Serena Williams Charlie Rose Interview [02/02/2007]

serena williams is here and she is back really back she is just won the Australian Open she had entered that Grand Slam tournament unseated because it's been a while since she's won a major open in fact it was back in 2005 her return is involved getting into shape physically and mentally since she has faced a series of physical and personal trials but she had long been one of the dominant players in women's tennis she helped make it a power game in 2002 she was a number one right player for 57 weeks her win on Saturday marked her eighth Grand Slam title here is a look at her match point against Maria Sharapova I am pleased to have Serena Williams at this table for the very first time welcome thank you very much I'm happy to be here great to have you tell me how you did this no first tell me just tell me what you thought about going into this tournament well when I come when I first went into the tournament I was just thinking how I wanted to do well and I wanted to go far and whenever I enter a Grand Slam or any tournament for that matter honestly I just play one match at a time I don't get too far ahead I don't think about the future I just have my mind focus on that one event and that one match and at one point and that's how I go into every event okay but you were coming after not many Grand Slam victories you are coming after personal crisis in your life in terms of your sister's death in terms of other things injury did you believe going in that you could win I always believe I can win I never go into a tournament saying I'm gonna lose you know I just think first of all that's bad thinking and I'm just thinking oh I never I never say oh I could hope to do this or hope to you know beat her always going to a tournament thinking I have a chance to win or else I'm not gonna play you were seeded 81st yes you had been as low as 144 my god so what happened I mean all of a sudden we know of your skills yeah but tell me what happened you know I just I just think it all turned around the third round I was playing the number five ranked player in the world and at that point I hadn't beat a top 10 player in a long time and I just was down that was two points from losing and being out of the tournament and then like I just hit this one shot down the line and I was so pumped up and I was so far because I didn't want to lose and it just all came back in me like I the just the feeling of not winning but going out there and playing my game and doing what I do best which is out there which is playing tennis and so that moment you said this could be a time back that moment I said you know what I'm not gonna lose and you know if I do go down I'm gonna go down playing the best I can play and I always say that if I play well or if I play 50 60 % it's hard for anyone to beat me let alone 75 to 90 100% some people watching what happened will say the one thing you had you were hungry for this you really wanted this I was very hungry for it I actually described it as famished you know I felt as if I needed it and not only that I wanted it and those combined you know just was a real killer and it was a devastating to whoever I was playing it was like and I faced a lot of adversity I got blisters I couldn't walk like I'd play a match and after the match I would hop to the shower I'm one day hopping on one leg cause I was hurting so bad and the next day I would couldn't even practice I just lay down all day and then I go out the next day and I play a match you know it was all about wanting it more than anything and I think that was just a major turnaround what separates the best players is mainly the mental edge I think my dad always said tennis is mental game you know 30% is physical and the rest is mental and you have to have a strong mind and I think I was able and I am able to you know win a lot of matches even if I'm down I'm always fighting you know and always wanting to win how is Venus doing Venus is doing really well I talk to her every day um I miss her fancy haven't had a chance to go home yet but I'll be going home soon and uh yeah we can't wait to see each other still play together we always practice together and that's why I me pregnant yeah and I think I did so well in Australia because just before I left I was practicing with Venus and she was hitting the ball amazing and we were playing our points and she just killed me on everything she would hit these serves and then she would come in just hit these great winners and I was thinking well I've got to do well in Australia because you know this may be my last chance to win because she's playing really unbelievable and I'm hitting with the best hitting partner I can hit with which me her she has a strongest serve she gets every ball back she hits harder than me and just has the great volley she has a great game and it's like when he practiced with someone that's the best and who's playing on the tour and who's a great player it's you know it just works out so great can you come now because if somebody might have said this at one time about your game can you come to the kind of dominance in the women's game that Roger Federer has in the men's game I definitely think that's a possibility and I don't think anything is impossible but that's definitely a possibility as long as you know as well as Roger as long as you stay injury-free you know that anything can happen on any given day and it's really important to stay healthy and to try to stay fit and you can't really decide that for yourself it kind of happens will you not staying fit um I definitely got unfitted some different areas but not to the extreme that I was in the hassle that I was getting in Australia which was quite interesting I was actually kind of really fit I was running for more than ever and I don't like running yeah it's not one of my favorite giovani moment yeah had a rocky Roe mcus I went to Australia early and because you want to win this was important yeah this was important I played a tournament right before they Australian Open and I lost to a girl I knew I never heard of you didn't know her I didn't know her and I was like I mean I was so frustrating but you have to understand we will play me they play me very hard they it looks like they're going all-out just to beat me and then they get up for changes get up but she lost next round like in 30 minutes against a picture I knew but she beat me and I was just so frustrated so this one try to explore well so when you walked out from that did you say to yourself I had a bad day or what the hell is going on with me and I'm embarrassed I'm up shame doesn't change it was more I'm embarrassed what's going on with me I've got to change I was very upset because I just felt like I could have won and at the same time I just felt like when was I gonna win and everyone was like oh she hasn't won a tournament and she hasn't done this and you know he had some people one person who claimed that I was offending Maria Sharapova and Amelie Mauresmo the number1 and number2 players in the world by saying that I could be on top again that I could be a good player and always said that I've always said that you never thought I won't be back oh god no never there is this they say about you would you've heard a thousand times what happened to you beyond the personal tragedy of your sister's death and parents and all those kinds of things that happened people's lives not as severe not as many in one year as you had but there was a sense that you would distract it easily by fashion by television by becoming an actress and that you couldn't maintain the focus for tennis if you're also trying to do all this other stuff yeah you know I I do get distracted easy but the fact is I love to play tennis it's my number one thing it's what I'm known for it's what I like I said I do best but at the same time I like to do different things like I love acting and it's just something I look like if I wasn't a tennis player I never knew anything about tennis I would have wanted to be an actress because I just like developing different characters I like going into different characters I like you know just I just love that um also like designing because I do design everything that I wear the court the Nike outfits and like the the little green thing in Australia I had is your game getting better my game is getting better and other that's been at his best um I think I when I was at my best so to say I wasn't at my best like people saying you were winning the most you weren't miserable I don't think I was at my best and when I go back and watch film like I steady film of myself I see in the past and I was watching this match the French Open like when I won the French Open and I was like wow I was playing awful and even the commentator said well Serena won but she wasn't playing her best today but you know it was you could just like the things that I could do better to me were just so much at the same time I'm insatiable there's so many I'm just when it comes to moving I'm insatiable how is your discipline discipline is definitely something that you definitely need that's all you got to go to bed you got a practice together I'm going to bed and you know it's just hard I've been playing you know since I was like three years old and you know sometimes you just want to say I don't want to go to practice today but one time your dad in Florida had you practicing six hours a day yeah we used to practice a lot in the summaries to practice a lot like several I like yeah you know what I in reading about you today I learned to me I didn't know and this is simply because I'm an omission by me I was always on the impression that your dad had taught you too but there was a coach who got involved in Florida I mean at a certain point the family moved to Florida yeah because that coach had flown out to Compton seen you guys and realized and wasn't that impressed yet he realized you had this extraordinary physical possibility yeah you were great athletes yes that's true we went to Rick Macy tennis academy replaces isn't it yeah and Rick Macy was is a great it wasn't as a great guy and he helped us out a lot my dad was always on the court as well with us Rick Macy was on the court as well I mean sometimes he would be on Venus court my day with my court would be vice versa and you know he helped us out a lot and we really appreciate everything that he was able to do and we had a lot of fun Macy days you know we call him you know good it was it was like I think at some point in everyone's life they go to a tennis academy and you know we went to tennis academy if she loved us go to a match and see any of you guys were competing in the semis or the finals there would be your dad with a camera yeah right yeah my dad has been taking pictures of us since we were he has film of us we were uh I don't know like six and seven years old and you know yeah even we're really he just always have been into cameras and taking pictures and it's great cuz we have so many wonderful memories that oh my god we wouldn't have and it's just awesome what did he teach you about winning my dad taught me winning is not important if it's done on the tennis court he said your winner if your winner in life and you have a good education like we had to make sure that we went to school every day if we didn't do get good A's or B's at the least where we could get wasn't B then we couldn't play tennis and we couldn't practice and he said that you'll never be known as a champion on the court you know it's it's what you do off the court that matters he also had him to read a mini Richard Williams is a figure in terms of when you now think about the development tennis players yeah you guys didn't play the juniors no we didn't play juniors because he thought it was better for