AUSTRALIAN OPEN


January 27, 2010


Serena Williams

MELBOURNE, VICTORIA


S. WILLIAMS/V. Azarenka
4-6, 7-6, 6-2


THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. You said on court after the match that you were surprised. What did you
mean by that?
SERENA WILLIAMS: Well, I mean, I wasn't playing my best, especially in the
first two sets. I definitely think I played well in the third.
But, you know, I was down the whole match from the first point until the end.
So I was like, okay, well, I was surprised. I wasn't surprised but I was
definitely shocked.

Q. Was it a letdown from the Stosur game?
SERENA WILLIAMS: No, I knew that I couldn't play that perfect that soon, so I
was just happy to -- I was happy to -- able to get my serve towards the end
of the second back.

Q. Was that the key to it all, getting your serve back?
SERENA WILLIAMS: Yeah, I think in the second set I had 42% first serve, which
really isn't very good. I was still able to manage to win that. I knew if I
could just do a little better and make a little less errors -- I made a lot
-- I knew I could be better.

Q. You've had some great comebacks here. Where does that one rate?
SERENA WILLIAMS: Um, I don't know. It's like I can't say it's No. 1 because
I've been down match point several times, especially 2007. I was down a
couple match points and, yeah, I think that was pretty cool. And then I know
in '03 I was down some match points. It's nothing like being down match
points, so...

Q. But 4-Love to a young player who's tearing the cover off the ball is not
easy to get back.
SERENA WILLIAMS: Not at all. And at that point she was playing so well. She's
obviously young and does well. She's no pushover, that's for sure.

Q. Did you sense her drop off, back off a little bit in the way she was
playing? She mentioned she probably backed off a little bit.
SERENA WILLIAMS: I don't know. I thought she was aggressive the whole time,
you know. She's the kind of player you really have to take it to. I thought
she played excellent.

Q. Is there any different mindset when you play a match and your sister just
lost?
SERENA WILLIAMS: Yeah, I just try not to think about it too much. It was
obviously on my mind. Just tried to do what I could.

Q. How much of Venus's game were you able to see waiting for your own match?
Are you busy doing your own thing?
SERENA WILLIAMS: Well, I saw maybe one or two points, maybe three. I don't
want to watch too much. I get too nervous watching and my stomach is just
sick. I get way too emotionally involved. So it's not really good for me to
be watching her match before I play.
And, um, obviously I was incredibly disappointed. Yeah, just try not to deal
with it.

Q. At what point do you find out whether she's won or lost?
SERENA WILLIAMS: Well, no, no, no. Pretty much the locker room is in a
frenzy, so you pretty much know what's going on.

Q. You said on court that you were thinking about maybe getting a flight home
on Friday if you lost doubles. You didn't feel that way did you? You didn't
count yourself out of the match.
SERENA WILLIAMS: Well, I don't know. I was just trying to do what I could.
Wasn't feeling that great. I thought, Well, worst-case scenario I can go
home. I never really count myself out. Those are random thoughts. I can think
about anything at any point. That was one random thought I thought about.

Q. You weren't feeling physically good or mentally, what?
SERENA WILLIAMS: You know, physically, but I was able to push through it. You
know, I think that's fine. Like I said, I don't make any excuses. Win, lose
are or draw, I'm here and I have a heartbeat, and that's more than a lot of
people have.

Q. You had your left calf bandaged.
SERENA WILLIAMS: I have everything bandaged.

Q. Is that the latest edition to your ailments or injuries?
SERENA WILLIAMS: No, that's been bandaged. So, yeah...

Q. What are your thoughts on the next opponent?
SERENA WILLIAMS: You know, she's a fighter. I have to be ready.

Q. You said you got a heartbeat left. How big is it? Two more matches and
five titles for you. Got to be motivating?
SERENA WILLIAMS: Yeah, I don't think about that. I just think about my next
round. Hopefully I can win. That's all.
I just got to do the best that I can. I can't be disappointed with anything.
Just I feel like I've been on an uphill battle this whole tournament and I'm
still alive. No matter what, I feel like if I can stay positive I'll be fine.

Q. That's been your history here. Not every single year you've won, but at
least three of them you've been uphill, uphill and still win the title.
SERENA WILLIAMS: Right. Hopefully if I can get through tomorrow and be in the
finals, that'll be great.

Q. Are you surprised at all with the fact that there are two Chinese girls in
the last four? Compared with 2008, when you were playing against Jie Zheng,
which is quite unusual for you, because in the last four usually you play
against Russian girls maybe.
SERENA WILLIAMS: Oh, my God there's no Russians in the semis. Is this a
first?

Q. Yeah.
SERENA WILLIAMS: Wow. I'm not surprised. There's a lot of contenders that
play for China. Tons. They're all really good. Especially with Jie doing so
well and Li Na doing so well, you gotta expect people in China to be excited
are going to want to put their daughter in tennis.

Q. Will you bring the concept of revenge to the next match? Because you said
that when you were playing against Navarro, I think.
SERENA WILLIAMS: No, I mean, my concept is just to do the best I can and stay
focused.

Q. How have you found the support from to the crowd this year?
SERENA WILLIAMS: Yeah, I always have really good support here. It's fun. I
always hear people in the back yelling some things. That's really encouraging
and I really enjoy it.

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