US OPEN

September 3, 2020

Serena Williams

New York, New York, USA

Press Conference

S. WILLIAMS/M. Gasparyan

6-2, 6-4

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. Could you please assess your performance tonight.

SERENA WILLIAMS: I think I competed well. You know, I'm just here to continue
to compete, so I feel like I did that pretty well. Yeah, it was pretty good.

Q. How would you rate your performance now in a Grand Slam to so many of the
other Grand Slams that you have played in? In other words, are you in the
position you'd like to be in? Are you satisfied with where you are right now?

SERENA WILLIAMS: I feel like every day I'm on a new journey, and in this
tournament in particular and this year, it's just a new journey.

So I feel really good. I feel like I'm on that journey and I'm going in the
right direction.

Q. Your next opponent, Sloane Stephens, could you assess her as an opponent.

SERENA WILLIAMS: Well, she's a great competitor. It's an incredibly
interesting match, because she's actually a US Open champion. She's a great
player. You can't win a Grand Slam and not be really, really, really, really,
really good.

Wow, it's a lot. I have a lot of things that I need to go home and focus on
and do to get ready for that.

Q. On the same thought of Sloane Stephens, two American champions playing at
the US Open. Unfortunately, because of the circumstances, no fans. Can you
just give us your perspective on that situation?

SERENA WILLIAMS: It's digital fans. It's 2020. I mean, I'm involved in a
venture company, Serena Ventures. I'm all about the future. I'm glad we're
able to have the Open. It's really cool that we can have it. It's so
important that this is just -- we don't know what the new normal is going to
be. So it's just good that we can have virtual fans and be able to have sport.

Q. Wondering about your approach when you're playing someone like Sloane who
you have had a number of matches against and haven't faced in a while. Do you
go back and see how she's evolved since you last saw her? Does your
preparation change?

SERENA WILLIAMS: I've just got to get ready for the match. It doesn't really
change. Always going to be intense. Always going to be, you know, who I am on
the court, so that's the only thing I can do.

And the only difference is I'm playing such a good player so early, so I have
to bring, you know, what I can even more.

Q. You said on your on-court interview the only thing holding you back is, I
get frustrated. I wanted to ask if you could explain that a little more. What
tends to frustrate you during the match? Would it be more about what you're
doing, the opponent? Is it sometimes some of each in general? And then I
specifically want to ask you about tonight and if there was something
frustrating you during the match tonight.

SERENA WILLIAMS: So the only thing that gets me flustered is really me, like,
because I always feel like I'm not winning every point. I mean, like, that
doesn't make sense. I have been going back and looking at, you know, me and
that's not what I normally do. Usually I'm just calm.

And I just think with the pressure and everything that I felt, like, I felt
like I just needed to be perfect. I always feel like I'm not perfect unless
I'm perfect. That's not a fun way to live your career and live your life.

So it doesn't matter if I lose 20 points in a row now. I just feel like, it's
okay, it's fine, I'm here, and I'm happy. I get to play tennis after all
these years. So just looking at it this way -- it's nothing really. It's
really just me and my mental.

Q. You sort of answered what I was most interested in, but just talk about
your feelings about the process now. Are you feeling joy, or does it feel
like a task and real effort? What are you feeling, your happiness about the
situation?

SERENA WILLIAMS: Well, I think in general I always feel joy when I win
(smiling). But that's also, like, unrealistic, because you can't win every
single match every time, and that's kind of the pressure I put on myself.
It's just completely unrealistic. So I don't -- so I had to, like, take a
step back and just really say, Okay, Serena, no matter who you are or what
you are, no one has ever done that. I mean, I think Floyd Mayweather did, but
dang.

So I guess I could have (smiling). But, no, and then I just think how, you
know, how I'm so grateful to be out here and how much fun that I have had,
and I just needed to get back into that. Once I realized that, it was a
little bit better. It's been a little bit better.

Q. Is Serena sometimes just a little bit too hard on Serena?

SERENA WILLIAMS: Yeah, I'm a perfectionist. And I remember some of my
earliest memories were going, practicing, doing -- I must have been, like,
two or three or four, maybe four, and I was going to school and doing, like,
the alphabet and it wasn't perfect. I just stayed up -- I stayed up and kept
erasing it until I got it perfect.

Then I would cry and then I would erase it and redo it and redo it. I
remember I woke up the next day and I didn't finish my homework because I
kept erasing it. That's been really the story of my life.

It's so, so crazy because my daughter does the exact same thing. I'm, like,
Oh, my goodness. Like, so, yeah, it is just something that's innate, and I
just always have done. It's, like, Okay, Serena, stop. Perfection is -- only
Jesus was perfect, so just stop.

Q. How's your dad doing?

SERENA WILLIAMS: He's good. He was giving me some tips. He told me some
things that I needed to do, so I'm, like, That's my dad.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports