WIMBLEDON

July 7, 2015

Serena Williams

LONDON, ENGLAND

S. WILLIAMS/V. Azarenka
3-6, 6-2, 6-3

THE MODERATOR:  Questions, please.

Q.  You've often said you enjoy playing Maria Sharapova.  That will come in
the next round.  Do you approach playing Victoria Azarenka in the same way?
SERENA WILLIAMS:  Uhm, yeah, I feel like me and Victoria always have really
wonderful matches.  She's always able to push it to three sets.  We always
have some great three-set matches.
Whenever I see her name I get excited because I feel like there's going to be
an opportunity to see how far I am, how well I'm doing.  We always play each
other pretty much every tournament.  I'm usually getting used to that.

Q.  What do you feel made the difference today?  Obviously a very
high-quality match.  Victoria was saying you pretty much won a set just on
aces.
SERENA WILLIAMS:  Uhm, I don't know.  I guess, you know, obviously-- I
thought she served really well.  She served a lot of aces herself for her.
 And she just kept mixing it up, throwing it off.  I wasn't quite sure where
she was serving.  I thought she did a really good job with mixing it up.
The difference?  I don't know.  I don't know what the difference was.  I
would say serves, but we both I think were able to hold our serves.

Q.  Was that as well as you feel like you can serve, especially towards the
end of the match?  Do you feel like you were relying on those big serves to
come through for you?
SERENA WILLIAMS:  I like to believe and hope I can serve better.  But, I
mean, I always try to serve big on grass.  So I don't know.  I mean, that's
my game on grass, just aces.  I think everyone tries to do that.

Q.  You put on a very high-quality match out there, very entertaining.
 Caroline Wozniacki said she didn't think enough of the women's matches were
on the main courts.  Do you agree with her with that?
SERENA WILLIAMS:  Every year there's two men's and one woman's match on the
main courts, Court No.1 as well as on Centre Court.
You know, we're still fighting on that.  We've made some-- God, I've lost my
words-- progress, yeah.  But hopefully we'll keep making more progress.

Q.  What do you mean you made progress?
SERENA WILLIAMS:  We made progress making sure that women have more featured
matches.  It's just a little bit at a time.  Hopefully we'll get to the point
where we'll even have more featured matches.

Q.  Caroline said a lot of the women feel the same way.  Is there an
agreement among the women?
SERENA WILLIAMS:  I don't think it's limited to Wimbledon.  We have this
problem at a lot of different tournaments.  Pretty much most of the
tournaments that are both men and women.
So I think it doesn't start here.  It's a huge conversation that we have to
have.

Q.  As far as the match with Maria goes, it's well-known you're not the best
of friends, as it were.  People call it a grudge match.  I suppose it
actually has to be even sided for it to be a grudge match.  You haven't lost
to her in 11 years.  How are you feeling about it?
SERENA WILLIAMS:  I love playing Maria.  I think she brings out the best in
me.  I think I bring out the best in her.  I thought we had a wonderful final
in Australia.  It was very entertaining.  She played really well.
For me, I don't feel like I have any pressure going into this match.  We both
actually lost early last year.  We both are kind of enjoying this moment and
one of us will be in the final.

Q.  When you step on Centre Court and are pursuing the championship here,
what is the connection that you feel with the game's greats who have preceded
you, Althea Gibson, Billie Jean King, Steffi Graf and the others?
SERENA WILLIAMS:  When you're out there, to be honest, you pretty much just
think about your match and your opponent.  I don't necessarily think about
the amazing women that led the way for me to have an opportunity to play.
So I just kind of focus on the moment.

Q.  When you see your name on the trophy, and it's there a lot, what is the
connection you feel with the people who preceded you?  What is the feeling in
general?
SERENA WILLIAMS:  It's really an unbelievable feeling to be there etched
forever in history, something that you work on as a kid, your whole life.
 You dream of having that moment.  To get that more than once, it's a really
special feeling.

Q.  You're having all this fantastic success.  Do you ever say to yourself,
This is kind of fun?  Are you enjoying the process?
SERENA WILLIAMS:  Yeah, I've been really enjoying it.  I think that's why
I've been able to have this opportunity to play well, to do well, because
every time I step out on the court, it's been, you know, fun.  It's really a
fun time for me.

