Venus Williams Playing Quotations

Right now, I'm at the top of the world in my game so my focus isn't on when I'm going to end. My focus is on playing the best tennis that I can, and there is no end to that.

I did rehab and tried to get better the best that I could. I wasn't playing at 100 percent ? preparation or health ? and I didn't want to come back until I knew I could do that.

I felt like I had an opportunity at 5-3 to break, but I didn't get that, ... Then 5-4, I had a pretty bad service game, two double faults. I think Serena had like a monster return or two that I couldn't do anything with, which happens if you're playing Serena Williams. At that point it was just all about sticking in there.

I think every single point will be important, ... I think more than anything, I'll just have to be able to compete better. When you're playing Serena Williams, you have to compete better than her. I got a lot of tricks from Serena just watching her. She inspired me so many times. I also got motivated by her in the early part of my career, and even now. I just have to compete better, bottom line.

It doesn't matter how Serena is playing because her competitive spirit is so high, you have to go to the ends of the Earth to beat her.

I was playing decent and she started playing really bad and it totally threw me off. She was playing weird. Next thing I knew I was playing as bad as she was. She started hitting these weird shots, short balls. ... I guess maybe it was a good strategy. It just threw me off.

It was a challenging match. She's a player with variety. Sometimes she's playing harder and hitting with spin. But that's good for me,

We're going to try to work on our rankings this fall, ... We both just want to win the match, whether she's playing me or if she's playing someone else.

It was really hard for me because I wanted to play the tournament, but I felt terrible and tired, and everything hurt, ... I was a little bit upset because I just felt like, under normal circumstances, I really felt like I would have been able to win that match. But it's the past now, and Kim's playing really well. Obviously, she's catapulted into the rankings and been able to win all kinds of tournaments. But I feel fine.

If I'd lived prior to the 1980s, it would have been different, because I would have been playing to prove African Americans are equal. Now, I don't necessarily feel I have to play for black people, because obviously they're doing everything in all sports. If I can go out there and play for myself and not feel I have to stand for something other than what I want to do, that's good.

I couldn't get it right today. But in general, I am playing really well. It's just like, ?Wow, it was the wrong time to hit wrong.