Following her opening-round win over Elise Mertens at Wimbledon, Venus Williams spoke to the media about her match, returning to Wimbledon and her June 9 car crash in Florida that resulted in the death of a 78-year-old man. A transcript of Monday's news conference:
Q. Can you describe your feelings being back at Wimbledon after still a very tough period?
Williams: Yes, this is my 20th Wimbledon. I never thought that I'd play this many. But I'm grateful to be here and to play. I love the game.
Q. How difficult has it been, the last couple weeks, for you?
Williams: Definitely, you know, tennis is still the love of my life. You know, it gives me joy. That's what I can say.
Q. How good was Elise [Mertens] today compared to the match you played against her at Roland Garros?
Williams: This is a completely different surface, so today she had opportunities to take chances. She played at such a high level. If she can maintain that level, she can win a lot of titles.
There were times where I thought the match was over, and it wasn't. So it was a lot of credit to, like, her playing amazing.
Q. Did she surprise you, certain aspects?
Williams: You know, I don't think so much about my opponent as much as I'm thinking about maybe my performance, so ...
Q. How would you describe your emotions of the last month, all the way through being here today?
Williams: Well, today walking on the court, I love it here, so it's always a feeling of coming back home. It's a special time of year.
Q. And your emotions before you got here over the last month?
Williams: I've definitely played a lot of tennis. It's a good thing to be on the court.
Q. You had your great run in Melbourne. You spoke about the simple life, a dog, love playing tennis. Out of nowhere the incident occurred in Florida. Can you talk about dealing with how life gives you the inexplicable changes, curve balls, how you've been dealing with that yourself, if you would?
Williams: Yeah, life, you can't prepare for everything. I prepared for a lot of matches, tried to get ready for whatever my opponent will throw at you, but you can't prepare for everything.
Q. Do you think having gone through all the things you have, both mentally and physically, that will help you deal with this situation when you're just trying to be a tennis player?
Williams: I have no idea what tomorrow will bring. That's all I can say about it. That's what I've learned.
Q. I saw that you wrote on your Facebook some very heartfelt words about the accident. Anything else you would want to say about that?
Williams: There are really no words to describe, like, how devastating and -- yeah. I'm completely speechless. It's just -- yeah, I mean, I'm just ... [tearing up]
Moderator: Before we take any further questions for Venus, please be aware she's unable to say anything more about this, so I'd ask you to respect her wishes, please. Can we just give her a minute, please?
Do you want to take a minute outside? Shall we?
Williams: Maybe I should go.
Moderator: Yes.
[Williams exits the interview room.]