WESTERN & SOUTHERN FINANCIAL GROUP WOMEN'S OPEN


August 13, 2009


Venus Williams

CINCINNATI, OHIO


F. PENNETTA/V. Williams
7-6, 6-4


THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. Thoughts on your match today.
VENUS WILLIAMS: Yeah, you know, I have to give her credit for playing well
and keeping the ball in play. I just made too many errors today. My errors
were just too high. That didn't help.

Q. Did having to battle the way did you take you out of your game at all and
what you wanted to do?
VENUS WILLIAMS: You know, I don't feel like I executed my game effectively. I
think I could have been more aggressive and played more in the court.
I have to just be ready for my next match.

Q. Did you get a sense the first couple games it was gonna be a bit of a
struggle for you?
VENUS WILLIAMS: You know, the first couple of games I had some opportunities,
and I was confident going into the match. Just it would have been nice to
capitalize on some of my opportunities early.

Q. Did you underestimate her confidence being that she won the tournament
last week?
VENUS WILLIAMS: I really wasn't thinking about that.

Q. She's given you quite a lot of trouble in the past. What is it about her
game that makes it tough?
VENUS WILLIAMS: Obviously she plays well. She plays well.

Q. And she's a good athlete and moves well?
VENUS WILLIAMS: Yeah, she moves well.

Q. How did you feel about the form that you used today, you know, during the
match?
VENUS WILLIAMS: The form?

Q. Right. With how you played, like when you played on Tuesday versus how you
played today.
VENUS WILLIAMS: Like I said earlier, I felt like I had a lot of errors. I
already said how I feel about my form.

Q. Any time you're in the opposite side of bracket as your sister there's
talk about that. Do you guys feel when you play against each other any
differently than when you played back in the Australian Open?
VENUS WILLIAMS: Probably.

Q. Why so?
VENUS WILLIAMS: I don't know. Kind of over the
how-do-you-feel-when-play-your-sister questions.

Q. Most of your matches, when they don't go right, tend to be you didn't
quite take your opportunities or execute the way you wanted to. It's usually
about the way you play.
VENUS WILLIAMS: Yeah, I definitely feel that way. I had too many errors. I
wasn't able to get control of my ball today.
After a while it was obvious to see that she was just keeping the ball in
play and waiting for me to self-destruct, and I kept pressing that red button
today and it didn't work out.

Q. The players you play with her style, are they the most difficult for you
to play if you're not on form?
VENUS WILLIAMS: I don't see it that way at all. You know, I just -- no, I
don't see it that way.

Q. We love what you've done for women's tennis and also for women's tennis
fashion. On a lighter note, you gave us a great show in terms of what you
were wearing today on the court. Was that your own design? And where do you
see ladies tennis fashion headed?
VENUS WILLIAMS: You know, I'm not sure where the fashion is headed, but thank
you for the compliments on my dress today.
Thank you, guys.

End of FastScripts