Yung-Jan Chan defeats Serena Williams (ret.) 5-3, ret.
Second Round
AMY BINDER: Questions for Serena, please.

Q. Serena, it looked like it was a battle right from the beginning for you
there. How has that been?

SERENA WILLIAMS: You know, in practice yesterday I was sliding. I was working
on some sliding, and I think I must have just strained it a little bit, and I
took the rest of the day off and today all day, and I was just hoping it
would get better.

Q. What is the injury, Serena? Is it your hamstring?

SERENA WILLIAMS: No. It's my groin. I think I just have a slight strain on
it, or I don't know the exact diagnosis. I have to go see, but somewhere in
that neighborhood. It's something like that.

Q. Do you expect that's going to affect you for the Fed Cup?

SERENA WILLIAMS: I haven't even thought that far right now. I'm just -- you
know, Fed Cup is on hard court, so I don't think it should affect me. I hope
it doesn't. I really didn't want it to affect this tournament, as I had goals
to reach. So you know, I don't know.

Q. Did you ever think of not playing tonight before the match?

SERENA WILLIAMS: No. I knew that -- I figured I'd have tomorrow off. If I
could just get through today, then I would have all day tomorrow to recover
and then hopefully get ready for Thursday. So that wasn't a thought at all.

Q. You seem pretty shaken up. I mean emotionally, I know you wanted to be
here for this one. I mean is this really emotional for you to have to pull
out?
SERENA WILLIAMS: You know, it is. This is one title that I don't have, and I
feel like I should have it already, and I feel like, you know, I just -- I
really wanted to play this tournament, and it's a great draw, and you know, I
didn't want to be the one to miss out on it. Seemed like this was my year for
this event.

Q. Do you have a sense of how serious it is? I mean can you feel or --
SERENA WILLIAMS: I have no idea. I was talking to the trainer, and she said
it doesn't seem like it's a tournament -- like it shouldn't affect me a
couple of weeks down the road, but it could potentially get worse if I didn't
take care of it.

Q. And you would have to then just stay off it?

SERENA WILLIAMS: A lot of ice, which I hate, and stim., and a lot of massage
just to keep the tissues good, I guess.

Q. Does this just stem from clay court?

SERENA WILLIAMS: I think so. I've been playing a lot on the
clay, and like I said, I was just sliding a lot, and I think
I just slid too far. Maybe I wasn't warmed up enough, even
though I was, and I don't know. It's just -- you see a lot of taped legs on
clay courts.

Q. With all this tournament, in the last ten days I know you players were
strictly focused on your opponent, but a lot of players have pulled out or
withdrawn because of injury. Did that enter into your mind at all as you were
leaving the court?

SERENA WILLIAMS: Yeah, it did, and I didn't want to be one of those, and
that's what I thought, if I could just get
through today, then I'd have tomorrow off, and plus it would
help my ranking going into the spring in the other clay court
tournaments, so yeah.

Q. We don't often get to see players apologize for the fans. Why did you do
that tonight?

SERENA WILLIAMS: Well, I have a great advisor on the WTA Tour who suggested
it, and it was definitely a good idea because they should hear from me that,
you know, I really wanted to be out there more than anything, and I don't
know what to say. It was really disappointing.

Q. Has the trainer given you any indication of what the recovery period will
be?

SERENA WILLIAMS: I'm going to find all that out right now. Thank you guys.