It is good to be Serena Williams. AP says President Barack Obama and his family welcomed the Wimbledon champion Serena Williams to the White House yesterday.
“It was amazing. I love President Obama; he has such an unbelievable presence, and he seems to be so normal — and he noticed my shoes. I think that was the highlight of the whole day, was he liked my shoes.”

“He asked me, ‘Should I be wearing high heels?’ So I thought that was kind of funny because he may have been right,” Williams said. “Because it is a job hazard for me, but I insist on wearing them.”

Williams also had an opportunity to meet the First Lady and the rest of Obamas including Bo Obama:

“I didn’t know she had such an amazing personality. She had me cracking up and laughing. I knew she was a great person, but now I really understand how important this first family is to the United States. And the kids were just so cute and sweet, and the dog was nice.”

[TIB: Here is Serena’s reaction to Barack Obama’s election.]

Roger Federer interview
Wimbledon Final, July 5, 2009.

Q. How hard was that compared to other finals you have played here?

ROGER FEDERER: It was difficult, because I thought Andy played great. You know, I mean, I’m obviously ?? I know how it is to play a Wimbledon final. I know how it is to play a fifth set in the final, in a Wimbledon final.

But it felt different. It was so different to what I experienced the last few years with Rafa, you know, where it was a baseline game. Today it was a serve and return game, which is more classical for grass.

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And here is Elena Dementieva’s interview after losing Serena Williams in a dramatic Wimbledon thriller. Jon Wertheim twitted about it: “just out of dementieva presser…that, friends, is class.”

Q. Is it a match you thought on merit you should have won?

ELENA DEMENTIEVA: Well, I think it was a very close match, and I think we both were playing very well today. It was a good fight.

Actually, I feel very satisfied the way I was playing today. The only regret I have, maybe I should take a little bit more risk on match point, should go down the line.

But overall it was a good match.

Q. Do you think this is the best match ever you have played on grass?

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Venus Williams’ interview after blowing world No. 1 Dinara Safina away 6-1, 6-0
Q. Was that one of your easiest passages through to a final?VENUS WILLIAMS: Yes, it was very successful for me. I was really pleased with my form. Of course, playing against the No. 1 player in the world, it’s exciting to play so well.

So, I mean, obviously I had to work hard for it, but I was able to do a lot of the right things today.

Q. Was it near perfect?

VENUS WILLIAMS: You know what, uhm, I don’t know if there’s such a thing as perfect for an athlete, but I felt happy with it. And I felt like my performance has been building each round better and better. So it felt good to play even better today.

Q. Today do you think you were 6?1, 6?Love stronger than Safina, or something happened to her? The score is very strange.

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Serena Williams’s interview after winning a dramatic Wimbledon semi-final match against Elena Demeniteva.

Q. Would that be one of your more dramatic victories?

SERENA WILLIAMS: It’s definitely one of my more dramatic victories, for sure, yeah.

Q. How did you feel at the end?

SERENA WILLIAMS: Felt good, because I felt like I was down pretty much the whole match. To come out on top was, you know, a great feeling. To finally win, it’s good.

Q. You’re not normally lucky to be in major finals, but do you feel lucky to be going into this one?

SERENA WILLIAMS: No, not at all. I felt like I worked hard. I don’t think there was too much luck involved today. I think it was a lot of skill more than anything.

Q. We’ve all had moments when the body makes appointments that the mind can’t keep. At stages during the match it looked as though your body or your mind wasn’t supporting you. Did you feel that?

SERENA WILLIAMS: No. I just felt like I was pretty much there the whole match mentally. I just wanted to, you know, keep going. I wanted to win really bad.

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“I’m a little crazy; I wouldn’t want to date me,” says Serena Williams during her interview with BBC on the eve of Wimbledon.  I wouldn’t call me a Serena Fan, but I cannot deny that she is a great player and an interesting character. Watch the interview here. (via Women Who Serve)

You can’t miss any tennis match today. Look at the order of play today. All the big names are in action.

CENTRE - SHOW COURT - 1.00 PM START

1. Robin Soderling (SWE) [13] vs Roger Federer (SUI) [2]
2. Dinara Safina (RUS) [1] vs Amelie Mauresmo (FRA) [17]
3. Andy Murray (GBR) [3] vs Stanislas Wawrinka (SUI) [19]

COURT 1 - SHOW COURT - 1.00 PM START

1. Venus Williams (USA) [3] vs Ana Ivanovic (SRB) [13]
2. Fernando Verdasco (ESP) [7] vs Ivo Karlovic (CRO) [22]
3. Tomas Berdych (CZE) [20] vs Andy Roddick (USA) [6]

COURT 2 - SHOW COURT - 12.00 NOON START

1. Elena Vesnina (RUS) vs Elena Dementieva (RUS) [4]
2. Daniela Hantuchova (SVK) vs Serena Williams (USA) [2]
3. Lleyton Hewitt (AUS) vs Radek Stepanek (CZE) [23]

COURT 3 - SHOW COURT - 12.00 NOON START

1. Victoria Azarenka (BLR) [8] vs Nadia Petrova (RUS) [10]
2. Dudi Sela (ISR) vs Novak Djokovic (SRB) [4]
3. Juan Carlos Ferrero (ESP) vs Gilles Simon (FRA) [8]

COURT 4 - SHOW COURT - 12.00 NOON START

1. Igor Andreev (RUS) [29] vs Tommy Haas (GER) [24]
2. Caroline Wozniacki (DEN) [9] vs Sabine Lisicki (GER)

COURT 18 - SHOW COURT - 12.00 NOON START

1. Agnieszka Radwanska (POL) [11] vs Melanie Oudin (USA)
2. Virginie Razzano (FRA) [26] vs Francesca Schiavone (ITA)

Jelena Jankovic is upset by an American player, and her last name is not Williams.  Melanie Oudin, a 17-year-old qualifier from Marietta, Ga., has achieved the biggest upset of the first week at Wimbledon by beating former No. 1 Jelena Jankovic, 6-7 (8), 7-5, 6-2. She’s ranked 124th and will be in the top 100 for the first time after the tournament. I bet now all the U.S. commentators are weighing in if she could be the future of the U.S. women’s tennis.  Let’s admit is, the U.S. tennis community has been looking for new women stars for quite a long time.

Q. What did Michael Jackson mean to you personally? Would you think about dedicating today’s victory perhaps?

SERENA WILLIAMS: No, I mean, he was a great guy, a complete icon. Words can’t express my shock and horror, you know, just thoughts and prayers that go out to him and his family and just everything. It’s just terrible, terrible, terrible thing.

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Here is where you can watch free live Wimbledon online.