(Article Courtesy of CNN Open Court )
A great CNN interview with the three-times Sony Open champion Venus Williams, filmed ahead of her upcoming appearance at the tournament Miami.
CNN’s tennis programme ‘Open Court’ met up with the 33-year old former world number one following her recent title win at the Dubai Championship. Speaking to the CNN host, and court legend, Pat Cash, Williams discussed her ambitions at this month’s Sony Open and this summer’s Wimbledon as well as Sjogrens syndrome, the illness which has affected her recent career.
The full interview will air as part of ‘Open Court’ on CNN International at the following times
Thursday 20 March at 0930 GMT / 1030 CET and 1730 GMT / 1830 CET
Saturday 22 March at 0730 GMT / 0830 CET and 2100 GMT / 2200 CET
Sunday 23 March at 1630 GMT / 1730 CET
There will be embeddable video of this interview on the Open Court website following the first airing of the programme, but you can currently take a view at any of the previous CNN Open Court productions.
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On the Sony Open
Pat Cash: “How do you feel your form is going in to the Sony Open, you won a tournament and you’re ready for this one.”
Venus Williams: “I feel very excited going in to the Sony Open, I have to say that I’m more confident on the court than I have been in my life and I think it’s because I’ve really been to the bottom, so once you get that far down once you get back up you realise you have nothing to lose so I think I have this whole new perspective going out on the court and a whole new view that I’ve never had before. Even when I was unbeatable I felt so much more confident than then so I’m really looking forward to going out in to the Sony and competing and I love the competition.”
On Wimbledon
Pat Cash: “Which grand slam do you think you might have the best chance at? Wimbledon? Do you think you can sneak another title out?”
Venus Williams: “I would love to play and win another title at Wimbledon, that would be amazing but I’m not limiting myself to that because I want to win them all, but you know the courts have changed so much, back in the day when you go out in Wimbledon the first few days you felt like you couldn’t play tennis and now you adjust so quickly, the courts have gotten a lot slower, the game is a little bit different but I still love the grass.”
On the illness that has affected her career
Venus Williams: “Sjogrens syndrome, it’s an auto-immune disease and I’ve spent the last few years learning to adjust and play again.”
Pat Cash: “I’m curious how you can manage it while playing at a top level it surely makes you a bit tired, where do you have to be careful, when you are travelling? When you are playing too much? How do you adjust to this?”
Venus Williams: “I think I just can’t maybe have as much fun as everyone else, I got to bed early! The last few years I’ve just been learning how to play, learning how to deal with it mentally because there’s no one who has done it before so I’ve had to learn a lot about myself really, I’ve gone through a lot of things that I never thought I would but I feel fortunate to have the career that I have.”
Topics: CNN Open Court, CNN Tennis, Pat Cash, Sony Open, Tennis News, Venus Williams, Wimbledon Championships
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