THE CHAMPIONSHIPS

July 4, 2018

Serena Williams

Wimbledon, London, England

S. WILLIAMS/V. Tomova

6-1, 6-4

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. How challenging has it been for you here at Wimbledon?
SERENA WILLIAMS: I don't think it's been challenging. I think I've just been
here doing what I want to do and play.

Q. How close do you think you are now to being your best?
SERENA WILLIAMS: For me it's really hard to say. I don't know. There's so
many things that I want to improve on, but that's kind of how I always feel.
I feel like I'm going in the right direction. This match was better than my
first round. I just hope every match is better.

Q. She had a couple of good points. I saw you kind of said a few words to her
at the net afterwards. Did you have some encouragement?
SERENA WILLIAMS: Yeah, she played really well. I felt like she should be
encouraged, keep going in the direction that she's going. She's obviously
going in the right direction.

Q. Was there anything you were particularly pleased about, given your game
today?
SERENA WILLIAMS: I think I just played better. I served a little more
consistent. Still want to work on getting my first serves in more. Overall
it's definitely a little bit better than the first round.

Q. There have been quite a few upsets so far. Half the top 10 seeded women
are out already, only halfway through the second round. What do you make of
that? Do you think there's any reason for that number of quick exits by
highly seeded players other than maybe you're not one of the top 10 seeds
this time?
SERENA WILLIAMS: I don't know. I didn't know it was half. I know just a
couple, but I didn't know it was half of the top 10.

It's hard. Everyone's playing hard. No one's giving you anything for free.
Today I didn't get anything for free. In my first round, I didn't get
anything for free.

I feel like people are going out there and coming out and playing their
hardest.

Q. Is there anything about the grass that can be a leveler maybe, the fact
there's such little play on grass?
SERENA WILLIAMS: Yeah, I mean, every season is a long clay court season, so
it's kind of hard to say this is different. But it's not an easy transition,
clay to grass. Again, we do it every year. But it's something that every
player has to make those adjustments.

Q. Today Madison Keys was asked what she admires most in you. She said no
matter what you've done, you still want more. Talk about the passion that you
have?
SERENA WILLIAMS: Yeah, I feel like I don't know. I feel it was something I
was born with. I always want to continue to go forward. I don't like to be
satiated with a great result. I want to continue and do more. For me, that's
just who I am.

Q. Do you know in the media guide we get here, Wimbledon keeps very detailed
marriage records for every female who has made the semifinals. They have
multiple marriages for some players, all sorts of other things.
SERENA WILLIAMS: Hopefully it will be just one (laughter).

Q. Is that strange that Wimbledon is so up to date? Only for the women
players, not for the men.
SERENA WILLIAMS: I mean, I don't know. I literally have never thought about
it. It's definitely interesting. Yeah, I actually never knew they had that.
It will be interesting to know why it's not for both sexes.

Q. Back to your desire. You spoke about never being satisfied. What is the
balance between wanting something so much but not wanting it too much? Some
players have been in here and said they've almost been defeated by wanting
something so much.
SERENA WILLIAMS: That's what happened the first round, I wanted it so much.
It was stressful.

For me, I don't know. My balance is just taking deep breaths, just calming
down. I don't know how to find that balance. I definitely clearly am not the
best at finding that balance because I'm always worked up a lot on the court.

But I think just figuring it out however way each person can.

Q. What have been your observations of other players, what are the
differences you've seen between them and you?
SERENA WILLIAMS: I don't know. I feel like especially nowadays, everyone is
so pumped, so ready, so intense on the court. I feel like it's a good thing.
I think it brings a lot of excitement to tennis. For me it's super exciting
to see.

Q. Slightly unusual here since the start of the tournament, quite a few more
women's matches played on the Centre and No. 1 courts than the men. Is that
something you welcome?
SERENA WILLIAMS: Yeah, I think it's wonderful. For so many years it was just
two men's, one women's. Now it's several women out there playing. I think
it's a great opportunity. It's great.

They did this the last time I won, as well, I think in 2016. I noticed that
they were giving more women matches on the Centre Court. Just really proud to
be here and play at a tournament that can recognize that.

Q. Back to the conversations about how many of the top seeds have gone out.
What do you think it says for the depth or quality in the women's game right
now that everyone is having such a tough time?
SERENA WILLIAMS: Yeah. Like I said, everyone is playing hard. No one is going
out there and saying, Oh, I have to lose because I'm playing so-and-so today.
These women are going out there and they're fighting. They're coming out to
show that, I belong out here.

I'm actually doing the same thing. I'm going out there saying, I belong here,
as well.

Q. I don't know if you noticed, when you actually started your match, the
stadium was about half empty, four people in the Royal Box, one of them was
reading a newspaper. Is there something do you think that can be done to
address that? Do they need to somehow filter when people can leave the
stadium and come back in? It seemed a little bit weird, to be honest.
SERENA WILLIAMS: You know, the match before, Roger played before. People need
to get up and get refreshments. I mean, I know myself, when I'm a spectator,
I'm the biggest refreshtator [sic]. I'm serious. Men's matches are longer
than the women. You can't sit there the whole time.

They came back. You saw the stadium was more filled, the box was more filled.
I don't blame them. They need to get up and stretch their legs, get some
strawberries and cream, then come back, start cheering again.

Q. As a big server yourself, on the men's tour at the moment they have a ton
of really big guys serving huge. Do you enjoy watching that style of play
when you are a spectator?
SERENA WILLIAMS: When I say 'spectator' I'm thinking of other sports. I don't
spectate as much tennis, unless I'm on my couch.

But, yeah, I like all styles of tennis. I like to see big serves. I like to
see long rallies. I think that's what's cool about it, just different games.
It's not just one game. So many different players playing different types of
games.

Q. Talk about your possible next opponent.
SERENA WILLIAMS: It looks like Mladenovic is going to win. It will be good. I
haven't played her in a while. Yeah, she's had a really good year last year.
She's still doing well.

Like I said, I have to come out there and do the best that I can do.

Q. Over the years there have always been a couple of women who had children
who were on tour. Victoria Azarenka. With the longevity of women playing into
their 30s or beyond, do you think that's something we could see more often?
SERENA WILLIAMS: I think so. I think it will be nice to see ladies live their
life and not start having families at my age (laughter). That's why I think
it's so important.

I think Wimbledon did such a good thing with the seeding. It will be really
nice for these women to take a year off, and have the most amazing thing in
the world, then come back to their job and not have to start from the bottom,
scrape, scrape, scrape. Still give them an opportunity to be out there for
bringing life into the world.

Q. You mentioned your appreciation of the different styles in tennis. What do
you recall about 10 years ago when Rafa beat Roger, if anything? What do you
make of the differences in their styles?
SERENA WILLIAMS: Yeah, I don't remember that at all. I actually was watching
a video incidentally just this morning, I was watching Rafa playing. He had
the long shorts. That's all I remember. I don't remember anything else. Maybe
it was a long match.

Was I there? I don't even know if I was there that year. Yeah, I have a
really bad memory, though.

Q. How about their contrasting styles? What do you think of that?
SERENA WILLIAMS: I think it's great. I think actually now they're a little
bit more similar in terms of staying on the baseline a little bit more. At
least Roger does now. But they both are starting to play aggressive. Rafa
comes to the net a lot more. I actually think both of their games have really
evolved.

Q. I'll take you away from tennis. How are your projects in Africa going?
SERENA WILLIAMS: It's going good. I'm actually working on a new project now.
I'm not going to talk about it, but yeah, it's really exciting.

Q. Which country?
SERENA WILLIAMS: I haven't decided yet.

Q. You mentioned before about remembering matches. You've played a lot of
matches now in your career. In terms of early matches at Wimbledon, how many
of them do you remember? Do you think these two matches you just played will
be matches you remember in years to come?
SERENA WILLIAMS: I don't know. I remember some early ones. I don't remember
some early ones. Sometimes I forget them by the time I'm deeper into the
tournament. It's hard to say.

These two matches were really on the way. Since I'm on my comeback, my first
Wimbledon, I'll more than likely remember them.

Q. Overtime past couple of decades, you've traveled the world as an
ambassador for the United States. On July 4th, I'd like to ask you what you
love about our country, what makes you feel good about being an American?
SERENA WILLIAMS: You know, I just spent my whole life, was raised in America,
Compton, California. I have wonderful memories of growing up, being able to
have an opportunity to play tennis and to travel the world. I'm really
grateful for that.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports