Excerpts from Venus Williams’ Post-Wimbledon Press Interview

Venus Williams won her seventh Grand Slam title on Saturday with a decisive victory over her sister Serena at Wimbledon.

Read Venus’ comments about winning her fifth Venus Rosewater dish and whether this win signals the start of another era of dominance by the Williams family in excerpts from her post-championship press conference.

Q. How concerned were you early? She came out in a ferocious mood, playing well.
VENUS WILLIAMS: To be honest, this is the Wimbledon final, so of course I expected her to play that well. And, of course, I mean, she’s Serena Williams. She can pull out anything. I did expect her to just be all over anything I put out there. But I didn’t really think a lot; I just kept playing, and it wasn’t looking that great, you know. 3-1, 4-2, but then when it got to be even it was closer.

Q. Can you just talk a little bit about the conditions, which were obviously pretty awkward. I mean, you kept pulling out of your serve. Serena didn’t seem to pull out of her serves at all.
VENUS WILLIAMS: Yeah, it was windy, and the wind kept blowing and swirling. The longer the match went on, it kept changing directions. At first, it was only windy on one side, then it was windy on both. I could see the wind blowing on her side, but it wasn’t windy on my side yet. So, you know, it was tough out there, but I just needed to take my time until I got a good toss.

Q. What is your approach to the post-match celebration on court, and how does it differ when you play Serena versus anybody else?
VENUS WILLIAMS: Well, because I think that — when the match is that close it’s obviously more exciting to win. And, of course, if it’s a 6-2, 6-3 win, the celebration isn’t as elated because you’re just cruising to glory. But I was pretty excited about that win because it was so close. You know, I’m definitely more in tune with my sister’s feelings because one of us has to win and one of us has to lose. Of course the celebration isn’t as exciting because my sister just lost.

Q. To what degree, if any, does that detract from your enjoyment of the moment?
VENUS WILLIAMS: I mean, you could never detract from winning a Wimbledon (smiling). So, of course it doesn’t detract from that. But I’m definitely thinking about how my sister’s feeling.

Q. You’re only the third, if I’m correct, along with Martina Navratilova and Graf, to win as many as five Wimbledons in the modern era. What do you think of that? Does that make you think, I’m up there with the all-time greats, anything like that?
VENUS WILLIAMS: I think definitely winning this tournament so many times definitely puts you in the stratosphere, to be honest, just because of what this tournament means. I think had I had this achievement at any other tournament it would have been awesome, but not nearly the same meaning at Wimbledon. I think the difference is just because of the prestige of this event.

Q. An all-Williams final. Is this a start of a second era of dominance for the sisters at the top of the women’s game?
VENUS WILLIAMS: I would love that. The main goal for both of us is to stay healthy. We’ve both worked really hard this year, and I think the results showed here, both in the singles and the doubles. So the goal is to stay healthy so that way we can play singles and doubles and have a lot of fun with it.

Q. Besides the number of Wimbledon titles, can you let us into any of the things that motivated you tennis-wise in the recent past that raised your level between the French and now to do so well?
VENUS WILLIAMS: Uhm, I just feel like a lot of times I’m unlucky at the French. I come in with a sickness or injury, and I try to win, but I’m just not lucky. I find that happens a lot at the French and the Australian. A couple of times here, too, when I had my early losses. But, I mean, obviously coming off those losses I’m just like, This can’t be my life; I have to do better. So I think that’s what motivates me.

Q. You seem to be able to keep yourself fresh not doing as many tournaments.
VENUS WILLIAMS: I’ve had my fair share of downtimes. I try to stay as fresh as I can, with God’s blessing.

Q. You’ve earned the right to go home and put the racquet down and indulge yourself for as long as you want before Los Angeles. What are you going to do?
VENUS WILLIAMS: Well, I can’t wait to see my dog. I love that little guy. He’s my favorite. My favorite dog ever. I have to play TeamTennis, so I’ll do that. I want to take a break from eating five meals a day. I’m gonna cut back and eat a light breakfast and maybe two meals, not five and six meals like every day I have.

Q. Can you tell us a little about your morning, the day before the match. Did you spend some time together with Serena?
VENUS WILLIAMS: Yeah, we said, Okay, we’re eating breakfast. We always have lunch for breakfast to stay fueled. We’re both trying to choke it down. Okay, only two more matches. This is the last time we have to do this. Just encouraging each other. Just that, you know, we’re eating lunch again, two lunches before the match. It’s like, It’s the last time. It’s okay. That’s pretty much the atmosphere beforehand. Just still encouraging each other, not with specific advice like, Yes, serve me body, okay, because that’ll work good for you. None of that. But still encouraging each other to eat and be healthy.

Q. You’ve been training seriously or playing professional tennis for 18 years of your life now. Do you and Serena sometimes sit down and reminisce about the journey you’ve made from Compton, California, to the finals at Wimbledon?
VENUS WILLIAMS: Yeah, actually this morning I was just saying — I was asking Serena if she remembered the match when, I don’t know, I was in Sydney playing some match and Serena was watching my match and she finds out that she’s gonna be on court in about 10 minutes, and so she runs from my match to go play her match.

We were just talking about that. That was maybe in ‘98. So we do sometimes talk about the things in the past, just some of the things that have happened have been so amazing that we definitely draw a lot of energy and inspiration from it.

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