AEGON International
Venus Williams Q: Venus, that was a bit of a coincidence wasn’t it? Drawing Petkovic in the first round.
Venus: Oh really?
Q: Unfinished business or…
Venus: I did get injured against her and really just couldn’t compete but I’m looking forward to my first round, this is exciting.
Q: How does it feel to be back?
Venus: I’m very excited to be back. I can’t believe I finally made it back. It’s been a very long road and I haven’t played here for ever and I can’t tell you how excited I’ve been to come and play and just be playing any first round match anywhere.
Q: Venus, is this the toughest injury period you have been through?
Venus: I’ve had some tough injuries for sure but definitely I didn’t think it would take me this long to be able to come back and to be ready. I never anticipated that I would be sat at home just watching instead of out here. I never could have foreseen the amount of time I had to take off. There were some frustrating moments but I never let it get me down.
Q: Was there any game you watched in particular that made you think ‘I wish I was playing in that’?
Venus: I wish I was playing every match but I made the best use of my time when I was off and I did my best to stay fit and when I couldn’t be on court. I was doing some arms exercises and that was that. This time I listened to doctors’ advice for the most part and it’s hard as an athlete to accept limits and for me it was definitely about accepting limits. I don’t want to be in a situation I was in in Australia, that was very painful and my goal was to come back and hopefully not be in that situation.
Q: Was the hip the worst injury Venus or were there other things that were a problem as well?
Venus: No, obviously my injury from Australia definitely limited me so that was my issue these past few months and that was pretty much it.
Q: Venus, do you think that the women’s game has missed the presence of yourself and your sister?
Venus: I hope so. I’ve missed tennis. Tennis has been so kind to me, I love this sport, I love my job as I call it, it’s good to be here, I feel appreciative and it’s an honour to be a professional athlete. Of course I do hope that I have given enough to my sport that I means something when I am not here. Hopefully it means even more when I am here.
Q: It’s very exciting for Eastbourne that we’ve got both the Williams sisters making their comeback here.
Venus: I know.
Q: Are you excited to have your sister here as well?
Venus: Absolutely because I had no idea that she was going to make it back. I had hopes of when I could return and every time I had a hope it kinda passed by so it’s pretty ironic that we had the opportunity to be here at the same time. I’d ask her ‘Gosh, do you think you are going to make Eastbourne?’ and she’d say ‘Yeah’ and I’d say ‘I hope I make Eastbourne too’.
Q: It’s the first time you have played in Sussex for 13 years so why did you and Serena both pick Eastbourne this year?
Venus: I think this is crucial for us. Serena hasn’t played in a year, I’ve played three or four tournaments in a 12 month period so for us it is just crucial for us to be able to play these key matches at this tournament and be able to do these leading in to Wimbledon. Normally we take this period after the French Open to go home and rest and train – that has been the best for us – but this year the best preparation has been to be here so I think as soon as I missed the French Open I set my sights on being here.
Q: We have been speaking to Caroline Wozniacki this week and she has been very complementary about yourself and Serena. She says she goes to you whenever she needs advice. What advice have you given her?
Venus: I don’t think she needs much advice. She’s a great player, a young woman doing positive things in her life. She’s a very nice person too so I think she is really on the right road. I don’t think there is much I can tell her.
Q: What is she like as a person and a player?
Venus: Obviously an unbelievable competitor and as a person, very personable and just super helpful and just willing to help anyone at any time and it’s great to see that combination of a great person off the court and so competitive on the court.
Q: Critics of Wozniacki have said how can she be world number one when she hasn’t won a Grand Slam. Do you think she is the best player in the world?
Venus: I think she has played more consistently than anyone that’s definitely been proven. I’m not here to start talking about that though, I just feel like she is number one at the moment and she seems to be leaps and bounds ahead of everyone in the points so I think that speaks for itself.
Q: Venus, speaking to you as a senior citizen myself, you’ll be having your 31st birthday next Friday I think. Is it possible this could be for you, you’re getting to Wimbledon as a last chance this year. Or do you see yourself coming back again?
Venus: Well, I was a last chance person coming out of Compton and I felt once I succeeded out of there, I was able to create lots and lots of chances.
For me at this point I am just focussing on staying healthy and keep improving my game, ensure my game improves every week and just go from there.
Q: Looking ahead to Wimbledon, where do you realistically rate your and your sister’s chances coming back at that level?
Venus: I would say Serena and I always believe in ourselves and for us that is a huge plus. Just continue to stay focussed, it’s not about winning, it’s not about losing. For us, winning part of the battle is just about being healthy and just being smart in our preparation and in terms of winning these tournaments, that’s what we are here for.
We’re not here for results so we are going to do our best to take home two titles on this road now whether it can happen, yet remains to be seen. But that’s what we aim for every time we hit the court.
Q: Do you this in a sense that, weirdly, you have an advantage over player who have been knocking balls for rest of the season that you are coming fresh mentally as well as physically?
Venus: I’ll take any advantage I can get whatever it is, if it is an advantage, put a checkmark by my name. I’m not sure what it is, but it is what it is for us – it’s just great to be on tour.
Q: Who do you see as your strongest opponent – Li Na has been in two Grand Slam finals, won thr French, who do you feel is the most dangerous person to play at Wimbledon?
Venus: I don’t think that way at all. Whoever is across the net is my focus at that point – you just can’t predict who is going to do what. That’s what tournaments are so my whole concern is make sure I’m in the next round and that’s all I ever care about. I really just try to focus on me.
Q: Tell us a little bit about your progress from the injury. How long you were completely inactive, when you got back on the practice court and when you realised when you were going to be able to play this tournament.
Venus: I got injured in January and I entered school classes and I went into the gym and tried to do my rehab every day. The gym was a huge part of me, just riding the bike or whatever I could slowly and I just went to school and I worked on my businesses and that was interesting.
Initially my goal was to hopefully play in Miami but I wasn’t even close. Then I really started trying to return to the court in April but really just light practices, every other day.
It took me a good two and a half months to build up to get here now. Some weeks I wouldn’t improve for three weeks and then sometimes I would improve in a week. It’s a slow process and not predictable at all. I wasn’t really sure I’d be here up until two weeks ago, it was very stressful because I really wanted to be here. But if I wasn’t well enough, I needed to accept that I couldn’t be here and just aim for something else.
Q: And how fit do you feel now?
Venus: I feel pretty fit.
Q: Out of ten.
Venus: I don’t know. I’ve never given myself a ten out of ten. I’ll never score a ten – for me it was just about being smart, listening to my body and I’m back as soon as I possibly could be. I didn’t take any extra, extra weeks just to like be really really sure so I’m back as soon as possible.
Q: So it’s not sentimentality the fact that you have won Wimbledon five times and you look ten out of ten.
Venus: Like I said, I’ve never given myself a ten. Maybe every now and then an eight and a half. As an athlete I’m never super happy with everything.
Q: What do you say to people who suggest that it would reflect badly on the women’s game if either yourself or your sister would come back and win Wimbledon after such a long absence?
Venus: At the end of the day, ten years from now, no-one is going to remember ‘Oh poor V she was injured, or ‘poor X player’ it doesn’t matter in ten years. It’ll just say Wimbledon title, hopefully my name on it, and that’s all that matters. All the drama that goes on in between is just yesterday’s news to me.
Q: Has your time off made you appreciated the game much more?
Venus: I really thought I appreciated the game but definitely. Sometimes I would go to sporting events and I’d be like ‘wow, I get to do that too’ and I’d go back and try to work harder. I definitely appreciate it more having had very few opportunities to play in the last year. For me to be back is – I want to try and take full advantage of it.
