S Williams - 24 June 2010
Thursday, 24 June 2010
Q. Your bow had a lot of rhythm to it, tremendous depth. Some critics thought
it might be a tad overproduced. Can you analyze it?

SERENA WILLIAMS: My bow didn't go the way I wanted. I didn't get my wrist
action that I thought I would have, and then I got nervous. So my knee kind
of got tight, and I felt a lot of pain in my left knee, so I couldn't get as
low as I wanted to.

Q. So you're blaming your injuries?

SERENA WILLIAMS: I'm going to blame my injury.

Q. What was it like meeting the Queen?

SERENA WILLIAMS: It was amazing to meet the Queen. I mean, it's just like
history. Also to meet her at Wimbledon, and then to have her come when she
never comes out. It was a very, very -- it was really an unbelievable moment.

Q. Yesterday Venus told me your curtsy was unreal. She also said you'd beat
her in a curtsy-off. Do you think there was too much hype for your curtsy?

SERENA WILLIAMS: Yeah, it was definitely too much hype. I feel like I had the
number one curtsy and then I just got nervous. Next time I'll have to take
more Advil.

I definitely handle pressure way better on the court than off. No comparison.

Q. How did you find playing on Court 2?

SERENA WILLIAMS: I have mixed feelings about that. You know, I don't think I
should be out there. But in a way, I feel like, you know, with my popularity,
it's cool to see -- when I was leaving, I stayed for a while, and I signed tons of autographs. A
lot of these people can't get into the Centre Court and stuff.

Other than that, that definitely made up for it, to see fans I wouldn't
normally see.

Q. Are you of two minds? Because you're the champion, you feel you should be
on centre?

SERENA WILLIAMS: Yeah, anything like that. I don't want to get too much into
that. The only way to console me was, okay, I just saw so many kids, these
little girls, these little boys. I gave some things away. It was fun.

Q. I notice yesterday you were watching the USA game, weren't you?

SERENA WILLIAMS: I was. I got really, really upset during the USA game.

Q. You were tweeting, weren't you?

SERENA WILLIAMS: Yeah, we got another goal taken away.

Q. But some of these tweets were then sort of taken away later. Why was that?

SERENA WILLIAMS: Uhm, I just --  you know, because people thought I was angry
about something. Because I should have put World Cup instead of just writing.
I assumed everyone was watching World Cup, you know. I mean, I am. So they
were like, Why are you angry? Are you okay? I was just like, Whatever.

Q. What are your thoughts on the Isner match and its effect on your sport?

SERENA WILLIAMS: I think it definitely got a lot of eyes on the sport. I
mean, I was looking at different blogs online. It was on all kinds of
different blogs that normally does not show sports. I thought that was cool.

I thought that I was really happy not to be playing after him.

Q. How would you describe what you know of the match and of the person who
won it?

SERENA WILLIAMS: Well, I know John, so I was really happy that he won.
Obviously I was rooting for him. But I was thinking I was glad that it wasn't
me. I don't know how the coach and everyone stayed out there. Must have been
really tough.

Q. There have been arguments about playing a tiebreak in the fifth set at
Wimbledon, or the third set in your case. What are your thoughts on that
matter?

SERENA WILLIAMS: Well, I think this is like a once-in-a-lifetime thing.
This is the first time this has happened in hundreds of years,
clearly. Maybe it will take another couple hundred years to happen again.

I like how the rules are at Wimbledon. Again, this doesn't happen too often.

Q. How did you feel when you saw your court assignment today?

SERENA WILLIAMS: I didn't really think about it 'cause it was really late
when the schedule came out. I mean, naturally I thought, Well, why wasn't I
on centre or at least No. 1? I guess they wanted to put Roger and Sam and
everyone else there. I'm over talking about it, so...

Q. I'm doing an interview with Sasha, your hitting partner, tomorrow. Some
players change hitting partners from tournament to tournament. Why do you
like to work with him on a regular basis?

SERENA WILLIAMS: We really get along. We really, really get along. We have
very similar personalities. You know, he's young, but at the same time he's
fresh and he makes me smile. He makes me laugh. I think that's important. We
realize that tennis is great, but it's not everything for me.

Q. How do you feel your game is compared to this stage last year here?

SERENA WILLIAMS: Honestly, I've been feeling a bit off. Hopefully I can get a
little bit more on.

Q. In what way?

SERENA WILLIAMS: I don't know. I just feel like I don't feel like I'm
connecting with some shots. I'm framing some shots in practice. Obviously I
feel like I played well today, but mentally I just haven't felt it yet.
Hopefully it will come.

Q. The Queen is famous for her gift of brief small talk. What was your
exchange?

SERENA WILLIAMS: I don't remember. Honestly, I was supposed to say, Your
Majesty. I totally choked. I was like, Hey, nice to meet you, total American
style. And then, you know, she started talking. Then I was like, Your
Majesty, while she was talking. I don't know, so...

Really, maybe she'll remember me (laughter).

Q. Andy Roddick tweeted she said to him, I love your work on all the American
Pie films. People thought it wasn't a joke. It shows that people don't get a
lot of the tweets.

SERENA WILLIAMS: I didn't hear that, so... I'm definitely going to tease him
about that.

Q. What did you call the Queen? Did you say, Hey, girl?

SERENA WILLIAMS: She shakes your hand. Lovely to meet you. Next thing I know,
you're supposed to say, Your Majesty. She's talking. I'm like, Oh, Your
Majesty.

Q. She had the blue outfit, great matching old-school hat. What did you
think of the outfit?

SERENA WILLIAMS: I really liked it. It was definitely good for her. It was
nice, it was great, it was conservative. It was a nice tweed. It was perfect.

Q. She does blue well?

SERENA WILLIAMS: She does blue well.

Q. How do you think this day will be remembered in tennis history with the
visit by the Queen and the Isner match?

SERENA WILLIAMS: I definitely know that my match will be remembered. Between
those two, they definitely take the cake.

Q. Were you more nervous for Prince William or the Queen?

SERENA WILLIAMS: Probably the Queen. She's the ultimate. You meet presidents,
you meet people, but you never really meet the Queen. So that was really
exciting.

Q. What is it about her? Just the tradition? Is she different from all the
celebrity red-carpet events?

SERENA WILLIAMS: She's the Queen of England. You know, with all the history
that's behind England, you know, hundreds and hundreds of years.

So it's like, you know, the families, you think of -- is it Henry VIII? You
think of all these people. She's the latest Queen of England. So that's
pretty impressive.

Q. On your level, are you maybe being too hard on yourself that you beat a
former top 5 player fairly quickly?

SERENA WILLIAMS: No. I think I really played well today. I think I played
really well. I just feel that some of my shots are off and I feel I can do a
lot better.