LONDON 2012 OLYMPIC GAMES

July 30, 2012

Serena Williams
Venus Williams

LONDON, ENGLAND

WILLIAMS-WILLIAMS/Cirstea-Halep
6-3, 6-2

THE MODERATOR:  Questions, please.

Q.  How much fun was that?
SERENA WILLIAMS:  Let's see.  It was fun.  It was, like, I don't even know.
 It was fun.  It was like we just got out of Wimbledon, and we are back at it
again.  So it felt really good.

Q.  Venus, you played really well in singles today.  Seemed like the best
we've seen you play in a while.  Do you agree with that?
VENUS WILLIAMS:  Yeah, today was definitely seemed a lot more like classic
Venus.  I know she's in here, but she has a couple things she's dealing with,
so she does the best she can.
And I'm saying that I do the best I can.

Q.  We had Serena at one end of the grounds, Venus at the other end, you
finished 10 minutes apart, Roger Federer in the middle on Centre Court.  Does
it ever strike you that you're playing at the same time at such a marquee
event?
SERENA WILLIAMS:  Yeah, you know, the Olympics are so quick, so you have to
play your matches.  Everyone is playing every day.  You never know.
What a good day for fans between me, Venus, Roger, all the other players that
are playing.  It's really such a great experience.
I can tell when Venus is playing because the box isn't totally full, you
know, so you always know that if her match is over, you can see people coming
in.

Q.  A number of athletes keep getting in some hot water over what they're
saying on Twitter.  Another one just got kicked out of the games today.  Do
you have any thoughts on that?
SERENA WILLIAMS:  What did they say?

Q.  The one from Greece got kicked out a few days ago.
SERENA WILLIAMS:  I heard that one.

Q.  There's another one from Switzerland.
SERENA WILLIAMS:  I heard about the Greece one, so I've been really careful
about saying things in social media.  I haven't been on my account too much.
Hopefully I would be devastated if I got kicked out of the Olympics.

Q.  Do you think if there's a racist tweet, the person should be kicked out
of the games?
SERENA WILLIAMS:  I think this is a tournament, not necessarily a tournament
- what's the word - an event that is for all races and all countries and all,
you know, looks and likes around the world.
You know, I think it's honorable if they had to kick someone out because of
that, then they realize there's no color bounds, there's no nothing.  This is
just pure for sport.
You know, that's interesting.  It's definitely not a bad thing.

Q.  Serena, how do you feel you played today?  Looked convincing out there
today.
SERENA WILLIAMS:  I think I played okay.  You know, I was excited to be out
there, to play solid.  I don't think I played bad.
Obviously, I have to believe I can play better or else...
But, you know, for early rounds, I think I'm playing pretty good.

Q.  Serena, what is the verdict for mixed doubles?
SERENA WILLIAMS:  Oh, uhm, what is the sign-in set?

Q.  11 a.m. tomorrow.
SERENA WILLIAMS:  We'll see 11 a.m. tomorrow.  I'll keep you guys on your
toes.

Q.  Are you planning on playing?
SERENA WILLIAMS:  We'll see.

Q.  Venus, can you talk about your game tomorrow, what can you say about
Aleksandra Wozniak?
VENUS WILLIAMS:  We had a competitive match in Miami, my first tournament
back.  So hopefully, you know, I'm a little more prepared for my game since I
had a chance to play her this year.
Obviously, she's talented and motivated, wants to do well in this game, so I
have to come out there and play well.

Q.  What are your thoughts about playing Vera next?
SERENA WILLIAMS:  You know, a good matchup for us both.  Wimbledon final
rematch.  Tough match for me.  She's playing so well, moving well, doing
everything great.  So, you know, it's not an easy tournament.  You have to
get out there.  Playing someone tough so soon, it's going to be a good
challenge for me.

Q.  Being here this week, having been at Wimbledon, I guess you follow some
sort of routines when you're here for the Wimbledon time.  Have you kept to
those sort of routines, gone to the same spots for dinner, shopping for
groceries, anything like that?
VENUS WILLIAMS:  Well, we keep the routine of watching a lot of Olympics
whenever we have free time.  I've especially gotten into archery, it's
amazing.  Maybe get out there for recreation.  But I think that's mostly what
we do, is try our best to participate in the games by supporting the rest of
the US teams and celebrating everybody's victories.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports