20/06/2011 18:29 CEST - INTERVISTE

Venus Williams (20-06-2011)

Q.  Venus, how did you feel out there playing?  This is your country, you've won it a few times. 
VENUS WILLIAMS:  Of course, it's always great to be back.  You know, to play a few matches in Eastbourne I think helped me to feel pretty comfortable here.  So all in all I was pretty pleased to play today.

 Q.  Were there any nerves at all today?
 VENUS WILLIAMS:  I think coming into any major, you know, there's a little bit of tension, you know, a little tension.  I have a lot of expectations to go out there and play as I do in practice, which I've been hitting the ball really well.
You know, especially having not played a lot, too, you know, I had a little pressure on me to come out and swing as usual.

 Q.  You mentioned expectations.  What are they?
 VENUS WILLIAMS:  Uhm, I just expect to go out there.  Like I said, I've been playing very well in practice, so to go out there and execute the game that I did in practice, not let anything, whether it's my opponent or myself or conditions or anything, get to me.

Q.  What did you do?
 VENUS WILLIAMS:  I was in school.  I became business development manager for my company (laughter).  So I was out there developing business for V Starr.

Q.  How long have you been studying this?
 VENUS WILLIAMS:  I mean, I took like a full course load in the spring.  So the odds weren't looking too good for me to play.  I'm just one of those nerds.  I like school.
I really actually have been in school, because I've been    I was out for a while this summer and the fall.  So I've just been in school the whole time.  Just doing other things off the court.
So I learned a lot about myself off the court and a lot about life.

 Q.  When you are playing, it's a Williams family affair.  Do you think your dad and your mom and sisters missed being out here as well?
 VENUS WILLIAMS:  I'm not sure about my mom.  I have to ask her.  I think my dad did.  Maybe he didn't.  I have to ask both.  That would be an assumption.  I don't know.

 Q.  You rushed a bit getting back in Australia.  This time around, did you have to tell yourself, Whatever happens, I'm coming back at a hundred percent this time?
 VENUS WILLIAMS:  Yeah, I avoided calling my mom because she said, You're not trying to come back too soon, are you?  Bullying me about it.
So this time I couldn't come back too soon or I'd be in the same situation as I was in Australia.  That was very painful, is not something to go through twice.
So I tried to come back this time when I felt like I was a lot stronger and not injured.

 Q.  How much faith do you have that your body could go a year without getting hurt again?
 VENUS WILLIAMS:  Oh, I don't know (laughter).  That's a toss up.  You never know with sport.  Not really a lot of luck in the last year.  But I'm doing everything I can to be fit.
Australia was not ideal, but hopefully I recovered from that.  And I try to be smart now, coming back from injury, not doing too much, just coming back and being smart; like not playing doubles here is a smart move in the way we want to play.

 Q.  What do you call the outfit you wore today? 
VENUS WILLIAMS:  It's a jumper.  Jumpers are very now, as is lace.  The shoulders have a lot of draping, which is also in the moment.  It's just kind of like a trendy dress.  It's fun.  I'm really into zippers, so it has like a focal point of a zipper in the front.  It's just fun.

 Q.  The back?
 VENUS WILLIAMS:  The back is kind of    I don't know what you call it, like a cutout or like a peek a boo.  I'm always trying to do something different and fun.
But more lately now I'm really trending towards simplicity.  I'm not sure why.  It's just how I feel right now.  Everything is getting more simple.

 Q.  Is there anything you can't do on the court now that you could do five years ago?
 VENUS WILLIAMS:  Uhm, I think I'm smarter, if anything, than five years ago.  That's the beauty I think of being able to have a long career, is being able to use the experience that you learn on the court.
I think more and more players are starting to realize that it's an advantage to be able to play longer, because then you actually understand the game.

 Q.  Were you disappointed you didn't start on Centre or Court No. 1 today?
 VENUS WILLIAMS:  I was really happy to play with no rain, which has been hard in the last week and a half, in Eastbourne and here, to even practice on the grass.  I was happy to be playing at all, which has been not very frequent for me in the last year.
So I only see pluses for today.

 Q.  You can hit the ball normally in a practice, do a full session. 
VENUS WILLIAMS:  I feel like I did a full session maybe   I lose track of time on the road   maybe, you know, four weeks ago or so.  It hasn't really been that long.
It's really a long recovery from this injury.  It's been real slow and something I couldn't rush, so...
I felt like I started to, you know, get some normal practices, like spending a couple hours on the court, but really trying to be smart instead of like saying, Hey, this is where I was six months ago, let me run as hard as I can.  Instead spending extra time on the court standing still a little bit more, being realistic.

 Q.  I know your mom is worried about Serena.  How worried are you about Serena playing here? 
VENUS WILLIAMS:  Uhm, well, I think both of us, we get in the moment and we start focusing on the tennis.  I hit next door to her every day at home and usually here at Wimbledon.  She looks pretty good, so I don't think I should be worried.

 Q.  When you think about how long you've been on the tour, you and your sister, are you disappointed at all that you haven't seen more minorities come up the ranks in the U.S.? 
VENUS WILLIAMS:  At this point I don't think there's as many people in general in U.S. tennis as we're used to seeing.  So I think that's a priority, especially in terms of the U.S., is so used to having five and six people in the top 10 on each side.
So I think just in general, uhm, I guess tennis in the U.S. in terms of champions hasn't been what we're used to.

 Q.  You've been out here a long time, 12, 15 years.  It's not recently we've seen what you might expect. 
VENUS WILLIAMS:  That's tough.  I give a lot of clinics, hit with a lot of kids.  I don't have the opportunity to follow through on their careers, but that's something I definitely want to get more involved in, for sure, making plans to.

 Q.  What do you think about Kimiko?
 VENUS WILLIAMS:  I thought it was amazing when she came back.  I watched her results.  She's been playing so well.  I always root for her actually.
But this time I'm playing her, so I will be rooting for me this time.  But I know this has always been a really good surface for her, especially with the game that she plays.  So I definitely won't take anything for granted, because I've seen that she's taken out a lot of top players since she's been back.  I'm looking forward to it.

 Q.  Did you and Serena decide you wanted to come back at the same time or is that a fluke how it worked out?
 VENUS WILLIAMS:  No, I had no idea if she was going to make Eastbourne, or if I was going to make Eastbourne for that matter.  It was like hope and try to make it.  So I'd ask her sometimes, Are you going to make it to Eastbourne?  She was like, Yeah, I'm going to make it to Eastbourne.
It just happened.

 Q.  You mentioned the U.S. players, not as many coming up.  Why do you think that is? 
VENUS WILLIAMS:  Yeah, everyone asks me.  I don't know.  But we have a lot of good players, but maybe not as many in the top 10 as we're used to, so...
I'm not sure.
 

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