
SERENA WILLIAMS: I don't know. I haven't been seeing anything or written
anything.

Q. Let me suggest one: defending champion Mauresmo.
SERENA WILLIAMS: Well, yeah. Maybe she's definitely been overlooked this
year. I think maybe that happened last year. Look what happened, she won the
tournament.
I mean, if she was on my side of the draw, I definitely would be looking more
into it. Right now I'm just focused on Seguera.

Q. How would you describe your sister as a doubles player?
SERENA WILLIAMS: Oh, she's the best. All she does is serve, and I just stand
there. Sometimes I don't even move, she plays all the points. My favorite
word is "yours." Her volleys are way better than me. Mine are good, but hers
are on a different level.

Q. How would you describe yourself as a doubles player?
SERENA WILLIAMS: I'm aggressive and I love to hit angles and lobs. I don't
know. It's weird. I hit lots of soft balls in doubles.

Q. What do you enjoy most about playing doubles and what does it do for your
singles game?
SERENA WILLIAMS: It definitely helps our return and serves, and volleys
obviously. What I enjoy most about playing doubles is just being out there
with V because we just laugh and talk, just gossip the whole time really.

Q. You were wearing at the start of the match an impressive pair of earrings,
which you have on now.
SERENA WILLIAMS: One fell out.

Q. You took them out, didn't you?
SERENA WILLIAMS: One fell out. They didn't fall out in practice. I guess they
got jumpy and nervous. One jumped off. I just took the other one off.

Q. You handed them to the ball girl. Did you get them back?
SERENA WILLIAMS: I got them back. She was really sweet.

Q. Have you ever met or encountered Barry Bonds in your travels?
SERENA WILLIAMS: Yes.

Q. He's about to set a huge record. What are your thoughts about his record?
SERENA WILLIAMS: I think it's amazing. Is he going to hit more home runs than
Hank Aaron? Records are meant to be broken.

Q. On Saturday you mentioned when you're playing well, nobody should beat
you. You think you ought to be the favorite.
SERENA WILLIAMS: I don't think I said I ought to be the favorite.

Q. Not favorite, but you think no one can beat you.
SERENA WILLIAMS: I said when I'm playing well, it's hard for anyone to beat
me. I think it's just a fact.

Q. After two matches, are you playing well?
SERENA WILLIAMS: I'm playing okay. I actually don't think I'm playing that
great, no.

Q. You gave yourself a 2 out of 10 the other day. What would you give
yourself today?
SERENA WILLIAMS: I think out of fighting, you add all that stuff together, I
give myself like a 6. I played a little better today.

Q. What do you think about tennis players being on dating shows like Mark
Philippoussis? Did you see the show?
SERENA WILLIAMS: No, I didn't. But I did TiVo it. I can't wait to go home and
watch it. Can you find love on a reality show? I don't know.

Q. Would you be tempted?
SERENA WILLIAMS: I don't think I'd be able to find love on a reality show
personally 'cause I think I have to get to know someone for years. He's a
little older, so he might have more of an idea of what he's looking for.

Q. You're probably aware of the Russians. Do you have any awareness of the
former Soviet Republic, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, players coming from these
countries?
SERENA WILLIAMS: Yeah. Like yesterday I saw this guy, LAT, I assume it was
Latvia. I assume it's one of the Russian countries. I don't even know how I
heard of Latvia. All these countries are just producing players like a
factory.