AUSTRALIAN OPEN

January 23, 2019

Serena Williams

Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

K. PLISKOVA/S. Williams

6-4, 4-6, 7-5

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. How is your ankle? What happened at match point 5-1 up?
SERENA WILLIAMS: My ankle seems to be fine. I usually don't know until the
next day, so...

I think she just played lights out on match point, literally, hitting lines.
Just went for -- just went crazy on match point. So I don't think -- she just
played unbelievable on match point.

Q. Why didn't you ask for a trainer on that changeover after turning your
ankle?
SERENA WILLIAMS: I really hate calling the trainer out, to be honest. And at
that point I didn't feel like I needed it or I didn't feel like it would be a
big deal. So I just kept going.

Q. You just like to soldier on without help? Is that why you don't like
trainers?
SERENA WILLIAMS: Yeah, you know, I like to just kind of tough it out, so to
say. But, yeah, it was fine.

Q. You'd been serving really well, then didn't win a point on serve after
that point. Was it uncomfortable landing on it? Did it put a bit of doubt in
your mind?
SERENA WILLIAMS: No, I think she just played well on my serve after that
point. I think she just kind of started playing really, really good. I don't
think it had anything to do with my ankle, per se. I just think she was just
nailing and hitting shots.

Obviously I made some mistakes, but she played really well after that.

Q. Do you have any idea what your schedule is going to be after here?
SERENA WILLIAMS: I don't know. I got an email that I was entered in Indian
Wells, so... I guess that's what I'm entered in. I guess you're automatically
entered with your ranking, so...

Q. 5-1, 5-2, 5-3, 5-4, what's going on in your mind? She came out on the
court 5-1 pretty much giving up.
SERENA WILLIAMS: I don't think she gave up at all. Literally, I think
honestly she didn't start playing until she was down match point. I think she
really gave it her all at that point. I don't think giving up was an option
for her.

At that point I'm just trying to think, Okay, win some points, win this game.
Then I had a couple more match points on her serve. Naturally I thought, All
right, here we go, you're going to win one of these.

That clearly didn't happen, but I was just trying at that point.

Q. Putting things a little bit in perspective, you've had a very incredible
comeback, but have as yet to really reach the summit and win a slam. Could
you talk about the big picture since you've come back, falling a little short.
SERENA WILLIAMS: Yeah, I guess, I mean, the big picture for me is always
winning. I'm not going to sit here and lie about that. But it hasn't happened
yet, but I feel like it's going to happen. Just keep taking it one match at a
time, just keep soldiering on, I guess.

Q. You still have the fire?
SERENA WILLIAMS: Yeah, absolutely.

Q. Out of thousands of matches you have played, is this one of the most
painful? I don't think you can remember them all, wins and losses, but is
this the most unexpected or not?
SERENA WILLIAMS: It's kind of hard to say because she -- there's nothing I
did wrong on those match points. I didn't do anything wrong. I stayed
aggressive. She just literally hit the lines on some of them.

One she hit an ace, unreturnable serve. Like I literally did everything I
could on those match points. It's not like -- yeah, I can't say that I choked
on those match points. She literally played her best tennis ever on those
shots.

I don't really -- I can't really say that it's incredibly painful as opposed
to what can I do better, you know, yeah.

Q. Just back to your schedule. I wonder if you and Patrick have discussed
about trying to play a few more tournaments than you played recently just to
get more sort of matches under your belt month to month, so to speak?
SERENA WILLIAMS: We haven't really discussed our tournament schedule, to be
honest. So, I mean, maybe that's something we should discuss. But, yeah, we
haven't really. We're kind of just going with the flow, what we've played
throughout the years, not really changing too much of that.

Q. I'm sure throughout your career you're always used to planning ahead,
asked to enter tournaments early, commitments. How different is it for you
now going with the flow like that? Do you think throughout the year you're
going to be doing that or maybe start looking two, three months ahead?
SERENA WILLIAMS: No, no, no. I misspoke. But you have to enter tournaments a
year in advance, you kind of know your schedule. Based on your ranking, some
tournaments you're automatically entered into, so I do know my schedule for
the rest of the year. I'm not really going with the flow, but I kind of know
what's next.

Q. Patrick said the other day that you can't hurry time. When you're coming
back from a year off, having a baby, as much as you want to be back and be
the Serena of old, that's the one thing you cannot hurry. How tough is that
for you? Are you developing more patience? Are you starting to become
frustrated because of what your expectations are?
SERENA WILLIAMS: Yeah, it's definitely not easy for me. From day one, I
expect to go out and, quite frankly, to win. That hasn't happened. But I do
like my attitude. I like that I don't want to go out here and say, I expect
to lose because I had a year off, I've been playing for 10 months. I'm not
supposed to win. I don't have that attitude.

I have the attitude of, like, I've only been playing ten months, but I expect
to win, and if I don't, it's disappointing. I rather think of it that way and
know that it's going to happen sooner or later than making an excuse for
myself. I don't like making excuses.

Q. That 24th Grand Slam is agonizingly close. Do you retain the belief you
can achieve that at some stage? If so, where do you think is the best chance
to get that record?
SERENA WILLIAMS: Right now would be Roland Garros because that's the next
one, the next Grand Slam for me. But, yeah, I mean, 22 is close, 23 wasn't
close, but 22 was close for a long time. 18 was close forever. Yeah, we'll
see.

Q. You're 10 months into your comeback now. How close do you feel you are to
where you wanted to be, to where you aimed to be when you started that
comeback?
SERENA WILLIAMS: I don't know. It's hard to say because, like I said, from
the first tournament I'm thinking that I should win, which is not practical.
But I know there's a lot of things that I need to do, a lot of things I need
to do to get better, a lot of maybe more just matches. I don't know. Whatever.

I just feel like as close as I want to say that I'm there, I know that
there's a lot more that I need to do to kind of get there. 10 months, soon to
be 11 months, soon it will be 12 months. It just takes time.

Q. Is it a little easier to get over these losses now that you have kind of
like more of a home life, a family, going back and seeing Olympia maybe
smile, whatever? Or that's not even...
SERENA WILLIAMS: I don't think it's any easier. I mean, I don't really take
losses well. But, like I said, Karolina literally played lights out starting
5-1, 40-30. Literally I've never seen anything like it. If anything, I think
that's a little bit easier to know, Okay, next time I'm up 5-1 against
anybody, whether it's her or anyone, I just need to make sure I play lights
out when I have match points.

It's little things like that that I used to do, always do, that I need
matches to know that, Okay, this is when you go psycho, when you have match
point (smiling).

It's a good learning experience to know the next time that I have match
point, like, Okay, just like go bananas on it.

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