TMS - THE ERICSSON OPEN

March 24, 2001

Serena Williams

THE ERICSSON OPEN

THE MODERATOR: First question for Serena, please.

Q. How do you feel you played tonight?

SERENA WILLIAMS: I played a little erratic today. Just getting in the mood of
things. I was very erratic. But it's nice to be erratic in your first-round
match.

Q. And win?

SERENA WILLIAMS: Yeah. (Laughing.) Yeah, first-round win match. That's the
time to be erratic. It won't be good for me to be erratic in the
quarterfinals or semifinals. I don't think that will be too fun.

Q. That last match, the hard volley, rush to the net.

SERENA WILLIAMS: Yeah.

Q. Was that frustration, gave a point, then you gave her a point?

SERENA WILLIAMS: The last game?

Q. When you did this like --?

SERENA WILLIAMS: Oh, yeah.

Q. Fastball across the side of the court or something.

SERENA WILLIAMS: Yeah. No, no. Not at all. I was just -- it was a weird
match. She's a very weird player, very, very, very unorthodox player.

Q. In what way?

SERENA WILLIAMS: She played -- she hits a lot of spin. Most players don't
play like that. I know Amelie Mauresmo kind of plays like that but kind of on
a different level. And this girl, she has a very -- she has a good serve. I
like her serve. She works on it, it's going to be a lot better because it has
some nice kick on it. Only guys do that really.

Q. So when there's a lot of spin coming to you, what does it do to the game?

SERENA WILLIAMS: Well, you know, it slows down time because I'm a fast player
so it makes me -- I wasn't hitting my strike zone today. She hit everything
above my strike zone.

Q. Do you feel you played down to her level the second set?

SERENA WILLIAMS: I don't think I played down. I mean, she was a good player.
You have to be a good player to be a professional these days.

Q. Do you feel any more in the spotlight this week?

SERENA WILLIAMS: Well, obviously, yeah, yeah. For sure. But it's normal. I'm
pretty used to a lot of being harassed. (Laughing.)

Q. A lot of people in our industry ask you the same questions over and over.
I get sick of hearing them myself. I wonder like what it takes, how do you
have the resolve to like constantly answer those same things over and over?

SERENA WILLIAMS: Yeah, it definitely takes a lot of patience. Because every
week, especially --.

Q. Do you and your sister, how do you feel about playing each other.

SERENA WILLIAMS: Yeah, I get asked that one at least twelve times. But, yeah,
it's really I don't know. People think of different things to ask, but
everybody has the myopic views. No one's just looking left or right.
Everyone's looking straight ahead.

Q. Feel a pretty good right now?

SERENA WILLIAMS: Actually, I'm practicing a lot better than I was at Indian
Wells so I am feeling a lot better. I didn't play like I was, but I am
practicing, I'm getting the feel of the ball a lot better than I was last
week. So it's looking pretty good.

Q. Couple of quick fashion questions. Is there a color that makes you feel
more powerful?

SERENA WILLIAMS: Hot pink. You know, the color I have on, it makes me feel
really powerful. Actually I'm designing a lot of things in hot pink, I don't
know, because it's a very fashionable color. It also was the color of the
'80s, everyone was wearing the pinks and hot pinks and everything's coming
back.

Q. You were barely here in the '80s.

SERENA WILLIAMS: '80s are coming back in fashion. It's a nice popular color
for now.

Q. You do hot pink, mix it up.

SERENA WILLIAMS: Yeah, I didn't design this one but they mixed it up with
this blue, which I think was really fun because not normally do you see a
pink with a blue, but it goes very well together. The blue is kind of like a
bright blue rather than a dark blue. It's really nice.

Q. Any other colors that give you a charge?

SERENA WILLIAMS: Yeah, actually I've gotten into a lot of blues, like a light
blue that goes on into dark blue and also --.

Q. Like a fade almost?

SERENA WILLIAMS: Like a fade almost. And also I've gotten a lot into greens.
I don't know why. I think greens are --.

Q. I know. I was talking to you guys on the conference call the other day
about that green.

SERENA WILLIAMS: Tracy? (Smiling.)

Q. Yeah. Hi! (Laughter.)

SERENA WILLIAMS: I listen to your show all the time!

Q. Okay.

SERENA WILLIAMS: Yeah, I'm really into the green.

Q. Cool! Very cool. Without giving away too much to the competition, you come
back from a trip like Indian Wells, all that happened out there, what do you
do to get yourself together and what kind of regime are you doing?

SERENA WILLIAMS: Well, I actually took a few days off after the Ericsson --
after Indian Wells, because I just wanted to take some time off. But like I
said, I'm hitting a lot better ironically enough, after I took the time off.
Sometimes I think if you step back and take a step forward, you can go even
farther. I think that's what I did and I think it's working quite well.