DUBAI DUTY FREE TENNIS CHAMPIONSHIPS

February 18, 2014

Serena Williams

DUBAI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES

S. WILLIAMS/E. Makarova
7-6, 6-0

THE MODERATOR:  Questions, please.

Q.  Well done, Serena.  How did it feel competing again?
SERENA WILLIAMS:  Good.  I felt a little rusty, but it was okay.

Q.  Body all right?
SERENA WILLIAMS:  Body is fine.  Yeah, I just had to get my feet moving, but
it was okay.

Q.  Is it kind of tough to get that rust out also when you are playing a
lefty and she's kind of jamming balls into your body a little bit?
SERENA WILLIAMS:  Yeah, it's definitely not easy, so it was a little more
tough.
Katrina is a good player.  You know, she's had some really good results.

Q.  It kind of seemed in the first set that you were hitting a lot more
backhands than forehands.  Was that anything you were doing on purpose, or...
SERENA WILLIAMS:  I mean, she was hitting to my backhands, but eventually I
started running around and hitting more forehands.  I prefer my backhand, so
sometimes I have to tell myself to hit more forehands than backhands because
I love hitting backhands.

Q.  Talk a little bit about the last game.  Once she got into the second set
it was 5-Love, but then she had like three break points and everything.
SERENA WILLIAMS:  Yeah.  Well, she never gives up, and in that last game she
started playing even better.
I knew that I wanted to close it out there, because she probably felt
comfortable with holding serve and it would have been, you know, a longer
match.
So I really wanted to just kind of really hold that and just get through it.

Q.  Not having played for a month now or over a month, how difficult is it to
adjust to the conditions, you've got to get going?  How difficult is that?
SERENA WILLIAMS:  Well, today was really difficult to me.  I felt so rusty
out there and a little frustrated.  I have been practicing.  I was like,
Gosh, this isn't what I practiced.
But I was just really excited to get through that, because it wasn't, you
know, it wasn't...

Q.  When you feel rusty, what do you have to tell yourself to do?  Get some
rhythm?
SERENA WILLIAMS:  Yeah, I was really telling myself to stay positive, because
I was making a lot of errors that I normally don't make, and my serve just
wasn't popping the way it normally is.
It was just, you know, all around.  I was just really trying to get in the
rhythm.  I was trying to get some sort of rhythm out there.

Q.  In the second set it all changed, right?
SERENA WILLIAMS:  It definitely got better in the second set.  I think the
first set helped me.  You know, if it was to play long points and, you know,
to hit a lot of balls and do a lot of moving, I think it actually helped me.

Q.  When you go to a tournament you have never won before, does it give you
extra motivation?
SERENA WILLIAMS:  I seem not to be able to win the ones I have never won, I
think.  What else haven't I won?

Q.  Why might that be?
SERENA WILLIAMS:  I don't know.  I guess I don't play enough (smiling).
There is no extra motivation.  I mean, I couldn't have any more motivation
than what I already have.  I mean, I don't think it's humanly possible.
I'm always so motivated every time I play.  I'm a complete perfectionist.  I
just want to do better and better.  Yeah.

Q.  In a way, are you glad that you got tested like that in the first set and
go through that and just get that kind of confidence going on in the
tournament?
SERENA WILLIAMS:  Just happy to have the win.  Yeah, I guess.  I'm happy for
the win.  I want to obviously --I'm going to have to play better if I want to
do better here.  I'm happy to get the win.

Q.  Tomorrow you and Venus strangely facing singles opponents.  What do you
expect from that match?
SERENA WILLIAMS:  They are actually great doubles players, so we have a tough
battle in front of us, but we are playing, having fun, we have nothing to
lose.  We are really going to go out there and enjoy ourselves and do the
best we can.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports