U.S. OPEN

September 1, 2008

Serena Williams

NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK

S. WILLIAMS/S. Bremond
6-2, 6-2

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. How is the tournament so far?
SERENA WILLIAMS: So far, good. Hopefully it can stay that way.

Q. Looks like you and Venus are in a race for least games lost, 14 and 15.
SERENA WILLIAMS: Who is winning?

Q. You're winning.
SERENA WILLIAMS: Yay, at least so far I'm winning in something.

Q. You got to be pretty happy with your form, though? She threw some variety
at you and you responded pretty well.
SERENA WILLIAMS: Yeah, I was definitely ready for the variety. I knew what to
do, and I think I was definitely able to do better than what I might have
done in the past with some variety like that.

Q. You're 8-8 against each other all time, so whoever wins Wednesday at least
will have temporary bragging rights. What do you see as the significance of
that?
SERENA WILLIAMS: Really no significance. I mean, we're just trying to both
get to the next round, so hopefully I'll be able to get there.

Q. When you said that it sucked that you had to play in the quarterfinals, do
you mean it sucked in general or sucked that you had to meet there?
SERENA WILLIAMS: It sucked that it can't be the final. At least the semis.
It's so soon. Actually for me, I've been really working on playing more and
getting my ranking together. You know, it's just disappointing to be so soon.

Q. But you still have enough confidence that if you play to your level you
can beat her?
SERENA WILLIAMS: Absolutely. I feel like I can win the tournament if I play
my best tennis. I don't think I've played my best yet. I feel like I can play
better and hit better, you know, do better.
So I'm going to try to do that.

Q. You can be a bit of a perfectionist, huh? You've lost 14 games, very few
unforced errors and controlling the matches and still not satisfied?
SERENA WILLIAMS: I can be, but I know that I can do better because I know my
game. I feel like I've played better, but I'm taking it -- yeah, I'm serving
well and making a lot less errors, which is definitely something that I
wanted to do.
I just know I can get there.

Q. The Olympics, US Open, any downtime after the tournament here?
SERENA WILLIAMS: No. I haven't had any downtime since Wimbledon, since before
Wimbledon, so...
I knew it was going to be a busy summer, and I knew what the task was and I
was ready to do it.

Q. Do you think of this as sort of a championship match, whoever wins this
can go on and win the title?
SERENA WILLIAMS: I definitely think it's possible, but this is only the
quarterfinal. So, you know, whoever wins this will be going on to the semis
and fighting.

Q. Is No. 1 on your mind at all? You have that in your grasp in this.
SERENA WILLIAMS: Yeah, but, I mean, I still can get it after this. It's not
about getting there for me, it's about keeping it.
So, yeah, I mean, I was watching TV when they said few people have a chance
of being No. 1. They mentioned me, and I was like, No way. It is what it is.
I'll get there. Right now I'm just focusing on the quarterfinals.

Q. Do you feel like the established order of women's tennis is a little bit
more in line with you and Venus now?
SERENA WILLIAMS: Yeah, I just feel like, you know, we're both playing better
and feeling better. We just had a turn in our careers. We're just playing the
way we should play.

Q. Do you feel like you have more at stake since Venus was able to defend at
Wimbledon?
SERENA WILLIAMS: I try not to think about who has more at stake. I just try
to think about doing what's right on the court.

Q. What can you take from the Wimbledon final that might apply in the next
match?
SERENA WILLIAMS: Yeah, I can take a lot from it. I don't think I played well
at all in that final. I was extremely disappointed in my performance.
You know, I'm hoping not to do that again.

Q. How would you define your rivalry with Venus? What words come to mind?
SERENA WILLIAMS: "Classic" and "unique."

Q. "Difficult"?
SERENA WILLIAMS: No, not anymore. No. Just another match, another possibility
for me.

Q. How about for your other family members?
SERENA WILLIAMS: Yeah, I don't know. I'm not in that position, so I can't...

Q. Do they tell you...
SERENA WILLIAMS: No, we don't really talk about tennis too much outside -- we
have so many other things to talk about.

Q. Have you gotten to the point where you can almost bury the family ties
when you play against each other?
SERENA WILLIAMS: Yeah, it's my career and her career. I know she can
definitely bury it, so I can do the same thing.

Q. Sometimes you almost have to do the same thing, huh?
SERENA WILLIAMS: Definitely. I have to do the same thing: just do what it
takes to win.

Q. Do you think because it's hard courts you might have a slightly better
chance than on grass, where she tends to zone a little bit more?
SERENA WILLIAMS: No, I feel like I have a great chance on grass. I think I'm
a great grass-court player without even thinking about it. I feel like I'm an
even better hard court player, so we'll see.

Q. Venus said it would be a lot easier if you were no good at tennis and she
could beat you easily every time. Do you sometimes think about that, too? Do
you wish sometimes you weren't in the same field?
SERENA WILLIAMS: I've never thought about that. I'm glad we're both pretty
good at it, because I always use her. If I'm going somewhere and they give me
a nice gift I'm like, Well, my sister, she's not here, but she would love
that.
If she was no good then I wouldn't be able to do that. And I always keep it.
She doesn't even know about it half the time. I guess maybe she'll know about
it now.

Q. Seems like you almost have your game face on now and the match is two days
away.
SERENA WILLIAMS: Yeah, I'm different. Obviously you guys know I hate to lose.
It doesn't matter who I'm playing. This is only the quarterfinals, and I
really just kind of want to do well, like, I mean, whether I was playing
anyone else on the tour. So just trying to be really serious about it.

Q. And you don't want to end your...
SERENA WILLIAMS: Yeah, I don't. But, you know, I still have a lot more
tournaments to play.

Q. You both have kind of breezed through to this point and all of a sudden
it's going to be much more competitive probably. Is that a big adjustment?
SERENA WILLIAMS: It'll definitely be a big adjustment. I have to be ready.
I'll be ready. I hope.

Q. You were talking about winning gold with her at the Olympics, and you said
you actually prefer much more to be able to share in the victory than perhaps
beat her; is that true?
SERENA WILLIAMS: No, I didn't say beat her, I meant I wanted to win the
singles gold, but it actually felt better to win the doubles because it was
-- I can't describe the feeling. It was just a great feeling.

Q. I asked your sister, weather reports say there may be a major hurricane
hitting the area either on Friday or Saturday. If you're still in the
tournament and it's delayed, how do you think that would impact your play and
strategy?
SERENA WILLIAMS: I have to get there first. You know, I can play on Sunday. I
can play three matches in a day. I can play whatever.

Q. How long did it take you to get over that Wimbledon final? Did you do it
quickly, or did you think about it for days, weeks, whatever?
SERENA WILLIAMS: Yeah, took a couple days. I was over it by the -- later on,
but I just was disappointed in the way I played more than anything.