Q.  Does that help you to relax on court and know everything is going to be
okay no matter what?
SERENA WILLIAMS:  Yeah.  I have nothing to lose.  If I win, it's great.  If I
lose, you know, I did pretty well, you know.
Yeah, it's just totally different for me.  I don't have anything to prove.  I
won all the Grand Slams, multiple times.  Now it's just I'm here just to
enjoy it.  I think it's actually making me play better, which is crazy.

Q.  At different stages in the match, the crowd actually started laughing
quite loudly about some of the grunting on the court.  Do you find that
distracting when you're actually playing?
SERENA WILLIAMS:  Uhm, a little bit sometimes.  It's just 'cause you're not
sure.  You're trying to listen for the line judge at times.  But it's
happened a few times.  I'm kind of used to it.

Q.  Do you feel it's disrespectful?
SERENA WILLIAMS:  I don't know if that's the correct word to use.  I don't
think it's done in a disrespectful way.  I just know that, as today, me and
Vika, we were just giving our all out there.  Literally we gave everything
that we had.  So, yeah.

Q.  Victoria said it seemed a bit unfair because she was training next to
Nadal the other day and said he grunts much louder than she does.  It seems
like it's something that happens when women play rather than the men.
SERENA WILLIAMS:  I'm done with controversy.  I can't.  I'm tired.  I have to
do ice bath.  If you have any other questions, I'm cool, but, you know, I'm
done with that.

Q.  I hope this isn't controversial.  When you get into a third set, do you
feel as though you can't lose at this point?
SERENA WILLIAMS:  I feel really vulnerable.  I feel really vulnerable in a
third set, if I'm down a set.  I just feel this is another opportunity for me
to lose.  I have one more set to win or to lose.  I just go for it.
At that point I kind of relax and see whatever happens happens.

Q.  The match, you didn't really have a chance to have ups and downs in this
match because she was very on.  How hard was it for you to be focused in
every point?  You had to dig in deep.  I think it's one of the best matches
I've seen you play.
SERENA WILLIAMS:  Oh, wow, things.  I have to go back and look at that.
 Everyone said I played so well.  I was kind of like, Really?

Q.  It was consistent with no ups and downs.
SERENA WILLIAMS:  I just felt like I was never really up, so I really need to
really go back and look at this match because I felt like I was just
fighting, fighting, fighting literally to the last point.  So, yeah, I'll
have to see.

Q.  You had a great moment at the net with Victoria.  Talk a little bit about
how you and Victoria get on off the court, a few words about her and her
comeback this year.
SERENA WILLIAMS:  I've been really proud of her and her comeback.  I told her
in Madrid, Man, you've gone through a lot.  I really support that.  I support
you coming back.  You have to go for it.
Yeah, we really get along off the court.  She's always sweet.  We always text
each other when we're doing well.
She's a really nice girl.  I really admire her because she's so intense on
the court, but the second she comes off the court, she's just so different.
 It's just really interesting to see.
It's super respectful.

Q.  Muguruza was not that well-known when she beat you in Paris.  She's in
the semifinals here.  Did you see anything in her game at that point that
made you thing she would be a shortlist great player at that time or did it
feel like out of nowhere?
SERENA WILLIAMS:  Well, I think since then she's done well.  Like she didn't
beat me then lose.  She went on and had a tough three-set match against
Maria.  She got to the quarters again at the French Open.  Had a tough match
with her in Australia this year.  We went three sets.
She's super young.  I definitely see her as someone to watch and be careful
for because she knows how to play.  I think this is probably a good surface
for her.

Q.  How would you describe the inspiration that you draw from the historic
figures in women's tennis, from the people we've discussed before like Billie
Jean, Althea Gibson and others?
SERENA WILLIAMS:  Uhm, right now I can't really draw much inspiration because
I'm in the moment.  I kind of feel like they have opened so many doors for me
and all women in sports in general across the board.  It's just, you know,
something I have to reflect on later.

Q.  You said you're in the moment.  During a big tournament like Wimbledon,
what are the things you do to stay in the moment?
SERENA WILLIAMS:  Well, usually I am really quiet or I stay in my house or
hotel all day.  Just watch TV, play with my dogs.  Chip is not here, yeah.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports