SONY ERICSSON OPEN

March 28, 2008

Serena Williams

MIAMI, FLORIDA

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. How do you rate your level of play right now?
SERENA WILLIAMS: I'm playing pretty good. Just doing the things that I do in
practice, and trying to keep it there.

Q. It seemed really easy for you today. Was it?
SERENA WILLIAMS: Yeah, it did. It wasn't too tough of a match, but it was a
good match to play. If I would have played different the scoreline would have
been different, so it was important for me to play the away that I played.

Q. And what was the game plan?
SERENA WILLIAMS: You know, I don't know if there was a game plan. It was just
things I've been doing in practice that I wanted to just turn around and do
in my match.

Q. Were you trying to build up momentum, getting your errors out of the way
early?
SERENA WILLIAMS: Pardon?

Q. Are you trying to build up momentum, getting your errors, unforced errors?
SERENA WILLIAMS: Definitely trying to build up momentum. You know, probably
just getting the dust - if I have any dust, getting it off early in the first
few rounds.

Q. Regardless of what's going on with the other top players, your rivals, do
you come to tournaments like this still feeling like, If I play well, I
should win?
SERENA WILLIAMS: Absolutely. If I play well, I can definitely win any time,
so...

Q. You've won this four times and you're the defending champion. Do you come
to this event with a different feeling than when you go into other events?
SERENA WILLIAMS: I love playing here. I love having all my friends come and
see me play. And my family always comes to this event. It's like playing at
home. So I think any time you play at home, like the Patriots playing at
home, you always have that extra umph.

Q. Do you approach a tournament differently, do you think, when you're the
defending champion?
SERENA WILLIAMS: No. The only thing I approach differently - I try not to
think about it. I feel like instead of defending champion, I more or less
feel like I'm coming in here trying to win the title. It definitely erases
any kind of pressure.

Q. You have a more demure outfit on today. Not your usual vibrant. Any
reasons for that? Letting your tennis show? Letting your tennis speak for you
or something?
SERENA WILLIAMS: No, never. Never let my tennis speak for me, that would be
doing way too much.
No, it's a different design. I like it. I think it was just a different look.
Really, I thought it was really feminine and really kind of '50s, I thought.
High wasted and really flirty.

Q. Venus has her line this year as a showcase. When do you plan on having
your line?
SERENA WILLIAMS: I don't know. Hopefully next year, it's always available at
Nike stores.

Q. Can you talk about Steffi Graf at all? What do you remember of her? Did
you think of her as this preeminent tennis player, or did she have any
influence on you?
SERENA WILLIAMS: I mean, Steffi Graff, what could - I mean, when I played her
it was just like a dream come true. She was, hands down, one of the greatest
players. One of the few players to win a Golden Slam: All the Grand Slams and
the Olympics.
Yeah, you know, when I think of Steffi Graff, I just think of the greatest.
She had the greatest footwork ever. She was so focused all the time. She was
a great player, you know, both on and off the court that I had a chance to
experience, and it was just an amazing experience. She was just awesome.