tavis: good evening. from los angeles, i am tavis smiley. tonight, our conversation with nnis great serena williams the owner of 23 grand slam tles, who regained the no. 1 spotn tennis last week, th fifth time thathe has held the ranking. las month but she made news of a different kind following a confrontation wth a line judge at the u.s. open. she is out wita new memoir call "on the line." serena williams, cing up right now. >> there are so many thin that wal-mart is oking forward to doing, like helping peoplelive

better. but mostly, we're hping build stronger communities and relatiships. with your help, the best iyet to come. >> nationwide insurance proudly supports "tavis smiley tavis d nationwide, working together to imove financial literacy and the economic empowerment th comes with it. >> ♪ nationwide is on your side ♪ >> and by contribuons to your pbs station om viewers like u. thank you. [captioning made poible by kcet pubc television] tavis: pleaseto welcomserena williams to the program. she is once again on top of the world of women's nnis after regaining the top ranking in sports lasteek. she ha won two grand sla

titles this year, including one at the australian henew book of memoirs is called "on the line," with great lessons from h life today. serena, nice to ha you look backn the set. the st time you were here with your sister, venus, it has been a few years ag >> it has bn a while. tavis: venus williams, he sister, designed the set. en you see me sittin herend satellite interviews, venous design the whole thi. she sent me an email when i was stting to the show. she said i heard you were doing a new show and i want to get into desig when my career is ov. >> that was so nice of you. she does a great job. she designs things, she did my apartment as well i love the set. we have to get her come back.

tavis: she still wts to move in that direction? >> aolutely. she has a good e for it. she is od at it. i think she iawesome. tavis: what you want too after nnis? >> i loveashion degn, i love writing. recently, have gotten in writg, which includes this bo tt just came out with, "othe line." i am really artsy everything that haso do with ings like art. tavis: there areat picture of you in the book of you and venus. you make a pnt in the book that when you get a chance between mates and practice, you like to read? >> i veeading. i read all theime. we used to have a book cub where weould read tons of oks. it was three-person book club. we would pass th booksand ourselves. you would not think it, but we

are a little geeky. that can b good, thoug tavis: what did you make of the process of writing theook? >> ihad a wonderful co-author who did a grea b. what i love about this, we sat down together. he sent me thingsi crossed stuff out and lirally wrote a lo it was a team effort. sometime peoe write memoirs and it is not their voice, but when y read this book, it is my voice. i wouldo to him for direction, to y think this is od or the like this? in the bac oy book is a diary of what i kept at the u.s. open. tavis:hat is the message that you waed to communicate? at this point your career, with so much more to do, at did you want the book to communicate? >> at th time when i wrote th

book, i had just becom number onin the world agai i thoht life for me is all about timing. i thought the timing was grea maybe a year prior to thati wasranked almost 200 and the wod, i had fallen off. i had gotten injur, took te off. everybody said i woul ner be get -- everybody saii would never be number one again, everybody said i was fat, i was just never, never, neve all of a sudden, i comeack, i win and sla and i am number one ain, whi no one ever thought would happ. thought it was aood opportity for me to share with the world that when peop said no, then just lk them in the fa and say, yeah, i can d anything i wa to do. tavis: great segwafor the cover oespn." this is the body issue of

"esp" everybody in the country is talking about this cover. are you happy with that cover? >> i am really happy with it. i wanted too something sur classy and tasful. i wanteople to knowhat you could have gat curves like me÷ and still be sexy. that is kind of direction that i am going. it was a lot esier. i was coletely flattered they want me to be on the cer. i was really eited. thought the pictureame out really well. i woed wit a great photographer. i'm really excited about it. tavis: there ae a lot of women who celebra the fact thatyou and youristerave made it vogue r black won's bodies be celebrated. when barack obama got elted, it is putting a different spin on wha fashion and bety. talk to me about your ow jouey as a black woman, havi this body, the way it is crafted

and consucted, apprected and not ridiled. >> that is a lot of problems that i ran into, which rodento the book, " the line." people would y, well, she is booked. honestlyit does not matter how much weight i lose, i ll never beize to. i'll always have the giant boobs and is great big tush, this is ju too i am. there are so many pple ot there who ha this type of body type i think ismportant for you to exc with what you have and be you and lo who you are. there were a lot o times whe i wouldook in the mirror and say, my legs areoo fat but it is important for me to l everyone know that everyone has these feelings andhose moments, but i also realize is is who i am. tavis one of the things that seems to me that you andour sist have done with these body

types is to redefine the wom's game in terms othe technicality. not like what tiger wood has done with cough, he is not hitting theall 300 yards just because he is lucky. -- just like tiger has done wi golf he has structured his body in such a way tt he gets the mo out of it. telle about how the game of tennis h changed. >> the game has completely changed. when we first cam on, people were not as fit and strong, a now ople live in the gym and hit harder than iould hit. there is a tol difference in e game and the way at peop approach it. en in the binning, we had our own physiotherapist that traved with us, did exercises with us, d people started doing it, too. not only on the wom's tour, but t men's tour. it evolved. it evolved to a new thing

whe is allbout the gym and not just being on the court. tavihere is this linen the tenn world where th thk that the younger sibling ver ite lives up to witthe older sibling has done, patrick mcenroe and jn mcenroe is one ample. did you er wrestleith that whenou heard tt the younger sister -- people told youould never be as good as venus >> i wasalways to that i would never be as goods venus. i was just te number siste i never understood how people would s i cannot be good becausef history. just beuse of someone else did in the past is nhing to do with me. it was really hard because venus got all the attention and the love, which i appreciated d i was never jealous, t it actually motivat me. i remember when i was really young, and i wre about it in th book, tre was this article

that said ves was going to be good and i wouldnd up being like the secon time that chris erett had a sistewho did not do well, maybe justo a little bi i s reay devastated by that. i think that help me work harder and realize that i will he to prove myself more thanmy sister had to do. i had to work harder, and i think at the end of the day it helped me. tavis: how have you pt this mpetition from caing consternationn your retionship? >> it is imssible for me to have a bad rationship with the venus becae she is the sweetest girl ithe world. i gave an example the book of how one me,ust to show how nicehe was, had sent all of my allowance on ice cream. we would always go to the ice cream truck. spent all my mone and i did no realize thatome of my

allowance was lunch money i never had lunch food th whole week. venus ga me her moneto have lunch and she uld have the peanututter and jelly sandwiches, jt make su i could eat. i probably needed to peut butter and jelly sandwich to get the lesson, b that is the kind of sisterhe is. at the end of the day,y sister is aays going to be the. that is how i havelways looked at it. i love it because live with thvenus. every time i come home, she changes the house. now we have new furniture, new everythi. she lov designing. now we ha a bigger room and she has knocked down a wall. i love it. i did not have to pay for anything. i get to live and a bnd-new house evermonth. -- i get to live in a bnd-new

house ery month. tavis: why you all choose to still li together? am away from home enough already. i doot envision myslf not living together. i do not kno how that wi work out. tavis: it could be a reall big house, i guess. >> i just lov bing with r, besides the ct thathe pays e bills. besides all that, its just a great feeling. we hav been togeer our whole lives, so iwill be very tough one day to realize i hve to move o but i do not know ifi am even ready to think about that. tavis: i'm trng to think about the term, after the stralian, you were 81st in the world, came back and won. yoare back to being nber one again, for the fifth time. what is the most difficult part?

hether it is injury, or ateverlse, having be number one and try to get ba there again? >> really, beinthe girl who gets number one by t winning the tournamen just playing ery week. that is the tghest part. because i do not play ever week. i just tried to the best i can, but other than that, you just have to continuehave drive. everyone is improving. we ay so many new people that are a lot younger than i am. vis: you are getting t be an old lady. >> i amractically everyone is grandmotr out there. that is different, allthe new faces andll the rls who are fresher d yoger and so much more energy, espeally playing somee they looked up to. they're like oh, my god, i cannot believe i am planng serena willis, and i am hinking, oh, my god, i cannot

belie that you oked up to me. tavi as you get older, you ecifically for your game, what have you found yourself -- don't give away your strateg but what kind ofdjustments have u had to make to rema competitive asou get older? >> i find myself working out more off the court. i useto do more te on the urt. i am doing a lot more training, more physical work off the court, even just slimmindown more sohat i can move faster onthe court and things le that. wi each year, the slimmer i get, the better am with my performance, so it has been interesting. the are some thgs that people tl me th i do, the people i work with. they say this is what you need to do, but more time into this, and at last evyone. tavis: what part of your game

can you get. ? >>i have always felt like i can do , but i have never fe ike i have reached the peakf my ge. i fl like iould serve better, returnetter, move faster, come the met re -- co to the n moore. -- more. i ca do so many things more. i watch some of the men play tennisnd i tnk if i uld incorporate at into my game i could be so muchetter. tavis: what part of theame have y heard critics talk about most consistently that you think they underte? what parof your game is most underrated? >> i thinkmy strategy is underted, becau everyone says that i hit really hard. i playeople who hit much harder th me.

i do not even think that i h as hard as people think i do. lately, i have been really ving the ball ound. even last weekhen i played, i move my supply -- a move my opponents a much that inded up winng. what do you thi? tavis: this may get minto troubl so that me let you say it. there arewo things that i think of lightly where you are concerned. ihink that race pls a factor. sincyou asked me, i will answer. i think there are smetimes what peop do in sportsith african-americans, they give us too much credit for ourthletic prowess,s f. -- a if we're no thinking strategilly, and that tubles me some ti. "serena is great because she is so athletic," as i she is not thinking strategally.

the other thing, my mera crew, mostly guys, we were talking before you came on the set abt the u.s. open, what people refer to as the meltdown. the first thing i thought was ra. also, i thought it was sext. men ha meltdowns every day a kick dirt on the umpireand baseball, nadal had a meltdown the day after you did, mnroe would scream and yell. i am not casting aspersns or condoning it we do this allhe tme, but the exposure, the overexposure with what happened to you i tught was a bit sexist on the part of the instry. your response? >> agree withou. i thi that a lot of gs do things differently. there is a double standard sometimes being a female, especially africanmerican fema, from bei a male

athlete or someone like that. also, i thk the athleticismi totally agree. theysay i am a great athlete, which i am, but i also started ju. -- but i also srategizing. -- but i also stratage aegize. tavis: looking at you whereou were now ijuxtaposing fro whereou came, what you ma of all that you have been blsed to do? here ibeen a lot of har work, but what you make of where you are now and where you started? >> a feel like now i am jus moving more anto myself, looking more inside of me when i start, i was really just hoping. i nted to beumber one, i

want to win grand slams i wantedo do a, b, c, d. now i ve done a t of stuff. i still want to do more. feel like now it is about chasing records, as oosed to trying prove myself that i can pl. even though i am the younger sister. tavis: one of t things i have come to appreciate, and i know is watching you and i have been blessed with this in my own life, but ionder somimes how much more, how much better the lives of rican-american youth would be if th could be exposed. i have foundation whe i say that black kids are like kok film, they jusneed expore. lk to me about what you have learned, how your life has chand as by the travel, l over the world >> it makes abig difference to

be a travel or even sometes black kids do not even leave the counity. i used to lift an area in middle florida whe people did not ave their city and they were 20 years old. f m that was literally unbelievable. i think it is importanto have balanced life by gettin out d seeing things. if he cannot d it, go on line, do research, rea learn -- if you cannot it, g on line, do research, read learn. my foundation als wit education d it encpasses just learng aut life and about other cultures an about wh you can as an individual tavis: at this point in yo career, as you look back on your parents, we all apprecia ouparents at different stages in our life, talk about your parents. >> my parents leagu-- my pents mean so much to me.

i feel like ihould call th absoluly every day and talk toti get so busy in m schedule is so hecticnd i did not a chance to do that. i love my dad with all myeart. if it wasot for him, i would not be tting here talking to you. that is becse of him and his dream, have been le to live my life and be so blessed. there are no wos oany thing thatould ever show my appreciation for th. and my mom i great, too. sometimes you have a parent who has such an amazg dream like my dad, an then the other parent, like my mom, se might be a lite wary of the dream, but she was never that way. she encouraged my dad every step of the way. would describe my mom as the spine of e human body anmy dad was the bod you need both of them to function and both are extremely portant.

i thini have been so bless to havetwo parents, t alone two paren whhad such amazing dedition. i was trying to train my dog to do something and i got tired i did no have the dedicaon. vis: i am just laughing at ur example. >>hat is aterrible example but it goes to show e dedication that my parts had. i just hope that i havthe same dedicati. tas: you do not have to answer this question, but i am curious becae i thought about this. what did your dasay to you afer the u.s. open? he st gave me aug and he did not say anythg. my d is so supportive. d he is the most supportive rson in the world. everyone this he is tough, but

it is myad who is super nice, mama's tough. he just ge me a hug and asked me if was o the next day i had a doubles match. he just td me to make sure that i stayed happyand calm. it really help me t knowhat i d his support. at the end of the day, my fily means theost to me and their support means the d the most -- their spport means the most to me. tavi at some point you may write other books. wi youthere will be hers. what ultimately do you wt to accomplish with your life, yond this? >> ihave two dreams. on ofy drea is to play an ction st in a mie. i think i would loo good as an action hero. tavis: i think so. >> i have the body and e moves.

avis: i see that. >>another one, i love writi. i ve been working very slowly on writing a screenpy, which i ca a trauma mixed with a medy. i would love to wri a tv show. something that rolves around just something that i would make up, a litt fiction, maybe a little truth here in there. i he called it a mixture betwn "desperate housewives," "sex in the city," and "family y." thos are somof my biggest dreams. then i have my fashionine. i havewo, one of which is exclusively ailable home

shopping. those other thin that i wou love to do. tavis: those are this that i would expect u to do. would never bet against sera williams. her new boois called "on the line." it is areat book and great life so far. thank you for coming on. >> thank you veryuch. tavis: that is our show for tonight. a tch me on weeknights on - catch me thpublic radio inteational. until then, good night from l.a., and as always, keep e faith. >> for more information on today's show, visitavis smiley on pbs.org. avis: hi, i am tavis smiley. join me next timeor our conversati with shei e. and peteescovedo. that isext time. we will see you then.

>> there are so many things th wal-mart is looking forward to dog, like helping people live better but mostly, we're helping build strong communities and relationships. because with your helpthe best is yet to come. >> nationwide insurance proudly supports "tavis smiley tavis and nationwide, working tother to improve fincial literacy a the enomic empowermt that comes with it. >> ♪ nationwide is on your side♪ >> and by contributions to your pbs station fr viewers like you. thank you. [captioning made possible kcet publictelevision] captioned by the national captionininstitute --www.ncicaprg--