TEB BNP PARIBAS WTA CHAMPIONSHIPS

October 27, 2013

Serena Williams

ISTANBUL, TURKEY

S. WILLIAMS/N. Li
2-6, 6-3, 6-0

THE MODERATOR:  Questions, please.

Q.  You talked about your tank being empty yesterday.  You had enough to get
over the finish line today by the end.  How did you summon the last burst of
energy?
SERENA WILLIAMS:  Yeah, I really don't know.  I was definitely not --I felt
good this morning, much better than I did yesterday, but then in practice I
was like, Oh, no.  I was a little worried, but I just hung in there and just
kept going and going.

Q.  And Patrick said that he felt the first game of the second set was
probably the most crucial of the match.  I just wondered if you felt the same
thing?
SERENA WILLIAMS:  Yeah, I guess looking back it was definitely a very
important game for me to win.  She had been on a real roll.  I guess I was
determined to win that game at any cost, and, yeah, I think it was important,
looking back.

Q.  Do you think you are mentally stronger than anybody else on the tour?
SERENA WILLIAMS:  I don't know if I'm mentally stronger or not.  I just know
what I do and what I can do and that's all I know, so I don't know the answer
to that.

Q.  Do you think after today's game we can say the tennis quality between you
and the other players are closing up?
SERENA WILLIAMS:  I think, you know, I'm just --I don't know.  I don't think
about that.  I feel like there's --I don't know if there is a gap.  I'm not
in your guys' shoes.  It's a complete different position to be in.
I'm just playing, and I'm trying to do the best that I can.  So tough to say.

Q.  82 matches this year.  You won I think 15 tournaments total.  Playing
that much, is that something you can keep up in the future, playing this many
tournaments so consistently without long breaks?  How do you look back on
this year and the whole scheduling?
SERENA WILLIAMS:  I played --you said 15 tournaments?  That's really not a
lot, but, you know, looking --it's really not a tremendous amount of
tournaments.  It's definitely I think the results which was more consistent,
so if I could play the same amount of tournaments and not do any more, I'm
okay with that.
But 15 I think is a bare minimum, or it's pretty low.  Maybe I will do 14
next year or 13.  Yeah.  But definitely not more.  Maybe one or two less.

Q.  Are you still not prepared to call this the best season of your career?
SERENA WILLIAMS:  Well, you have three Grand Slams.  I live to win slams.  I
mean, obviously I'm so excited to be the WTA champion, and I think I have a
top three.  I can't say it's the best.  I can't say it's not the best.  I
don't know.  I really don't know.

Q.  What did you do to refuel last night?
SERENA WILLIAMS:  Well, nothing.  My mom just said maybe I should get out of
my room and like go to dinner.  So we all had dinner last night.
You know, I didn't do anything out of the norm, like I didn't do treatment.
 I just tried to get my mind off of tennis altogether, and in the long run I
think it helped.

Q.  As we know, Li Na had a good year this year.  What do you think of her?
 What do you speak of her for today's game?
SERENA WILLIAMS:  Well, she's a great player.  You can see her improving so
much.  You know, I see her improving every time we play, and, you know, what
I think most of all, she motivates me to want to improve, as well, seeing
she's definitely older and she still is able to add more to her game.  I
definitely want to do the same.  So it's good.

Q.  How do you like the idea of having an orchid named after you?  Because
that's what they are thinking of doing next year for the Championships in
Singapore.
SERENA WILLIAMS:  Having a what?

Q.  Having an orchid flower named after you.
SERENA WILLIAMS:  Oh, okay.  I love orchids.  That would be really nice.

Q.  And your thoughts of the Championships moving out of Istanbul to
Singapore?
SERENA WILLIAMS:  Well, I'm really excited and at the same time I'm really
sad, because Istanbul was such a great place to host it.  Everybody was so
excited to be here.  The fans were just unbelievable and really excellent.
But, you know, you have to go to the next city.  I can only hope that I will
be in Singapore next year, and I look forward to it.  It will be a nice
surprise.

Q.  When you look back at the season, what are some of the things that stand
out for you?
SERENA WILLIAMS:  Well, obviously the French Open was probably the thing that
stands out most.  I really wanted to win that for a number of years now, so
that definitely was something exciting, and being undefeated on clay was
pretty exciting.  So, yeah, definitely that stands out.

