CHASE CHAMPIONSHIPS OF THE WTA TOUR

November 20, 1999

Venus Williams

Q. What happened to your back?

VENUS WILLIAMS: First, I'd like to say that I can't stay long because, obviously, I'm not feeling at my best, and questions will be limited today. It's just something I've been having for a little while now and before I played Philadelphia, and it's been escalating. And my dad advised me not to play. Naturally, as a child, I didn't listen, and now I'm going in a worse situation.

VENUS WILLIAMS: Yeah, when I was serving and more backhands and forehands; so naturally that affected my serve, which is definitely a weapon. I served okay in the first few games, but then just went progressively down and all in all, I wasn't very healthy.

VENUS WILLIAMS: Both.

VENUS WILLIAMS: It's more or less a strain.

VENUS WILLIAMS: Rest, first. I have to go to therapy and it needs strengthening.

VENUS WILLIAMS: Yeah, in the neck on the left-hand side, in the upper region, how do you say it, like the shoulder blade area, in that area.

VENUS WILLIAMS: He said, "If you're hurt don't play and if your hurt, don't practice." And I insisted on practicing and playing.

VENUS WILLIAMS: The match. But in general, he always says that.

VENUS WILLIAMS: He didn't say "Don't play that match today," but he advised me not to practice and just go out and play.

VENUS WILLIAMS: 20 minutes.

VENUS WILLIAMS: Yeah, I went to sleep.

VENUS WILLIAMS: You can't change it. What's the difference? But next time, I will be healthy. The last two times I played Martina, I was healthy and I had some nice results. And hopefully, I'll see her in Australia.

VENUS WILLIAMS: I would have had to be okay if I wasn't okay. Eventually, I would have retired. But she played nicely. Unfortunately, I couldn't keep up with her today because of extenuating circumstances.

VENUS WILLIAMS: I think that there were a lot of points where I was unable to get my best because I just had to slow down some, and I had to speed it up more at different times. But she did play well. She wanted to win. You know, she did some good things in the match.

VENUS WILLIAMS: Probably, in general, I could rally with the best of them. I hit just as many balls as she does. The different between her game and my game is I take more risks; I'm going to go for more shots. That's the main difference.

VENUS WILLIAMS: The serve and the backhand more.

VENUS WILLIAMS: No.

VENUS WILLIAMS: (Nods head.).

VENUS WILLIAMS: Yeah, it's exciting.

VENUS WILLIAMS: I think I play her the most.

VENUS WILLIAMS: I don't think so. I don't think it's that bad. It's just pretty chronic right now. And I just have to take measures -- me and Serena, we're both in the same boat. I didn't think I was going to get here, but I did. So we're sinking a little bit.

VENUS WILLIAMS: Yeah, I would say so because we both did what we could.

VENUS WILLIAMS: No, I think we have too many muscles.

VENUS WILLIAMS: It was about -- at least, for sure, this week. Last week, I wasn't the best, but this week, for sure, it was escalating. But my other matches I was okay. It was at a minimum. But today, it was more to the maximum.

VENUS WILLIAMS: I think I had a good year as far as results, but as far as meeting my goals, it was a bad year in some of them.

VENUS WILLIAMS: I wanted to naturally have a higher ranking, to say the least, and naturally, take home some Grand Slams. I took home some Grand Slams, but they weren't singles. That's okay. We have something in our family when Serena wins.

VENUS WILLIAMS: It's okay. Next year, I can only move forward. I hope so. Thank you all very much.

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