While her desire to win at all costs allowed the American to keep alive her dreams of completing a non-calendar grand slam, tennis great Chris Evert believes Williams cannot afford such slips-ups at Wimbledon, where the slick surface can be unforgiving. “But I think that also gives me a little less pressure because I haven’t done well here in the past two years”, said Williams, who faces Russian qualifier Margarita Gasparyan in the Wimbledon first round.
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Williams has been looking back to her best over the last few months and is red hot favourite to land the Wimbledon title for a sixth time.
“I don’t think she necessarily needs any advice from me or probably anyone. I did do it. I’m glad that I did it”.
The All England Club gates swung open a week later than usual for the start of the 129th Wimbledon Championships on Monday with sunshine greeting the world’s top players and fans streaming in to watch them.
World No 1 Novak Djokovic is adamant that a lack of match practice on grass will not hinder his bid for a third Wimbledon title. “I think it always comes down to consistency”.
“French Open was also a slam where I didn’t reach the semi-finals before this year”, Wawrinka, whose tattoo was visible for all to see on his bare, tanned arm, said with a smile.
The virus that left her with a cold and sore throat in Eastbourne, where she was the defending champion, should be well out of her system by Tuesday and she was back at the All England Club practising a couple of days later. “I don’t pretend to be any different just because I win tennis matches, so hopefully brands appreciate my approach and my likeability, because it’s who I am”. But there is also no denying that with his support and presence in the players’ box, she has put together the most productive three-year stretch of her career.
Her French Open defense came to an end when she lost in the fourth round to eventual finalist Lucie Safarova.
“The game’s good. I’ve been playing well for a year now”, he added.
He continued by saying, I ” m getting asked questions about her winning four slams in one year. Williams is the first woman to win three consecutive majors since big surprise here she took four in a row for a self-styled Serena Slam in 2002-03. The problem with Kvitova is that she is very streaky and when she is off her game, most of the time she is not able to turn it around in the middle of matches like Williams.
There was remarkably another 6-0 6-0 victory minutes later as Andrea Petkovic of Germany inflicted the same humiliation on American Shelby Rogers, a 22-year-old who was making her Wimbledon debut.
“The good thing is you can heal problems you might have carried over from the French rather than taking chances right away on grass”.
“That said, it’s not the first time I’ve done that”. During that tournament she fought a frightful cold, which damaged her play.
Despite Djokovic’s absence from competition since the French Open, it would be a shock if the Serbian fails to make another run to the semifinals. “So I’m trying to get to that one, at least make it deep in the second week of that tournament”.
“When she plays on her terms, you would think Wimbledon and the US Open would be the easier ones to win, especially with her serve”, he said. “It was really tough decision for me to miss the two big tournaments during March”.
“I was quite pleased with the way things went”.
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It’s been 11 years since Maria Sharapova broke through and turned the tennis world upside down by upsetting Serena Williams and winning Wimbledon.
