TENNIS WTA CINCINNATI – 15th of August 2014. S. Williams d. J. Jankovic 6-1, 6-3. An interview with Serena Williams
Q. Not a bad day at the office for you today. Everything going the way it should be?
SERENA WILLIAMS: Yeah, definitely felt pretty good about today. I felt better. Was just getting consistent. My unforced errors are lower than they’ve been this year, so it’s definitely keep going towards the right way.
Q. Roger last night was saying he was pretty happy with the number of matches he’s been playing, so he was going to go into tonight’s match against Andy fairly relaxed and nothing to lose. Do you feel that way? You’ve played a lot of matches.
SERENA WILLIAMS: Yeah.
Q. Do you need more match play?
SERENA WILLIAMS: No, I feel really good. I feel like I’m really relaxed now. I felt like that even after Canada. I felt like I was good, but obviously I wanted to come here.
Obviously I desperately want to win two more matches. I don’t want to stop here. Definitely feel really good so far with my performance.
Q. There was some focus at this tournament because it’s the only Masters Djokovic hasn’t won. And you, too. Is that a bucket list item for your career to win the Cincinnati title?
SERENA WILLIAMS: I don’t know. I mean, it’ll be nice. It will be great. Hopefully I’ll do it.
We’ll see. No pressure.
Q. Not something you’re desperate for, I guess.
SERENA WILLIAMS: Yeah. I would love to win here. Absolutely. It would be great to win. But at the same time, I don’t want put that pressure on myself.
I’m just really trying to stay pressure free right now.
Q. Have you been nominated for the ice bucket challenge?
SERENA WILLIAMS: I have, and I definitely want to do two. I just have to get the right equipment. (Laughter.)
Q. Ice and a bucket?
SERENA WILLIAMS: Yeah. I need that and some other props. So I’m working on it. Probably do it today.
Q. You’ve been so good on hard courts this year. Talk about why you have been so dominate, especially today? You said it was a grind. Watching out there looked like you dominated start to finish.
SERENA WILLIAMS: I don’t know. I’ve been feeling really well on hard court this year. I don’t know, I’m just really happy about it. At least I feel good on some surface this year.
I don’t know really know. I just feel comfortable.
Q. Do you feel better this week than last week at this stage?
SERENA WILLIAMS: Yeah, definitely. I don’t think I played great last week. I was just fighting to be in the tournament. I was mentally fighting really hard.
Definitely feel like I’m playing better this week.
Q. At the end of the match you gave a special shout out to some fans.
SERENA WILLIAMS: Yeah.
Q. Something that just kind of popped up today, or have they been following you?
SERENA WILLIAMS: No. These guys were so amazing back there. This one guy in particular just kept grinding and telling me what a great job I was doing. He was so positive. I was like, I love this. So it felt really, really good, and he definitely deserved to know.
