Serena on Obama

Q. Big night back home for Americans with the inauguration. Can I ask you what that means to you? Also, early hours of the morning tomorrow. Will you try and wake up and watch it?

SERENA WILLIAMS: This is an amazing moment for American history. Even yesterday, the United States being Martin Luther King’s birthday. To have his birthday and Obama’s presidency fall so close to each other. This morning I was watching on the TV before I went out to play. I looked at my arm, and I literally had chill bumps.

I’m a big fan of African American history, learning my roots so I can be a better person. You just look at all the things that we’ve come through. Now to have this opportunity in less than 24 hours is amazing.

I don’t know, I’ll probably record it. I need my rest for this tournament. But it’s definitely something that I probably will look at.

Q. Is it inspiring for you and your sister? Do you feel in some ways yourself and Venus have done in a sporting sense what Obama has done in a political sense?

SERENA WILLIAMS: I definitely think myself and Venus has opened up a lot of doors, being the first African Americans to do so much in tennis. But I never really look at that. I just look at trying to stay focused.

At the end of my career, I always thought I would go back and kind of dwell on that, because I don’t want to get complacent and be like, Oh, I did this, I did that. It can become easy to become complacent with nine Grand Slams and counting (laughter).

(TIB Note: By the way the Williams sisters reportedly haven’t voted at all, since they are Jehovah’s witnesses, and their religion prohibits voting)