WIMBLEDON

July 1, 2000

Venus Williams

MODERATOR: I have Venus Williams. Who would like to start?

VENUS WILLIAMS: Pardon?

VENUS WILLIAMS: With what?

VENUS WILLIAMS: I like this colour. I hope so.

VENUS WILLIAMS: Very good. I feel very good. I had absolutely no problems in the match today at all.

VENUS WILLIAMS: She fought pretty hard. I think the main thing was that I didn't return the serve as well. I think also a little bit I stopped playing aggressively and my serve was less accurate. I think those are the three main factors. My technique broke down a bit.

VENUS WILLIAMS: Just attacking the short balls, serving and volleying some, moving forward. Things like that can't get away from me in the second set just because things are going easy.

VENUS WILLIAMS: Yeah, you can feel it. When things get closer, I think it's more tough and it takes more guts to change it. I think in the end, I definitely played the better match.

VENUS WILLIAMS: No. I was actually out practising because I didn't know if the match would end early, someone will pull out. You never know when you're next match on. I didn't see any of it till the very end.

VENUS WILLIAMS: Yeah, I thought to myself, "If I had just been serious and I had won this tournament, I could have been out there, too." But it's too late. I can't be part of the millennium parade.

VENUS WILLIAMS: I've been pretty serious the whole time, but maybe not in the right way. Like you can go out there and play a match, but if you don't do the right things, you play just as hard as the next person, but I lose the match. Sure, a great effort, but the win didn't come.

VENUS WILLIAMS: It's the same things with being serious. Sure, you can be serious, but you have to get out there on the practise court, practise the right things, execute the match. If you don't execute, someone else will.

VENUS WILLIAMS: I haven't been really. I haven't even been around. At this Wimbledon, I am a little better. I've been working hard to get back in form, moving forward much more than what I ever have. Three consecutive matches in a row - sure, sometimes one match I will, but the next I go back. But I'm doing better.

VENUS WILLIAMS: Not a factor. I just couldn't -- maybe I could have tried, but I think maybe I would have just ended up a lot worse, maybe still be out. Am I enjoying it more? Maybe a little bit. I'm trying to just enjoy the battle more. If it gets to be 4-All, say, "Hey, I'm going to show her who is toughest." That's the way I want to feel every match.

VENUS WILLIAMS: It was just a rumour that I read on the Internet. I read it on the Internet first, said, "Oh, wow, something else." My life has been a saga.

VENUS WILLIAMS: Yeah, if I could have called the shots a bit better, I would have had a couple more Grand Slams in my pocket. Maybe I'm not calling the shots like I think I am.

VENUS WILLIAMS: It depends on what decision it is. I don't know. My parents have taught us to make decisions on our own, to be independent. But we always still ask for advice on certain things. Certain things we still go, "Can we go; can we do this?" It's quite odd. They have a weird hold on us (laughter).

VENUS WILLIAMS: No, probably not, unless I wanted to.

VENUS WILLIAMS: No, not a time at all. I had a lot more time to get things done, I would say, a lot more time for relaxing.

VENUS WILLIAMS: I'm playing Sabine Appelmans?

VENUS WILLIAMS: Are you sure? Someone told me it was Lisa Raymond.

VENUS WILLIAMS: I haven't played her in five years.

VENUS WILLIAMS: I think she's been playing pretty good to be in the fourth round, for sure. I believe the seed fell out early in the first round, which is terrible. Hopefully I'll be playing well and get an opportunity to move into the quarters.

VENUS WILLIAMS: Pete?

VENUS WILLIAMS: What do you mean?

VENUS WILLIAMS: Sure.

VENUS WILLIAMS: I wasn't sure because I read or heard in the Wimbledon Highlights that he was having some issues. I just wanted to make sure he was ready to go on the court in case he retired, make sure I had all my warm-up done. That's all I felt basically. Never know what's going to happen with the match before you, so I had to be ready.

VENUS WILLIAMS: No. I have to be interested in me. Sure, I want Pete to win. Most Americans, lots of people, want him to get his 13th right here. He loves Wimbledon. I really got to be interested in what I'm doing, really.

VENUS WILLIAMS: She has.

VENUS WILLIAMS: It was pretty close in the second set, most times.

VENUS WILLIAMS: I just think that Serena has some fast starts. Appelmans kind of crept in a little bit. It will be a good thing to ask her for advice.

VENUS WILLIAMS: My points.

VENUS WILLIAMS: I don't think it's really a job. It's an exercise most of all. It's a great job, if you call it a job. Most people have to get in the office and work, maybe in the field, in the farm, in the factory. That's a job. Out here, I'm free, playing in the sun, rain delay, get the day off. Where's the problem?

VENUS WILLIAMS: Not really. Not really. I don't buy too many papers. I don't have any money.

VENUS WILLIAMS: I think maybe they twist the story to make it exciting.

VENUS WILLIAMS: No, not at this point, no.

VENUS WILLIAMS: I have my cell phone back, but I've been talking too much.

VENUS WILLIAMS: No, I'm not shopping, no, not at all. But I just haven't changed any money, so I kind of leach off Serena and my dad. That's okay. I can use my credit card, sure. Where I can't, I just hope they have money.

VENUS WILLIAMS: Serena was playing real good. I was just thinking about that, too, how she moved forward, just took the match for herself. She set an example what I need to do. I had a pretty tough loss the day before, so naturally I wasn't feeling up and dandy. Who would? But naturally I wouldn't want the girl who defeated me to win against my sister.

VENUS WILLIAMS: Well, I think she was off for two months. I think for the most part she was able to practise, but not nearly as much as she wanted to. But for me, for six months I couldn't practise, except for about two weeks before I played my first tournament. I had no practise for five and a half months. That really made a difference, too. I believe before I had some time off from tendonitis in the knee, I don't know, two months off, I didn't play the Chase that year. I came back pretty regular. I think the main difference is she was able to practise a certain amount; I didn't do any really.

VENUS WILLIAMS: I don't even think we have that in our heart. We have separately. Whatever we share, we share the best we can. I don't think it's inside of us.

VENUS WILLIAMS: Does it really matter? She played better. It's my loss. It's her win. We won the same. It's all in the Williams family.

VENUS WILLIAMS: I wouldn't get to keep it. I'd hold it up high, I tell you.

VENUS WILLIAMS: I don't know. I'd put it in my mom and dad's house, in the dining room, I guess. That's where all the other ones go.

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