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U.S. OPEN

August 30, 2016

Serena Williams

New York, NY, USA

S. WILLIAMS/E. Makarova

6-3, 6-3

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. How are you feeling coming into this? Compared with last year, are you in a better place? Are you more determined? How are you looking at it all?
SERENA WILLIAMS: Well, I feel okay. I mean, I didn't play as many matches as I would have liked to play, much on the hard court. There's nothing I can really do about it. I just have to get everything ready for here.

Q. You said on court that you wouldn't know about your shoulder until tomorrow. Is that kind of the way it's been, the day after that it gets sore after playing?
SERENA WILLIAMS: Usually it's the day of. But as time has progressed, and this past week it's usually been the day after, so that's a really positive thing. So, yeah.

Q. What is your takeaway from this first round? Never know what you're going to have. Tough opponent. Handled it well. Based on your serving stats, looked like your shoulder was feeling pretty good.
SERENA WILLIAMS: Yeah, I knew today I needed to be focused because I've played her. She's gotten to the semifinals. She goes deep in majors. She knows how to play big matches on big courts. She's not intimidated. I knew I had to really come out today. It was my only option really.

Q. What were you most pleased with in the match?
SERENA WILLIAMS: I was pleased with my serve because I haven't been hitting a lot of serves at all. In practice, none of them were going in, so I was definitely excited about that.

Q. What, if any, adjustments did you make or have you had to make at all because of the shoulder in terms of how you hit serves? You just mentioned not hitting as many in practice. But in terms of the mechanics or anything, do you need to make adjustments?
SERENA WILLIAMS: No, I didn't make too many adjustments. I didn't hit them as hard as I normally hit them. I just went for more placement. I didn't go for the big 120s, just the regular.

Q. Just about the dress. Are the sleeves part of the whole design? Are they an accessory? What was the idea behind it?
SERENA WILLIAMS: It's a part of the design. It's just the latest and greatest accessory. It also is functional, so I think that helps me, especially with my shoulder problems that I've been having.

But, yeah, it was originally a part of the design. Just try to create that strong, powerful look on the court.

Q. The dress itself, is there a specific vision for it at all?
SERENA WILLIAMS: Well, we wanted to focus on the colors. So keep the color black. But there's lots of pink pops throughout the dress. Yeah, it's kind of what we were doing.

Q. One of the challenges when you play a great match like that is sustaining and building on it. What do you do going forward to sustain that sharpness?
SERENA WILLIAMS: Wow, I think I can improve a lot. I think I can get a lot better. I feel like there's much, much more I can do. That's the only thing I can do is do that.

Q. There's been a lot of changes at the US Open this year. What do you think about the new stadium?
SERENA WILLIAMS: I love the new stadium. It's really nice. I've practiced on it with it opened and closed, and that's been really cool, so...

I haven't seen the new Grandstand yet, but it looks nice on TV (smiling). A lot of changes going on here. I just think it's all good changes.

Q. Is this tournament a more pleasant experience for you than last year's was?
SERENA WILLIAMS: I had a great experience last year. I was going for something that no one has done in a really long time. Yeah, it didn't end out wonderful for me or the way I wanted it to end. But it was all I could do. That's all I could do.

If I could make the semis this year, I'd be excited about that. I need to at least do something.

Q. With all the changes, one thing that hasn't changed is the tradition of hitting the balls up to the crowd at the end of the matches. When you do that, what goes through your mind? Do you try to send them to certain people?
SERENA WILLIAMS: I usually pick someone out. They never, never get the ball. Although today, the first time I picked someone out, the guy actually got the ball. That was exciting. That's all that goes through my mind.

Q. You were asked on court about 1999, that run. If the Serena of today were to play that 1999 version of Serena, how would that match play out?
SERENA WILLIAMS: Well, what year would it be?

Q. It would be whatever year you wanted it to be.
SERENA WILLIAMS: That makes a difference 'cause if I were to go back in time, I don't think I would win, because I was determined to win in '99. I don't think anything could have stopped me that year. I just had this feeling, even before I played the tournament, that I was going to win.

Maybe if it was a different year, I might have more of a chance.

Q. Do you feel like you're a different tactical player?
SERENA WILLIAMS: I definitely feel like I'm more tactical now. But I still I have that raw, I don't care what is your best shot, I'm just going to play my best shot and let's play tennis attitude. I still have that. But I definitely play with a little more tactic.

Q. Talk about why you were so determined to win in '99.
SERENA WILLIAMS: I don't know. I don't know. I always say this. I just had this feeling I was going to win. I knew it. I've never been so sure before or after.

Q. Your movement was exceptionally good tonight. Can you comment on that.
SERENA WILLIAMS: Well, it's all I could do with a shoulder injury, was movement. I couldn't hit any balls. I wanted to stay fit, so...

I guess that kind of helped me out a little bit.

Q. It looked like you were using some of the cupping therapy that some of the swimmers do in the Olympics. Are you using that?
SERENA WILLIAMS: I've always done that. I didn't know it was something for recovery. If I go to my lady in Palm Beach, it's part of acupuncture, I love getting it, it makes me relax. I was like, Wow, you can do that for recovery? I don't usually do it on the road. I've never done it on the road.

But I'm always learning new things. I definitely would love to try it on the road because I love the way it feels. But I never knew you could use it for recovery.

Q. A lot of talk about you retaining the world No. 1. How important is that to you?
SERENA WILLIAMS: I don't answer those questions.

Q. You and Venus have and continue to make history. When you both are playing on Ashe on the same day, is there any extra sense of enthusiasm to get out there and compete?
SERENA WILLIAMS: We love playing on Ashe. Playing on the same day is always great. I feel like it's double the fun. It's always great to see Venus do well.

Q. Can you actually describe what the cupping feels like.
SERENA WILLIAMS: It feels good. It feels like a suction. It feels like an octopus, although I don't know what an octopus feels like. I think I snapped once a while back. It looks weird, of the cupping. Yeah, I always do it, but I just did it for fun, so...

But, yeah, so it just feels like it's suctioning and it just feels good.

Q. (Question regarding the sleeve.)
SERENA WILLIAMS: It's definitely functional. There's definitely things in there to keep my muscles warm. Especially because of my shoulder problems, I don't want it to affect my form, which was happening.

Not only is it cool, but it's actually functional, so that really was able to work for me.

Q. Are you going to stay with it for a while?
SERENA WILLIAMS: I have it in a few designs in the future, so...

Q. Rajeev Ram was asked today what he thought Venus' greatest quality was. He said her fierceness. What do you think your sister's greatest attribute is?
SERENA WILLIAMS: Yeah, I would say she also never quits, no matter what. You know, sometimes in doubles I'll be like, I'm so over this. And she's just always right in there. It always brings me back to reality. I'm like, Okay, let's do this, let's do this.

She's just such a great fighter.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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