U.S. OPEN

August 30, 2012

Venus Williams

NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK

A. KERBER/V. Williams
6-2, 5-7, 7-5

THE MODERATOR:  Questions, please.

Q.  You played your heart out.  Is it frustrating to lose a heartbreaker like
that?
VENUS WILLIAMS:  You know, obviously being on the losing end of a match like
this isn't a lot of fun.  But that's sport.  What can I say?

Q.  Obviously it's hard to take away too many positives, but you did push
very hard against a player you struggled against a lot before this year.  Any
moments where you were proud of the way you were fighting?
VENUS WILLIAMS:  I mean, today all I had was fight because I didn't play
well.  I mean, I don't feel like I put together more than two good points
before I had to make two or three errors.  I looked at the stats, and I made
60 errors.  It's very difficult to win a match like that.
I fought as hard as I could.  Unfortunately, you know, I was fighting her and
me.  That made it difficult.
But I know one of these days that I'm going to play her and I'm going to make
like less errors.  I think at the Olympics I made like 45.  There's going to
be a day when I'm not going to do that and it's going to go a little better
for me.  Unfortunately, it wasn't today.

Q.  How tough a draw is she in the second round?
VENUS WILLIAMS:  Obviously she's playing great this year.  This is her year.
 I think the focus on this match was me.  I just didn't help myself out a lot.
But I fought hard.  I tried really hard.  I just was making errors.  It was a
tough day for me.

Q.  Is this the latest you ever played here at Ashe, and how do you
recuperate for your doubles match?
VENUS WILLIAMS:  I'm not sure this is the latest I've played.  I mean, I,
like Serena, do have to work tomorrow, at least, so that should help.

Q.  Did you hear the one woman shouting out a lot during your points?
VENUS WILLIAMS:  Yeah, there were a lot of people shouting out.  I know this
is not proper tennis etiquette, but this is the first time I've ever played
here that the crowd has been behind me like that.  Today I felt American, you
know, for the first time at the US Open.  So I've waited my whole career to
have this moment and here it is.

Q.  How did that feel to have the crowd behind you like that?
VENUS WILLIAMS:  It was great.  It was awesome.  It felt like winning gold.
 Really meant something.  You know, I fought hard to bring that back to the
U.S.  It felt nice to have that support no matter what.  I'm looking forward
to having that support in doubles and next year as well.

Q.  I believe the first five games were breaks in the first set.  Have you
ever gone through that before?
VENUS WILLIAMS:  Yeah, but it's been a long time.  I usually don't have that
many breaks, but sometimes it happens.

Q.  When you have error-prone matches against her, is it bad luck or because
it just happens to be against her?
VENUS WILLIAMS:  I mean, you know, like I said, this is her year.  Every ball
is landing for her this year.  She's feeling confident.  She's having a great
year.  That's great for her.
For me, I mean, my game is to be aggressive, and I was extremely aggressive.
 But sometimes it's hard to continue to stay aggressive when every shot you
go for goes out.  It's like, you know...
It starts to be trying to find that balance.  I didn't find that today.

Q.  It's a long way out from the city to get here.  How long do you think it
will be before you're able to relax tonight and go to sleep?
VENUS WILLIAMS:  I'm going to go to sleep soon because I have a match
tomorrow.  I need to work on that quickly.

Q.  Is that easy for you?
VENUS WILLIAMS:  I think I'm a pretty good sleeper.  I'll be good.

Q.  Andy Roddick announced his retirement today.  What were your thoughts on
that?
VENUS WILLIAMS:  You know, when you're ready, you're ready.  He's had a
wonderful career.  I think winning here was amazing for him.  I think playing
the Olympics was great, as well.  He's an American champion.
I mean, I'll miss him.  Definitely leave something out for American men's
tennis.

Q.  You're not ready?
VENUS WILLIAMS:  No, because if I could have made two more shots, I probably
could have won that match.  I think there's a big difference for me because
I'm beating myself.  I'm not getting destroyed out there.  There's a big
difference between that.
If I was out there and people were killing me, maybe it's time to hang it up.
 But right now I have to find the answer inside myself.  The best part is
that, you know, I'm playing my game, I'm playing aggressive, and I know that
they'll land.
So unfortunately I had to pay a heavy price today.  At the end of the day, at
least the last shot I missed I was going for the gold.  I didn't get the
gold, but I went for it.  At least I can go to sleep today and know that I
didn't try to push it in and hope for the best, because that's not me.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports