Williams, who beat long-time rival Maria Sharapova in last year’s final, has a testing start against Italian Camila Giorgi, the highest ranked non-seeded player in the women’s draw.
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“I’ve had a really good preparation”, Williams said.
She skipped the remainder of the year to recuperate, also indicating the mental pressure to achieve the grand slam had taken a toll as she admitted her heart had been broken by the defeat to Italy’s Roberta Vinci.
Pressed on the knee injury and whether inflammation might be a problem moving forward, Williams said: “It’s actually really fine”.
The Australian Open is the first grand slam tennis event of the year and attracts tennis players from around the globe for a shot at the title.
On Saturday, two days before her opening match, Williams said she felt “a little tired” because she’d been doing so much work, hosing down speculation that she was struggling during her hitting session earlier in the morning. But after playing for so many years on tour, I should be able to, you know, focus on that and the fact that I have played a lot of matches.
“I don’t really ever look at the draw, so I would appreciate it if you didn’t mention it. Thank you”, she said.
The 21-time grand slam champion has struggled with a number of injuries during her career but dismissed fears she may not be ready for the first grand slam of 2016.
They include: No. 1 Serena Williams (Hopman Cup/left knee), No. 2 Halep (Brisbane/left ankle), No. 3 Garbine Muguruza (Brisbane/ left foot), No. 4 Agnieszka Radwanska (Sydney/leg injury), No. 5 Maria Sharapova (Brisbane/ left forearm), and No. 6 Petra Kvitova (Sydney/ stomach virus). Sharapova will now hope to put the episode behind her and make a clean start in Melbourne, where she faces Japan’s Nao Hibino in the first round.
While Djokovic appears close to unbeatable, matters are slightly different for Williams.
Federer, who lost five finals to Djokovic in 2015, said the Qatar Open final score emphasized the difference between the No. 1-ranked player and the rest.
Despite feeling good in practice, Sharapova said, it’s a lack of matches rather than any kind of superstition which prevents her looking too far ahead.
As the English speaking media filed out and Romanian reporters stayed behind, she joked, “Now I can relax”.
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“She’s still there. She’s still dominating”, Muguruza said. “I’ll keep fighting to stay there”. “It was in front of me previous year but it still wasn’t there, so…”