Q.  Do you, when you look back at your season, getting back in the car, lying
in bed, do you tend to focus on the great wins or do those four losses kind
of get at you?
SERENA WILLIAMS:  I haven't had time to look back yet.  I just walked off the
court.
I'm definitely gonna focus more, for sure, on the wins, you know, but it's
the same thing.  Learn from my mistakes so I don't repeat them.  So
definitely.

Q.  Undefeated season next year is possible, then?
SERENA WILLIAMS:  No.  No, I don't think --not for me.  Maybe for someone
else, but not for me.

Q.  You mentioned the Grand Slams that when Doug asked you about was it your
best season.  Is it kind of important that you had those moments where you
want to do better next season to sort of keep you going?
SERENA WILLIAMS:  Yeah, for sure.  And I have some areas where I can do a lot
better for next year and I look forward to it.

Q.  And the Australian Open obviously was one of those this year where you
feel like maybe it could have gone better.  I know you're thinking about your
final for the moment, but it's not too far away, is it?
SERENA WILLIAMS:  It's never too far away, but there are 128 people that have
the same thought that I have.  I hope to be the one standing up in the end,
and it's for sure my next goal.  Seeing that I didn't do as well as I want to
there, actually the past few years, so my goal is just to go a year in
Australia without twisting an ankle.  That's what I'm going to start with.

Q.  You're always regarded as one of the best players ever, so what do you
think you can add to your game to make it even more perfect, I should say?
SERENA WILLIAMS:  Well, there is a lot of things.  I don't really want to
discuss them, but there's definitely a lot of things I can add, a multitude
of things.

Q.  How much are you looking forward to vacation?  You've got two months
ahead of you.
SERENA WILLIAMS:  Yeah.

Q.  You will take at least a couple of weeks, I would think, before you get
back into training, no?
SERENA WILLIAMS:  Yeah, like I said, I have no vacation plans thus far, so I
look forward to some time off.  I definitely won't be hanging out with my
buddy Wilson for a while.  We need some time apart, even though I love him.
But, yeah, I tend to take a lot of time off, more than other players, I
think.  I know some players take two weeks off.  I'm like, two weeks?  But I
tend to take a little more time than that.

Q.  Do you ever consider going to the snow rather than doing a beach thing?
SERENA WILLIAMS:  Yeah, no.  I did that once and I will never do it.  No, I'm
a total bikini girl.  I can't even breathe in high altitude.

Q.  You did that once during the offseason?
SERENA WILLIAMS:  I did it once in --  no, it was in --I have a break around
Indian Wells time, so, yeah.  A little vacation in there.

Q.  You did what?  Tahoe or Colorado or what?
SERENA WILLIAMS:  I did Utah.

Q.  You skied?
SERENA WILLIAMS:  Like what?

Q.  Did you ski?
SERENA WILLIAMS:  Oh, I don't ski.  My insurance doesn't cover skiing
accidents (laughter).
So, you know, I don't ski at all, but I did --I don't like the cold.  I'm
from California and I live in Florida, and me and snow, we do not get along.
 We are just like --I can't stand cold weather.  Yeah, more or less sun,
beach, boats.  That's me.

Q.  Right now obviously it's the end of the season and tired and fatigued and
things, but looking back, was it fun?  Was the season fun?  Was it a fun year
of tennis for you?
SERENA WILLIAMS:  It was an awesome year of tennis.  To end with the Billie
Jean King trophy after 40 years and after everything we had the celebration
for this year, I don't know if it's like written or what, but it's just
really exciting.
Again, I haven't had a lot of time to think about it, but I'm happy.  I'm
really happy that I was able to finish it off.

Q.  And you shattered the prize money record for women, breaking the $10
million mark up there along with like Roger and Rafa and Novak.  Must be
pretty good.
SERENA WILLIAMS:  Yeah, it feels great.  I just -- you know, I knew that
obviously this is a great big prize at the end of the year to win, and, you
know, it's just, again, what these pioneers have done for us.
They ended up playing for --the picture where they held a dollar, and, you
know, you win tournaments for over $2 million, so it's just, yeah, it's
amazing.
I just feel honored and blessed to have an opportunity to benefit such
courageous women.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports