The quotes you may have missed from the press conferences
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Your support makes all the difference.(Press conference in first week, Q = questioner)
Getting your priorities right
Q: I miss your gold shoes.
Serena Williams: Me, too. But you have to wear the white here. I miss them, too.
Q: Bit of trouble with a hair ornament. Venus lost an earring yesterday.
Serena: Did she?
Q: Yes. Maybe time to cut down on the accessories?
Serena: Accessorize, accessorize, accessorize. You can never have too many accessories.
[Interview in second week]
Q: Last week in this press room you made it clear you liked to accessorize. Where did you find a tiara that would stay on your head during a tennis match? Did you have to practise with it?
Serena Williams: Actually, I didn't practise. I played a doubles with it first. It worked well. My mom liked it more than the black one, although I do like the black one more. My mom likes this one more. I don't know. I just kind of... luck of the draw, I guess.
On the wrong wavelength
Q: Can you talk about all the pressure that Amelie [Mauresmo] was under when she first burst out there and how she's been able to handle that?
Martina Navratilova: I don't know. I mean, she didn't seem to worry about it one way or the other. The press is making a big deal about it, but to her it wasn't. She handled it very well because she didn't really care what anybody said. She knew who she was. She knows who she is. If somebody has a problem with it, that was their problem, not hers. You know, she's a very healthy, you know, human, up there. She didn't have a problem.
Q: I meant more with being so young at the '99 Australian Open.
Navratilova: Tennis-wise?
Q: Yes.
Navratilova: I thought you were talking about the coming out bit.
Getting personal
Q: Has your partner Sylvie's support been helpful?
Amelie Mauresmo: My partner?
Q: How important has her support been in getting you this far?
Mauresmo: My ex partner, you mean?
The ageing process
Q: Have you left some gas in the tank?
Richard Krajicek: Yeah, it's okay. I'll put some more in tonight.
Q: Any part of your body that doesn't hurt?
Krajicek: My elbow actually.
Jennifer Capriati (after defeat by Mauresmo): I'm definitely not the 16-year-old body any more.
Q: As someone who has accomplished so much in the sport, do you have any advice for Anna Kournikova, who has accomplished so little?
Navratilova: So, anyway, you know, she's only, what, 18, 19?
Q: 21.
Navratilova: Huh? She's 21? Wow.
Q: There've been reports linking you to the Formula 1 racing driver Enrique Benoldi. Any truth in those?
Jelena Dokic: If I wasn't a tennis player, you wouldn't be talking to me right now. So why don't you think of a question that is your business.
Q (to Martina Navratilova, after doubles with Todd Woodbridge): How do you feel about the fact that sort of 90 per cent of the crowd are shouting, "Anna", 10 per cent "Martina"?
Woodbridge: I don't think it was that much. I had a group of girls for me.
Q: Do you ever talk about politics [with doubles partner, Aisam-ul-haq Qureshi]?
Amir Hadad: No, not really. We're here for the sport. We're here to improve our ranking, to make some money.
Q: Do you go out to dinner, do you ever?
Amir Hadad: Never, no.
Q: What do you speak about, sex or what?
Aisam-ul-haq Qureshi: He's got his girlfriend here. I'm not having most of the dinners with him, no. Probably, yeah.
Stating the obvious (or not)
Q: How far do you think Daniela [Hantuchova] might be able to go here this year? Is she good enough to go any further against Serena maybe?
Jelena Dokic: I don't know. Depending how Serena plays. You know, I don't know. Just depends. I think, I mean, a lot depends on how Serena plays. I think if she plays well enough, it will be hard to beat her. I think Serena's going into the match as a favourite. You'd have to favour her. It all depends.
Krajicek (after beating Mark Philippoussis to make the quarter-finals): Winning is much more fun on a full stadium than, of course, Court 25 or something like that in the back with three people watching.
Mauresmo (after beating Capriati): You know, my mental was a little bit up and down.
Going native
Q: The frequent rain delay, did it affect either you?
Todd Woodbridge: You get into a routine of what you do during the rain delays here, whether it's have a cup of tea, some guys play backgammon. I have a cup of tea and biscuits, do the English thing.
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