THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.
Q. Do you feel like you played pretty well overall?
VENUS WILLIAMS: Yeah. She was playing very well too, actually. She forced the issue on every point. Didn’t make a lot of errors. Played defensively when she had to. Played offensively.
I was really impressed with her game. I was happy to come through. It wasn’t easy.
Q. With yourself, do you feel pretty good overall? Forehand, backhand, serving, returning?
VENUS WILLIAMS: Yeah. I’m not really as much into, like, how I feel anymore. Just into can I execute at that moment and, if I didn’t at that moment, can I do it the next moment? I’m a little less into, Oh, I feel this way.
Q. Physically, are you 100%, your body? Are there times when it’s kind of up and down physically?
VENUS WILLIAMS: You know, I think once I walk out there on the court, that’s my main focus, what I need to achieve in that match and I try to block anything else out.
Q. Two of your better results in the last year have been last year here and this year here now. Is there something about this tournament in recent times that’s working for you?
VENUS WILLIAMS: I don’t know. I was pretty determined this year. I haven’t played that much, so I wanted to make it count.
It’s not going to get any easier from here, so I just have to continue to raise my game.
Q. So you haven’t played that much this year because?
VENUS WILLIAMS: I don’t want to.
Q. Which is good. You’re aging a little bit, right? Ha ha.
VENUS WILLIAMS: No, I just don’t need to. I don’t need to do it. I need to do what I want. And what I want is to play the tournaments I want to play.
Q. Are you going to play, what, 10 tournaments this year? 12? 14?
VENUS WILLIAMS: I don’t know. We’ll see. Probably somewhere around 12.
Q. And you’ve played for a long, long time now.
VENUS WILLIAMS: Yeah, I have. It’s nice to be able to do what works for me. I have never played more than maybe 16 events anyway.
It’s not that far off what I was already doing. Just really not adding a lot extra.
Q. How is Serena feeling?
VENUS WILLIAMS: I think she wants to be in the tournament, but…
Q. Is she feeling better?
VENUS WILLIAMS: I think she’s looking forward to Miami. That’s her whole focus now. Because it’s also another home event. Obviously any event in the States is home, but Miami and California are extremely special for us. So she’s looking forward to getting there and hopefully just being 100%.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports
Rev #1 by #366 at 2019-03-13 02:57:00 GMT
