I've been getting my reel together. I think they are looking at me more as an actress because I have a lot of potential and a lot of skills.

It's remarkable she [Venus Williams] plays at all, given her Sjögren's syndrome [an autoimmune disorder that can cause joint pain]. She's back, winning tournaments. She didn't allow society to tell her, "You have this disease; you can't do that anymore." I look at her, like, "She's not playing at 100 percent. You are. You don't have excuses." Knowing what she went through helped me try to be a more positive person.

I think it's bad when people start booing between serves.

When I first started really playing, in '98, I was super excited to see all the people I grew up watching. ... I loved Monica Seles, Steffi Graf, and Pete Sampras.

I don't go there thinking I'm going to lose. I never go into a tournament thinking that. I'll do the best that I can. I need to be at my peak and my best is holding up the trophy. Anything less I wouldn't be really excited about. So that's all I can focus on.

I definitely have found a balance. I've had so many offers in the past to do different movies or different things and I always choose tournaments over it.

I played pretty well in my twenties, don't get me wrong! But my consistency is better [in my thirties], my momentum is better, my wins are quicker.