WILLIAMS ON CELEBRATION: “WE WENT TO KARAOKE.” SHE ADDED: “I SUNG "SUDDENLY" BY BILLY OCEAN. RANDOM, I KNOW”

Professional tennis player Serena Williams discussed last night’s U.S. Open win and what she did to celebrate with co-hosts Charlie Rose, Norah O’Donnell and Gayle King live today, Sept. 10, 2012, on CBS THIS MORNING on the CBS Television Network (7:00 AM – 9:00 AM).

Below are excerpts from the interview:

ROSE: What did you call on to win?

WILLIAMS: When I got so close to defeat, I thought, “Serena, just make her serve for it, you’ve got to hold serve here. The last thing you want to do is lose this serve.” So I thought if I can just hold on here, I have a fighting chance.

KING: You had more than a fighting chance. I want to talk about the match, but I’m dying to know about that grunting. Was that distracting to you?

WILLIAMS: It was so funny usually I do hear her grunting—we’ve played so many times this year at Wimbledon as well—but I promise you, in this particular match, I didn’t hear anything because during the match I remember thinking, “Wow, she’s pretty low today.” I literally thought about that. But for me, I get so used to it. I’m such in the zone and she’s not doing it to distract anybody, it’s just how she grunts.

ROSE: Is your game as good as it’s ever been?

WILLIAMS: I don’t know. I think it’s some of the best tennis I’ve played consistently in a really long time, so I think that’s definitely pretty good.

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KING: Did you celebrate last night? What did you do?

WILLIAMS: We went to karaoke. I was a little tired. I didn’t do anything too much. My own little celebration was intense so—

O’DONNELL: What song did you sing on karaoke?

WILLIAMS: What didn’t I sing? I sung "Suddenly" by Billy Ocean. Random, I know.

O’DONNELL: Nice.

WILLIAMS: Yeah, I’m into the ’90s songs.

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Chris Licht is Vice President of Programming, CBS News, and Executive Producer of CBS THIS MORNING.

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