ROGERS CUP WOMEN

August 10, 2014

Venus Williams

MONTREAL, QUEBEC

A. RADWANSKA/V. Williams
6-4, 6-2

THE MODERATOR:  Questions, please.

Q.  You served really well in the first set.  In the second set you took a
lot of pace off the first serve.  Was that a conscious decision to put more
first serves in?
VENUS WILLIAMS:  Maybe I just tried to mix it up a little bit.  I think for
the most part I usually try to go for my first serve.
So different tactics, I guess.

Q.  What do you think made the difference today?
VENUS WILLIAMS:  You know, she's always playing well.  Every time we play,
she plays a great match.  She just didn't make a lot of errors, and does what
she does best.
She just was a little too good today.

Q.  How did it feel today going into the match physically?
VENUS WILLIAMS:  Yeah, it's been a really long week.  I played like six
matches in a row.
Against her you really have to be patient.  Today I just didn't have
everything to be patient and really work the point.
So, you know, it's wonderful.  I'd love to play again next week six matches
in a row, too, but it's a lot.  It's a lot.
I just fell a little short today.  I wanted to give more, but I just didn't
have it.  It felt great to play so well this week.  I really would like to
think under circumstances where I could give everything I have, that the
results could have been a little different.

Q.  Are you saying you're tired because of the illness?
VENUS WILLIAMS:  No.  I just think this week I was tired because I played so
many matches, a couple thousand hours on the court.
That's great for me.  Instead of unreasonable fatigue that's unconquerable,
just the opposite really:  a fatigue from too much success.  That's the
positive of today.  I ran out of energy because I was winning too many
matches.  I haven't had that problem in a long time.

Q.  Considering how well you've done this week, you're back in the top 20,
have you set yourself some goals between now and the end of the season?
VENUS WILLIAMS:  Yeah, I totally wanted to be in the top 20 like earlier this
year.  I've been having goals.  Just kind of fell a little short.  But it's
always a goal in mind for myself and hopefully most tennis players.
I would love to hit the top 16 and just keep going forward after that.
 Obviously, if I can continue this level of tennis, it will be something that
can happen for me.

Q.  What did you enjoy the most during this amazing week in Montréal?
VENUS WILLIAMS:  What I enjoyed the most was just being able to compete,
being able to push myself, being able to have the opportunity to really bring
everything I had.
So for me that felt amazing, just to have a chance, to be able to enjoy the
competition.  For me, that was the most amazing part of the week.
As well as the fans here in Montréal, because I didn't expect that kind of
support.  I felt like I was from, you know, Québec.  I might be a long-lost
soul from Québec.
This is my favorite city.  I love it.  My favorite city has always been Rome.
 As I've been going around the city, I'm like, Oh, my God, this is really
competing with Rome.  I just love it here.
So I can't wait to come back.  As much as I love Toronto, I wish the women's
tournament was here every year.
Just seeing the fans, too.  I think I was hitting some balls on Sunday, and I
couldn't believe the massive number of fans here.  I was like, My God, I've
never seen anything like it, even at a major.
Just overwhelming support for tennis here.  Makes you feel real good about
what you're doing on the court.

Q.  Why did you wait so long?
VENUS WILLIAMS:  I don't know.  There's times I didn't enter.  There were
many times I had to withdraw with injury.
It wasn't planned.  It was just something that happened.

Q.  Is it possible that you might be back later on this year to play in Qué
bec?
VENUS WILLIAMS:  Yes, actually, I am coming back to Québec.  I'm so excited.
 Right after the Open.  This has been a year where I've, like, been doing
things that I've never done before, which is coming to Montréal, coming to Qu
ébec.  I'm excited about that.
What's great about that tournament is it's the first place Serena ever played
a professional match.  It will be nice to go back to that, experience the
things she experienced.  I would love to continue my winning ways in Canada,
in Québec, so I'm looking forward to it.

Q.  You talked earlier this week about enjoying the time you have, a new
philosophy for enjoying the game.  Based on the success you're having, does
that philosophy shift to becoming more competitive, not so much the enjoyment
of the game, but the enjoyment of the results?
VENUS WILLIAMS:  Well, it's interesting because when you're out there
training, you work hard so you can get the results.  When you don't get them,
you just go back to the drawing board.
For me, it's starting to come.  Finding myself in all these different
situations where you're playing the world No.1, you're in the semifinals,
you're in a final, I've done it so many times, but yet I haven't done it in a
while.  I've played in some matches, but then long breaks between, that sort
of thing.
It's definitely a really interesting experience.  I would say more than
anything I'm just so grateful.  Obviously everything that I've accomplished
on the court I earned, 'cause you can't not earn it.  But I'm so grateful
just for everything.  It's a whole new way of looking at things now.

Q.  Prize money has come up a few times.  Stacey Allaster talked about the
difference in prize money between the men and women in Canada.  You're
somebody who has lobbied for that in the past.  What do you think should be
done in bringing about total equality in prize money?
VENUS WILLIAMS:  I'm sorry, I'm not sure what the men's prize money is.
 Their tournament might be a different tier.

Q.  It is.  In general, what do you think can be done to bring about that
kind of equality?
VENUS WILLIAMS:  I think this is a different case because we have five
tournaments at this level, and it happens this level tournament is in this
city.  We also have four tournaments at another level that are equal with the
men.
The tours are separate.  I'm not sure what their tournament is.  I think it
might be a Masters Series.  I'm not as tuned in to their tour.  At this point
I think it's just the different level of tournaments happening in the same
week.  It's not necessarily connected.
I really haven't paid attention to their tour in terms of that, if that makes
any sense.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports