ROLAND GARROS

June 2, 2016

Serena Williams

Paris, France

S. WILLIAMS/Y. Putinseva

5-7, 6-4, 6-1

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. It took you a couple hours to come in here. Just wondering how you're
feeling after that match?
SERENA WILLIAMS: I feel better now. I feel fine. Just getting ready for
tomorrow, actually.

Q. Anything particularly bothering you?
SERENA WILLIAMS: No. I just didn't make it. I wanted to finish up everything
since I play pretty early - not too early, but pretty early tomorrow - so I
just wanted to get everything out of the way.

Q. Congratulations, Serena. Have you noticed and have you followed at all the
victories of Kiki Bertens, the opponent you play tomorrow, how she's been
playing this tournament and the week before? Have you followed that at all?
SERENA WILLIAMS: Yeah, I know she won the week before and she's been playing
really well.

Obviously I -- I saw a little bit of her match. We kind of finished around
the same time so I didn't get to see all of it, but I saw some of the
highlights.

She's a really sweet girl. It's always good to see someone like that do well.

Q. You said on court in the second set you thought that might be a match that
you would actually lose. Just talk about the comeback in the second set. It
seemed a little bit reminiscent of the matches you had to pull out here last
year?
SERENA WILLIAMS: Yeah, I just was not playing my best. I kept missing, you
know, just misfiring. Honestly, at one point I didn't see the light at the
end of the tunnel.

I don't know. I just was -- I guess I was not the most positive mentally, but
obviously I didn't want to stop.

Q. Back to Bertens again, you played her last year in the US Open. Do you
remember how she played? What do you think of her game?
SERENA WILLIAMS: Yeah, of course. I remember her being just really tough,
and, you know, giving a good, tough performance. I was happy to get through
that match. Just, you know, every match counts and every match, you know,
leads to a new one.

Q. How do you evaluate her potential as a future player? What do you think
her strengths and weaknesses are?
SERENA WILLIAMS: Well, obviously she has a big serve and a big forehand. She
really moves the ball around well.

Yeah, so she does everything the best she can.

I'm going to finish out with one more question.

Q. I was just curious, in that match at one point you say to yourself, I
don't have my rhythm; I need to do something different. What did you change?
SERENA WILLIAMS: Yeah, I just kept hitting balls out. I just wasn't firing
the way I wanted to. I definitely knew I needed to do something different if
I was going to stay in the tournament.

I always try to have a plan B and C and, you know, go from there. But I just
think -- I felt like in the beginning of the second set or the -- I started
playing better, but then I let her come back.

But I also think she's an incredible fighter, so she kind of came back
through her will and making shots.

Then after that I was like, I have to do something better and different if
I'm going to stick around. Thank you.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports