Eastbourne AEGON International. June 15 2011 Serena Williams

V. ZVONAREVA/S. Williams

           

3‑6, 7‑6, 7‑5

        

        

SERENA WILLIAMS

        

            THE MODERATOR:  Questions, please.

            Q.  Do you think that five hours of grass court tennis is still plenty enough to go into Wimbledon with?

            SERENA WILLIAMS:  Yeah.  I definitely think so.  It was a good two matches for me.  I couldn't be happier with the amount of tennis that I've played.

            So it's good.  You know, just keep going.

            Q.  You looked a little bit delicate as you sat down.  Is that because of your three hours of running around on the grass?

            SERENA WILLIAMS:  Yeah.  You know, I haven't played in almost a year, so I'm a little sore.

            Grass always gets you a little sore.  It's good I'm sore now, because hopefully next week I won't be as sore.

            Q.  It's the kind of soreness which happens ‑‑ it's not anything to do with any of your injuries?

            SERENA WILLIAMS:  Yeah.  You know, every time I come back and play or I take some time ‑‑ usually in Australia I get sore, or usually on the grass court the grass is just different on your body, and it just like makes your body work harder because there is so much stopping and quick stops.

            It's definitely, for me ‑‑ I don't know about for anyone else ‑‑ but for me it's a little different.

            Q.  Your foot is holding up well?

            SERENA WILLIAMS:  It is.  I'm so happy about that, too, because that is so scary.  But it is.  It's holding up really well.

            I'm just really, really excited about that.  I'm like, Yes.

            Q.  Are you happy with the way your game is at the moment?

            SERENA WILLIAMS:  No, I'm never happy.  (Smiling.)

I definitely think I can do better, but that's what's so comforting is the fact that I know I can do so much better and I can improve, and I'm so close to being, you know, being there.  It's good.

            Q.  And you were serving for the match against the No. 3 in the world for the moment.

            SERENA WILLIAMS:  Yeah, and I actually ‑‑ one or two points, I could have won the match.  I think that's just me not playing and not actually even holding a racquet for over eight months and then finally picking one up and being able to do that.

            So it's not overly disappointing.  It's just the fact that, Okay, Serena, make that short ball.  I mean, I had so many of those that I just kept missing and just, you know, not enough experience with those shots.

            Q.  What are your plans for the rest of the week now?  What are you going to do?

            SERENA WILLIAMS:  Well, I'm just going to keep working out.  I'm feeling pretty good about my fitness.

            I feel like I was able to stay out there two hours yesterday and come right back and do a pretty tough three hours today.

            So I definitely am going to keep working on that and maybe hit a little later tomorrow and have a sleep‑in.  And support Venus.  I should have said that first.  (Laughter.)

            Q.  Are you looking forward to the challenge of Wimbledon?

            SERENA WILLIAMS:  I am.  I'm always looking forward to a challenge.  I'm just ‑‑ I'm just excited that everything is working and that I'm walking.  And I'm really excited that I'm, you know, going to be there.

            Like I said, I'm not preparing just for Wimbledon.  Like I'm just happy to be here and the weeks after that and weeks after that and, you know, for the rest of my career.

            Q.  Any thoughts of the seeding you've been given for Wimbledon?

            SERENA WILLIAMS:  Yeah.  I heard I was No. 8.  I was, you know ‑‑ listen, I don't ask for much.  I would have been happy with 25, because I'm going to be in there fighting for every point and for everything.  It doesn't matter where I'm seeded.

            I'm just going to give 200% like everyone else in the draw is, as well.

            Q.  Are you saddened a little that Kim Clijsters can't play, and the litany of injuries that players are suffering these days never seems to show much sign of abating?

            SERENA WILLIAMS:  Yeah.  No, I literally just found that out.  So, you know, she's obviously been doing so well.

            She always does well on the hard court tour, as well.  So maybe she will probably want to focus on that.

            Q.  I know you said you'll be happy wherever you've been seeded, but are you a little surprised Venus hasn't been seeded higher?

            SERENA WILLIAMS:  I don't know where she's seeded.

            Q.  24.

            SERENA WILLIAMS:  Look, I don't know.  I'm just ‑‑ I would have been happy with my little ranking of 25 or whatever I am.  If I'd have been seeded that, that's fine.  Higher, that's fine.  Doesn't matter.

            I'm just ‑‑ I'm just there to compete and so is she.  I pray that I don't have to play her very soon, because that's a tough, tough person to have to play in probably like the third round.

            Q.  In terms of excitement levels going back to Wimbledon, where's the rating of excitement, the thought of playing there again, defending a title?

            SERENA WILLIAMS:  I'm excited; I really am.  I'm excited to get in my new dress.  I'm excited to be on the grass and be on the white and just be at Wimbledon.  To me, there's nothing like being at Wimbledon.

            I love it, and I'm excited to play better.  I'm actually determined to play better there.

            Q.  Have you enjoyed the whole Eastbourne experience?  Not one of the biggest towns of the tour visits.

            SERENA WILLIAMS:  Yeah.  Every time I come here I enjoy it.  I think it's a beautiful city on the water.  It's so pretty.

            I look out and I see the amazing water and rocks.  I want to get in, but it seems really cold.  We don't like cold water.

            Q.  When you first picked up your racquet, did you think it would take longer than two matches to get back playing top 10, top 5 tennis?

            SERENA WILLIAMS:  I honestly thought I would do better, to be honest.  I didn't expect to go out ‑‑ I'm more or less going on physically how I feel, because I know my game is going to be up there.

            I have been doing this for 15 years, so, you know, I should be able to do it now.

            Q.  How do you feel physically?

            SERENA WILLIAMS:  Physically I feel good.  Like I said, I'm a little sore but that's expected.

            I'm really ‑‑ that's why I wanted to play here, because I thought, okay, going back, you're gonna be sore.  Once you get to this point, you get here and there's no way you can go higher.

            So I'm at that peak and I know my body is gonna kind of adjust.  I'm going to be good from here on out.

            Q.  All the whites now for preparation for Wimbledon?  I presume dominantly white?

            SERENA WILLIAMS:  I kind of like purple for Wimbledon, because it's kind of like purple and green, kind of cool colors.  I might play around with those colors.

            Q.  You'll be a bookmaker's favorite for Wimbledon.  Would you bet on yourself?

            SERENA WILLIAMS:  Really?  Listen, I always am a bookmaker's ‑‑ look, I don't bet.  It's against the rules.  And really I just don't bet in general.  It's not my thing.  I'll flip a coin, heads or tails.  (Laughter.)

Eastbourne AEGON International. June 14 2011 Serena Williams

S. WILLIAMS/T. Pironkova

           

1‑6, 6‑3, 6‑4

        

        

SERENA WILLIAMS

        

            THE MODERATOR:  Questions, please.

            Q.  How difficult was that first set for you?

            SERENA WILLIAMS:  How difficult was the first set?

            Q.  Yeah.

            SERENA WILLIAMS:  It wasn't too difficult.  It wasn't long.  It was over really fast, and I thought, wow, hopefully I can get some momentum.  I was just a little, I think, a little anxious and missing a tremendous amount of shots.

            Q.  Were you sort of tentative, particularly with your serve?  You seemed to build up the speed as the match went on with the serve.

            SERENA WILLIAMS:  No, I think I was hitting it; I just wasn't making them.  I think I made maybe one serve if I was lucky in the first set.  And I knew that wasn't going to get me a victory.

            Q.  How would you sum up your first match?

            SERENA WILLIAMS:  Well, I played a really good player.  She's a really good player, especially on grass.  She did really well last year at Wimbledon making it to the semis, nearly making it to the final.

            You know, is wasn't an easy match, but I think more than anything I wanted to win, and I think mentally I was there.  I could have done a lot of things better, but that's okay.  I think that's expected, and I think that going forward I will continue to try to do the things that I need to do.

            Q.  Nothing beats competing, Serena.  What's it like to actually be out there in a competitive environment again?

            SERENA WILLIAMS:  It's definitely good.  There's a lot of things mentally that I do in my mind that I'm kind of redoing again.  I'm kind of like, Okay, I've gotta do this.  Okay, Serena, this is when you want this.  It just kind of clicks.  It's like, Okay.  This is what I need to do.

            It wasn't as strong as it was when I left, but I'm hoping it will get better with every day and every match.

            Q.  Were you nervous?

            SERENA WILLIAMS:  I definitely think I was nervous.  I think I was even more anxious more than anything, but there was no need for me to be anxious.

            Q.  What's the difference between anxious and nervous?

            SERENA WILLIAMS:  Anxious is like kind of like when you really want it so much, and nervous is like when you, like ‑‑ a little afraid.  I wasn't afraid.  I was just ‑‑ I really wanted it.

            Q.  When you spoke to the umpire after the time violation, was that because she hadn't given you any indication that she was going to do that?

            SERENA WILLIAMS:  Yeah.  Usually ‑‑ well, every time I have gotten one, which is very rare, they usually tell you, Oh, Ms. Williams, or Serena, watch your time.  You're taking too much time.

            She didn't tell me that, and I didn't know ‑‑  because I was in such a zone, you know.  I was like, I had no idea I was taking a lot of time.

            So it kind of came out of left field, because never once did she say anything.  I just asked her if she could, next time, either say something or is that normal procedure or had I been gone so long that they changed it?

            I don't know.  Hopefully next time, if that happens, I'll get a prewarning like I've gotten 100% of the time before.

            Q.  What do you remember of 1998 when you first came?

            SERENA WILLIAMS:  Whew.  Was that me?  '98?  Far too young to have been here in '98.  I think you've got me confused.  (Laughter.)

            Q.  You made a remark at the end about how I hope you guys will give me a cheer.  Was that because you felt the crowd had been a little bit tricky during the match?

            SERENA WILLIAMS:  I didn't hear the crowd.  I just was really focused.  Like I said, I was in a zone kind of.  I was really focused just trying to get my feet to move, which was a task on itself.

            So that was pretty much ‑‑ but I love it when the crowd is behind you, but that was what I was just trying to do, really.

            Q.  Were you able to enjoy it today?

            SERENA WILLIAMS:  Definitely.  I definitely think I had fun.  It's always good to have fun, especially after everything I've been through, like it's all fun to me now.  It's all like ‑‑ this is really a bonus, like it's all a bonus.

            Q.  It's likely ‑‑ I think you'll be playing a repeat of the Wimbledon final probably rather quickly, more than you thought it might happen.  Memories of that day perhaps?

            SERENA WILLIAMS:  Um, yeah.  You know, I don't remember too much from that.  I just remember a lot after that, but...

            Q.  It was over quite quickly.

            SERENA WILLIAMS:  Yeah.  You know, she's a great player.  Again, I have nothing to lose.  I'm just going to go in there and do what I can do, and whatever happens happens.  Like I said, this is all a bonus for me.

            Q.  You fell down in the last game.  Have you been told that it's safe for you to do that now, or is it something you've been told to avoid?

            SERENA WILLIAMS:  It's safe to fall down?

            Q.  Well, the medical opinions, that it might be dangerous for you to fall.

            SERENA WILLIAMS:  Look, I always try not to fall down.  (Laughter.)

            It's definitely not cool on my nails if I fall, because I can potentially break one, and that makes me really upset.  I have three weeks to get through without breaking a nail.  It's definitely not good for me to fall at all.  (Laughter.)

            Q.  How was your fall?  Did you feel anything on the injured foot at all?  Is it okay now?

            SERENA WILLIAMS:  I felt a little something.  I got a little nervous.  I was like, oh.  Then I thought, this is grass.  You know, you're really moving.  You're stopping, you're going.  If I can survive this, especially with this long match, I'll be good.  And then I felt like, okay, that's something I can look forward to.

            Q.  Do you think had it not been grass you probably wouldn't have been playing yet?  Is it because it's the grass and you can perhaps get a bit more leeway with your movements and if you do fall, it's a little more cushion than falling on cement, for instance?

            SERENA WILLIAMS:  I don't know.  I think if anything, grass could be harder because you're stopping so much and you're going so much, and it's an abrupt‑like stop; whereas hard court is not as intense and clay is even softer because you can kind of slide.

            So it is what it is.  I'm just here and really happy to be here.

            Q.  Any thoughts about the length of the match and not having played so well and it was quite warm out there?

            SERENA WILLIAMS:  Is warm?  Y'all need to go to Florida.  I was thinking, man, this is nice.  Because it was so hot in Florida I thought I was gonna melt into a little chocolate bar.  (Laughter.)

            Q.  Did you have any nice messages, good‑luck messages from friends in the States yesterday and today?

            SERENA WILLIAMS:  Yeah, I had a couple messages.  Someone had wrote me, When do you play?  But I was angry at him, so I never wrote him back.  He was, like, dead to me.

            Couple other people wrote me good messages.  I should probably stop talking right now.  (Laughter.)

            But I got a lot of good messages, a lot of people on Twitter were like doing good.  They're cool.  I love my fans.

            Q.  Are you slightly disappointed that Andy Murray didn't take you up on your invitation to come and do a little bit of...

            SERENA WILLIAMS:  I know.  I have my machine, my karaoke machine.  I have this song that he wants to sing to REM.

            We'll do it at Wimbledon.  I'll bring it and I'll force him to sing.

            Q.  I wanted to know whether you designed your tennis dress, or is that part of your...

            SERENA WILLIAMS:  Yeah, it's a part of my collection this year.  It was supposed to be retro.  It was all my favorite outfits that I've worn in the past.  This one ‑‑ no, no, that's next year.

            This year was all inspirations from like '50s and glamorous and stuff like that.  My Australia dress was kind of like Marilyn Monroe, so gorgeous.

            This is my French Open dress, and it was more or less like ‑‑ God, I can't remember the French lady.  Some famous actress I can't remember right now.

            That's what it's about.

            Q.  What color would you use to describe it?

            SERENA WILLIAMS:  It's definitely pink with a bit of plum on the bottom.

            Q.  Brigitte Bardot, perhaps?

            SERENA WILLIAMS:  Brigitte Bardot.  Yes.

Eastbourne AEGON International. June 13 2011 Serena Williams

 SERENA WILLIAMS

            Q.  How excited are you feeling to be back?

            SERENA WILLIAMS:  I am really excited to be back.  You know, I really miss playing tennis, obviously.  I don't know if you guys know "obviously," but I definitely miss it, and I'm thoroughly enjoying the short time that I've been back on the practice courts.

            Q.  What did you miss the most?

            SERENA WILLIAMS:  Well, it sucked because I missed a lot of being ‑‑ you know, I left ranked No. 1.  That's what I miss most is just being on top of the game and just playing some really good tennis and the challenges of all the players.

            Q.  How would you describe your condition at the moment?

            SERENA WILLIAMS:  I don't know.  I haven't played a match yet, so I'm not quite sure how I feel condition‑wise.  I feel good on the practice court.  But I always think that when you get in a match it is totally different, so I kind of have to see.

            Q.  How long have you been practicing?  How long have you been just practicing?

            SERENA WILLIAMS:  Well, I have been hitting for a while.  I have been seriously hitting for like a month, you know.  But I kind of started hitting a little before that; not every day, but every day I have been going at it for a little bit.

            Q.  What made you want to come back and play here?

            SERENA WILLIAMS:  Well, I wanted to play Roland Garros, but it didn't quite work out, and I figured maybe I can try to play another event.  And I don't usually play warmup tournaments before Wimbledon.  I also figured I haven't played in about a year, so maybe I can ‑‑ it's probably smart for me to play a warmup tournament, and where better to play than Eastbourne?  I have played here before, and I have had some halfway decent results here.

            Q.  Venus says she's here to win it and to win Wimbledon.  Do you share those feelings?

            SERENA WILLIAMS:  Wow.  You know, I'm just here to do the best I can and I'm here not to lose.  So that's about it.

            Q.  Could you take us back to Wimbledon last year and just your feelings, how delighted you were, and then just talk us through sort of the next couple of weeks after that.

            SERENA WILLIAMS:  Well, I mean, Wimbledon was great.  I was playing great, I was serving amazing, and, you know, overall my confidence was right up there.  It was almost even a shock, because I didn't expect to play so well, and everyone was like, Oh, she's playing so well.

            I honestly thought I could do better.  I remember after the tournament was over, I was talking to my dad about things that I wanted to work on and things I wanted to improve on.

            That's about it.  So hopefully I've been able to improve on those things that I wanted to.

            Q.  Would it be expecting too much for you to hit those spots again so soon after your injury?

            SERENA WILLIAMS:  I don't know.  I definitely expect to get there.  I don't know when.  I'm hoping tomorrow.  I'm also hoping, you know, I can peak at Wimbledon.  I can peak hopefully in the second week, and hopefully I'll get there.

            So, you know, I'm just taking everything one day at a time, and I'm not putting too much expectations on myself or on my game.  Most of all I'm just happy to be in competition.

            Q.  Does it help you that Venus is making the same sort of comeback as well?

            SERENA WILLIAMS:  Definitely.  I feel like we've been on a similar road together.  Her road hasn't been as arduous or as long as mine, but I know what she's been through coming back from Australia.  She never retires, and she had to retire.

            So, you know, we kind of ‑‑ I actually felt like, you know, when you're down and someone's down with you, it kind of makes you feel a little bit better.  (Smiling.)

            That's kind of how I felt.  I was like, Yeah.  Ha ha.

            But we've been really enjoying our time just getting back together and practicing next to her and looking over and seeing her play so well.  I'm like, Okay, I've got to do better.

            Q.  Were you hitting against her in practice?

            SERENA WILLIAMS:  I don't hit with her too much in practice; maybe just a few times literally.  Two, three times maximum, not much at all.

            Q.  Is that because you get too competitive when you play each other?

            SERENA WILLIAMS:  You know, I don't know why we don't hit with each other.  We both have our own hitting partners and we hit with our own people.  We don't really hit each other.

            She's so good.  When she hits with me, I just get really frustrated.  It's like she's always killing me on the practice courts.

            Q.  Presumably this is nothing like when you came back after a long absence and won in Australia?

            SERENA WILLIAMS:  It's nothing like it?

            Q.  Is it nothing like it, or is it a much tougher road you've come back on?

            SERENA WILLIAMS:  This is totally different, because I've had some serious health problems and I was literally on my deathbed at one point in my career or my life.

            This is like a totally different road where I'm more or less thinking, okay, I have nothing to lose at this point.  And I'm just excited, more than anything, to be playing.  And injury‑bearing, you know, that's great, but now it's just all about me being here and being just happy.

            Q.  What did the doctors say to you in terms of how serious it was?  What were their words when they sort of explained things to you?

            SERENA WILLIAMS:  Well, you're obviously talking about my lung, the pulmonary embolism?

            Q.  Yeah.

            SERENA WILLIAMS:  Well, they just said that I had several clots bilaterally, so in both lungs, and it wasn't ‑‑ a lot of people die from that because you don't recognize it.  Me being an athlete, I couldn't breathe.  I honestly just thought I was out of shape.  So I thought I needed to get on the treadmill or something or hit the Elliptical.

            You know, they just said it could have gotten a lot serious a day later or two days later.  It could have been really not good.  It could have possibly been career‑ending, but for the grace of God I got there in time and I was able to recover from it.

            Q.  So they told you you were in fact quite lucky then in some respects?

            SERENA WILLIAMS:  Yeah, I always use the word "blessed ."  I had great people around me.  My physio forced me to go to the hospital, whereas I was actually on the way to a party, to be quite honest.  She's like, No, you need to go to the hospital.

            Glad I didn't go to that party.

            Q.  Has what happened to you given you a new perspective at all on your career?

            SERENA WILLIAMS:  Absolutely.  This is totally different from, you know, any other comeback, because this has given me a whole new perspective on my career and not taking things for granted.  Not that I've ever taken things for granted before, but there were times when I'm like, Oh, another match, and I'm really, you know, like, This is so hard.

            But now it's more like, Yes, I'm out here and I could have had a chance where I could never be out here again.  And especially being at the top of your game, having to have something like that happen randomly was ‑‑ it's tough, and it really makes me appreciate things.

            Again, not that I didn't appreciate it before, because you guys know more than anything I love winning, and so it's just a different perspective.

            Q.  When you go through something so serious ‑‑ welcome back, by the way ‑‑ do you think you'll ever again find it easier to get worked up about a line call or a serve that doesn't go where you want it to go?  Are there aspects of your game that you won't be able to take so seriously again?

            SERENA WILLIAMS:  No, I'm definitely going to still get really serious about line calls.  (Laughter.)

            I probably won't make the same threats.  (Laughter.)

            But I pretty much learned that lesson.  My attitude hasn't changed.  I still cracked a couple of racquets in practice.  But that's good.  That just still makes me feel like I have that desire, and, you know, I have that, you know, insatiable, you know, just innate thing inside me that I just want everything and I just want to win and I want to do well.

            Q.  How sure are you that these most recent health problems were linked to what happened in Germany?

            SERENA WILLIAMS:  It was definitely linked.  I had to have two surgeries and so close to each other, and, you know, just ‑‑ I was in a cast for 20 weeks, which I was debating whether I'd rather be in jail for 20 weeks or a cast, and I was leaning towards jail because I really hated that cast.  That was really tough.  Mentally that was one of the toughest things for me.

            But, you know, having your foot in one position for so long and not moving it and not being able to walk and not being able to do a lot of things, you know, didn't give my particular ‑‑ my history of my blood moving and stuff, so it caused a lot of problems.

            Q.  What actually happened, then, if you could tell us about that evening?  Do you remember what actually happened?

            SERENA WILLIAMS:  With my foot?

            Q.  With the bottle.

            SERENA WILLIAMS:  Honestly I don't know.  To this day I don't know.  I was at this restaurant/barry kind of restaurant thing, and I was with my nephew at the time and my hitting partner.

            We were literally leaving and I was walking, and then I felt something.  I was like, Uh, guys, be careful.  I think there's glass on the floor.

            I just stepped back and I was like, Oh, that really hurts.  So then, you know, I'm just thinking, okay, I'm tough.  I'm just gonna keep walking.  I took another step.  And I was like, Oh, my God.  There's definitely glass on the floor.  Please be careful.

            And so then my coach, he took his phone, he looked down and there's like this massive puddle of blood.  I was like, Oh, my gosh.

            So, you know, they rushed me back ‑‑ I ended up fainting because I lost so much blood because I was standing up.  I ended up having to get stitches in both feet.  One was on top and one was on the bottom of my other foot.

            I guess it sliced right through my ligament.  Now, I didn't know at the time that my ligament was torn.  I just know that my toe was hanging low, and I didn't ‑‑ you know, I just thought, okay, they said it was because of swelling.  They said, Oh, it's swelling, blah, blah, blah.  So I thought, okay, I'll be fine, you know, whatever.

            Eventually obviously it wasn't fine.  But to this day I don't know.  I was just walking and leaving and I just felt like, you know, something like ‑‑ it felt weird.

            Q.  Were you barefoot or have sandals on?

            SERENA WILLIAMS:  Yeah, and I started to wear boots.  You ever see that movie Sliding Doors with Gwyneth Paltrow?  I was this close to wearing boots, and I got a pedicure and I thought, man, I don't want to mess up my toes.  Go figure.

            Q.  What did you do with yourself when you couldn't play?  I mean, how did you occupy your time?

            SERENA WILLIAMS:  Well, it was tough.  My first surgery was different, because my first surgery I was in LA, and I kind of stayed there and I kind of was hanging out or whatever.  You know, I can't do too much with one leg.

            And the second surgery was way tough, especially mentally, because I thought, okay, there goes Australia, which is really, you know, one of my favorite ‑‑ obviously one of my favorite tournaments to play.

            That one was more mentally tough than a lot of things that I've been through in my life outside of maybe my sister's passing.

            So that was incredibly hard for me.  I think I may have been a little depressed at some moments.  Then everything just happened from there, just the lung issues and it really was a disaster, to be honest.

            What did I do?  You know, I hung out a lot.  I went to a lot of Dolphins games, and then I went to a bunch of Miami Heat games.  Then that's about it.

            Q.  Are you much of a spectator of tennis?  Could you bring yourself to watch the US Open, the Australian, and the French?

            SERENA WILLIAMS:  I definitely watched the US.  I was on my way to recovery back then.  I was out of my cast.

            Venus got to the semis there, so I was there a lot.  I watched a little of the Aussie Open but not too much because I was busy, I guess, doing my own thing.

            Q.  If, after all you have been through, in three weeks' time you were to retain your Wimbledon title, where would that rank in terms of achievement in your career?

            SERENA WILLIAMS:  I'm not thinking that far ahead.  I'm just taking it one day at a time and just one day at a time.  I mean, I'm not preparing for today or Wimbledon.  I'm preparing for, you know, the rest of my career.

            Q.  Has the emotion of everything you've been through, obviously the illness and the emergency surgery, has the emotion of that caught up where you thought, whoa?  Has it come out in tears or any other ways?

            SERENA WILLIAMS:  There were a few days I didn't get out of bed.  I was just ‑‑ I was actually on the couch.  I laid on the couch for a couple of days, because after everything, I ended up having to have ‑‑ just so much stuff happened to me and I just couldn't understand why.

            It was like, okay.  I kept trying to figure out what I could do different or what I ‑‑ not necessarily what I did wrong; just what didn't I do or what did I do to deserve this?

            I don't think that had anything to do with it.  I just think it was a series of unfortunate events.  As the Bible says, there are unforeseen occurrences and  unforeseen things that can just take place.

            Q.  Do you think tennis has missed you and your sister as much as you've missed tennis?

            SERENA WILLIAMS:  Well, I hope so, because we've missed tennis so much.  If tennis has missed us half as much as we have missed tennis, we're in a good place.