you and your mother to give her credit it my dad and my mom I like to describe my dad is the body and my mom is the spine you know that goes through the body and they have to work together and without either one you can't survive and each one being equally important so um you know they my dad took us out of juniors I was his decision but yes he wanted you what no you go out and you see these even today in it's not just in tennis it's in a lot of different sport you see a these kids playing tennis or whatever sport it may be and then you see the parents yelling I remember one parent used to beat the child and they all yell at the children or they just expect so much the children it felt so much pressure and then you know they it was just it was a lot of pressure to feel for a nine grown you know and it's just it's amazing what you know cuz these parents want success so much not necessarily for the child but a lot for them as well and my dad never wanted us to feel that way and also he wanted us to go to school and he wanted us to develop mentally as well yeah the other thing though was that when so many people doubted and thought he was wrong he kept to be kept to his vision and he was right kind of like I did in Australia that's where I get it from but the vision in Australia was what was to do what though well so many people doubt it sort of saying you know I kept saying you know I'm a knowing you know I can beat anybody if I'm playing well and I guess you can just link that to my dad you know and people said you know you'll never make a champion you'll never make a there's never been a black tennis player to win several grant I mean Althea Gibson she did amazing in Arthur Ashe won a couple grand slams as well they were just amazing people but on a consistent basis and to change the game of tennis and I'm not trying to pontificate or anything I'm just this is just the facts you know a lot of people played harder and ran faster I can see the difference myself I mean I'm playing girls that I played when I first came out on tour and then now they just play totally different because you had to adapt and you had to change and you know my dad was able and my mom of course they were both able to to make that happen and it's just an amazing thing to be a part of do you think that the edge is for you guys even though you're remarkable athlete you and Venus yes the edge is that you are tougher mentally rather than your skills or that much better both both skills do you think you're tougher mentally than sharp ovas mentally tough and that's why in the end you beat her Sharapova I think is a real a mentally tough girl yeah I think she's really general yeah did yessum pleasure yeah those they're very tough she's one of the tougher ones in the mine I think she's really tough in the mine I I do believe that physic it's definitely something mental but at the same time we do we innovated things like footwork that you'd never seen before that my dad would tell us to do and you know I see Roger Federer doing a lot of stuff I'm thinking why did my dad teach Roger Federer can they just gliding to the ball yeah and he does all the stuff that we don't do that my dad wants us to do he's intelligent like what like you know like if someone I'm not gonna say oh come on because you know I'm not giving away my secrets cuz I plan on doing that son so I got a something that he seems surprised something that he saw Roger do that you're trying to do no my dad before I even heard of Roger Federer he was telling us to do some of the things that routers doing but we never did because you know you know we just even it listen are we it was like Oh or we just couldn't do it I don't know why we didn't do it you know but you know it's just the way his way of teaching was so like years literally years ahead of time and so I think that coupled with great shots and great skill as well as great mental strength has been awesome if I could give you if I had some magical power and I could give you one thing : this room in ya will be out a minute of here if I could give you one thing what would it be to enhance improve make your tennis better um hmm I would go for a bigger sir would you really yeah like a better sir like with more like bigger instrument like if I could serve like one of the guys well yeah I'd play four times a year and win every time it's a primary difference in the men's game and the women's game the power the men sir I think it's just the power in the speed in general I mean guys are just stronger it's like Linux Lewis fighting you know a female boxer it's just like men are just stronger you and Venus who's the best sorry to say we're the best at different things like break it down like um I believe my serve is better than hers how her although her reputation was about her serving her yeah her side was bigger for it's definitely stronger but I believe mine's better um boy she gets more balls cuz she's way taller I reaches air reaches better we split it down the middle but get us together a doubles court and we're pretty good so the French Open is next French Open is next in you win I can win I definitely can and it's just about me again staying healthy and doing the things to win and making sure I do and they are you know there are a lot of things on court and that and like the rivers in the surface or the difference just I have to be really fit going into the French Open I mean running I have to get up to running a lot low are you gonna do that I mean you just learned how sweet victory is why wouldn't I much success thank you so much true Serena Williams in the Australian champion goes next to Roland Garros and try to win the French thank you for joining us see you next time

Channel: Jamie Owen!

Views: 27,928

Keywords: Serena Williams, 2007, Charlie Rose, Interview, Australian Open 2007

Id: Kl2OwazUedo

Length: 18min 57sec (1137 seconds)

Published: Sat Oct 08 2016