Serena Williams
Quotes
February 01 , 2010: "As you saw today, she took me to the umpteenth level. She clearly hasn’t, like, lost a step at all since she’s been gone. So I feel like I played a girl who’s been on the tour for the past five years without a break. I think her game is definitely better. I mean, it was excellent before she left. But, you know, I think she’s added a lot to it."
— Serena Williams, evaluating Justine Henin and her game, after beating her 6-4, 3-6, 6-2 in the Australian Open final..
July 08, 2009: "I would go crazy just thinking about it. I think anyone really could. That's just shocking. But whatever. It is what it is. I'd rather definitely be No. 2 and hold three Grand Slams in the past year than be No. 1 and not have any."
— Serena Williams, rightly denouncing the flawed WTA Tour computer rankings for ranking her No. 2 despite her winning three of the last four Grand Slam events.
April 12 , 2009: "I just think it's crazy that I can just be so consistent throughout the year and last year and barely be No. 1. I mean, winning two of the last four Grand Slams and getting into the finals of three of the last four, I just, I can't compute it. I mean, it's just psycho, really."
— Serena Williams is perplexed by the fact that had she lost to her sister Venus in the Sony Ericsson Open semis, she would have lost the No. 1 ranking. (Note: That injustice would be due in part to the WTA Tour's ranking system which does not count all tournament results.)
February 1, 2009: "I feel I can go forever. I talk to Venus, and we're always like, 'We're going to play forever.' I definitely feel like I have so many years to play. I think I'm playing pretty well, so... I think I can do it."
— Serena Williams, ecstatic after capturing her 10th Grand Slam singles title at the Australian Open.
September 9, 2008: "I've been working so hard all year. Sometimes I wake up at 6 a.m. to go and practice and it's too dark, and I wait until it gets light. No one really, really knows the work an athlete puts in. But it's all worth it. It's all paying off. I feel like gosh, I've been working the hardest, so I should win."
— Serena Williams, who captured her third U.S. Open and ninth Grand Slam title.
January 22, 2007: "I have it in
me. I believe in my game and more than anything I believe
in me. It doesn't matter what people say or people
write. At the end of the day, I'm my biggest fan.
Maybe my Dad. But other than that you have to always
be your biggest fan. I'm just working on staying
positive."
- Serena Williams seven-time
Grand Slam champion but unseeded at the Australian Open,
after she routed 11th-seeded Jelena Jankovic 6-3, 6-2
to reach the quarterfinals.
April 3, 2007: "I don't necessarily like coaches coming on the court. That's the beauty of the game,
to figure it out by yourself. You're down 6-0, down two match points, and you're able to come back. And I was able to do it on my own, not by calling my coach."
- Serena Williams, didn't
want or need on-court coaching - which the WTA Tour
is currently experimenting with - during her thrilling
0-6, 7-5, 6-3 comeback victory over world No. 1 Justine
Henin in the Sony Ericsson Open final.
January 22, 2007: "I have it in
me. I believe in my game and more than anything I believe
in me. It doesn't matter what people say or people
write. At the end of the day, I'm my biggest fan.
Maybe my Dad. But other than that you have to always
be your biggest fan. I'm just working on staying
positive."
- Serena Williams seven-time
Grand Slam champion but unseeded at the Australian Open,
after she routed 11th-seeded Jelena Jankovic 6-3, 6-2
to reach the quarterfinals.
December 1, 2006: "Now is the time to realize
that that we're here, this is our generation, and we can
make a statement and we can fight different diseases and
we can fight poverty and we beat this. I would never forget
where I come from and I would always want to give back
and let people know that it's OK to grow up one way and
it's OK to be that way."
- Serena Williams, who
went on a five-day humanitarian trip in November to
Senegal where she staged tennis clinics and met President
Abdoulaye Wade. Earlier she was invited to Senegal by
the United Nations Office of Sport for Development and
Peace in New York, where she attended the first U.N.
Global Youth Leadership Summit.
August 18, 2006: "I can't
imagine my mom running up and down the court like [Miami
Heat coach] Pat Riley. What's going to be so exciting
about it? If you have people that are going to speak
Russian, no one's going to be able to understand
that."
- Serena Williams,
who is not in favor of the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour's
experiment with on-court coaching at events in Montreal
and New Haven, Conn.
March 1, 2005: "You can't
really beat that [winning an Oscar]. You can always win
Wimbledon."
—Serena Williams, comparing movie
accolades to tennis triumphs.
February 13, 2005:: "It
also feels good, because people say you can't act and
can't design [clothing] and win Slams. So that's also
special, because I just finished a TV show and just did
a fashion show on the 15th of December, which was crazy.
I couldn't even practice the last six days before I did
it, because I was working so hard."
-- Serena Williams, who rebutted her critics by winning the 2005 Australian Open
despite having her pre-tournament training reduced to less than three weeks
because of a torn abdominal muscle and her other careers.
February 1, 2005::
"I just hate to lose. When I am on the court, it
is like my life depends on it."
-- Serena Williams, on her fierce
competitiveness, after winning the Australian Open
for her seventh Grand Slam title
October 17, 2004: "I have some really good men friends, but I believe in no sex before marriage. No fornicating. Stuff like that. I really believe in that. I mean, I'm not perfect. It's hard to live by Bible standards, but I'm really comfortable with me. There's so much peer pressure. So much pressure, period. I've just removed myself from it. I don't know if I'll fall in love again. "
-- Ever-uninhibited Serena, on her love life
2003: "If you can keep playing tennis when somebody is shooting a gun down the street, that's concentration. I didn't grow up playing tennis at the country club."
-Serena, who grew up in violent, gang-ridden Compton, California
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