QATAR TOTAL OPEN

February 11, 2013

Serena Williams

DOHA, QATAR

THE MODERATOR:  Questions, please.

Q.  I would like to know how you're feeling.  Are you feeling 100%?
 Injury-free?
SERENA WILLIAMS:  I'm feeling a little better.  You know, just taking it one
day at a time, basically.
So I will see how I feel after my first match.

Q.  What is hurting the most?  The back or the ankle?
SERENA WILLIAMS:  Right now, neither.  So it's a good sign.

Q.  Welcome back to Doha.  Just my first question is how important is it for
you --I mean, we know that the No. 1 ranking is up for grabs this week.  How
important is it for you to get back on top of the game after two-and-a-half
years?
SERENA WILLIAMS:  It will be great.  I think it will be a great feeling.  I
obviously want it, but it's not the only thing I want, you know, so if it
happens, great.  If not, I won't miss anything, I don't think.

Q.  What do you think about the draw?  You could face Maria Sharapova in the
semifinals.
SERENA WILLIAMS:  That's great.  I didn't see the draw, but I'm okay with
that.

Q.  You had a fantastic second half to last year, winning two Grand Slams and
two other big titles.  Are you likely to be able to repeat that during the
coming weeks and months, or is it too early to say whether you'll have the
fitness and the mentality for it?
SERENA WILLIAMS:  For me it's always too early to say.  I just always try to
do the best I can each tournament I enter.

Q.  Was there a risk that you might not be here?  Was your recovery quick?
SERENA WILLIAMS:  Yeah.  It was just two weeks or just a few days, so not too
much time to recover.  But I'm here and I will just play and see how it goes.

Q.  Did you have the occasion of watching Fed Cup, Italy against United
States?  It was pretty close.
SERENA WILLIAMS:  Yeah, it was really close.  I saw the results, but I didn't
get to watch.

Q.  Were you surprised by the results of Lepchenko?  She fought a lot, and
she had a great win against Errani.
SERENA WILLIAMS:  Yeah, she's a good player.  Lepchenko played well on the
clay last year.  I'm not really surprised.

Q.  I have seen that you watched the Super Bowl, the Beyoncé show.  What did
you think about it?  You wrote on Twitter that you wanted the same outfit for
Wimbledon.  Are you serious?
SERENA WILLIAMS:  I was serious, of course.  But I think she's a great
performer.  I think she's a great person.
I think, you know, she's just really awesome.  I think she's the ultimate
performer.

Q.  I just want to get a question on Rafael Nadal making his comeback.  How
pleased are you making his comeback in Chile?  How big of boost would his
impact have on the sport?
SERENA WILLIAMS:  It's good.  I think he was really missed in tennis.  He has
such great energy.  He's just really awesome to watch, so I think he was
missed a lot.

Q.  You have been in this situation of coming off an incredible year before.
 Obviously the same thing last year.  The second half of the year was like
incredible for you.  How do you go about approaching this year?  Do you make
the same goals, or you just see how it plays out?  What's in your mind?
SERENA WILLIAMS:  I just see how it plays out.  Just really do the best that
I can.
If that's winning a tournament or five, that's great.  If that's winning
zero, you know, at least I tried.  So just give 100%.

Q.  Where is home for you these days?  Are you spending more time in France,
LA, Florida?  What's going on?
SERENA WILLIAMS:  Florida.  Florida for me is my home.

Q.  Are you disappointed about having your sister Venus pull out of this
tournament?
SERENA WILLIAMS:  Yeah.  We were definitely supposed to be on the same
flight.  I obviously knew before you guys that she wasn't going to play, so
it was fine.

Q.  How is her recovery going right now?
SERENA WILLIAMS:  I don't know, to be honest.

Q.  In light of the Lance Armstrong scandal, some of the top tennis players
in the men's have come out saying that tennis should step up for the fight
against drugs.  Do you feel like tennis is clean?
SERENA WILLIAMS:  I don't know.  I don't know.  You think every sport is
clean, but I don't know the answer to that.
I just know that I get drug-tested all the time, and that's the best answer I
can say.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports