THE LIPTON CHAMPIONSHIPS

March 23, 1999

Venus Williams

KEY BISCAYNE, FLORIDA

REVEN OLIVER: First question, please.

Q. Venus, were you happy with your game, of course, you are very happy that
you won?

VENUS WILLIAMS: Of course, you always have to be happy that you pulled in the
win, but I wasn't necessarily happy with my play today.

Q. Too many unforced errors?

VENUS WILLIAMS: I don't know what the count was. I think, yeah, maybe too
many unforced errors. I don't think I was aggressive enough. I was waiting
too much for something to happen instead of making something happen. I think
in the first set, in the beginning of the sets I played smart, but I was
unable to keep that up, unfortunately.

Q. Did she change anything in her game?

VENUS WILLIAMS: I think she just felt more confident. She probably started
thinking she could win.

Q. Were you surprised with her performance? Did you expect her to play with
such power and precision?

VENUS WILLIAMS: Yes, I expected her to play, I played her twice before. I
expected her to want to win, so that's no surprise.

Q. Physically, were you tired during the last part of the first set?

VENUS WILLIAMS: No. I'm trying to recover from the sickness. It's very tough,
you know, throughout all the matches. So it is a new challenge for me
definitely.

Q. Are you finding that players on tour are handling your power a little bit
more now than, say, a year ago when you first started on tour?

VENUS WILLIAMS: Oh, how are you? I didn't notice you there.

Q. I'm good. How are you?

VENUS WILLIAMS: Good. No, I think everybody is getting more power in their
game and I think I have great power. If you just step up a little bit it
makes such a great difference. But anyway, it is hard to handle my power, so
the girls have to find a way to just control it.

Q. Venus, did you think that you were the defending champion and you were at
risk in some moments of the match?

VENUS WILLIAMS: Yes, I think that crossed my mind a couple of times. I think
that's the reason why I lost serve twice. There's no need for that because in
the end you have to just win and play the game and say, hey, I'm a better
player here, I have to pull through. So I try to think of it more simply as
the game gets tougher as I have to play this point. I just am going to play
it and I'm going to do things right and do what I'm taught. The tougher a
match gets, the more simple, I think.

Q. Did you think at all about the prospect of playing your sister in the
final; did that creep in?

VENUS WILLIAMS: No.

Q. Not yet?

VENUS WILLIAMS: There's a little while away, it will be super if it could
happen. We are looking forward to it.