Now 33, Williams is again ranked No. 1 and is playing some of the best tennis of her life.
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Serena Williams won the recent Wimbledon Championship 2015 and her rumored boyfriend Patrick Mouratoglou said that the tennis ace “had such a tough draw, playing Heather Watson, Venus [Williams], Vika [Azarenka] and [Maria] Sharapova. I feel like my actual tennis I could play a lot better”. The last player to win the Grand Slam all in one year was Steffi Graf in 1988, so a Serena victory in Flushing would be the first time in nearly thirty years that the Grand Slam sweep has been achieved.
In 2011, Serena Williams went into the Bank Of The West Classic with several major question marks hanging over her – she was playing just her third tournament back after an 11-month injury and illness lay-off, a lay-off she’s said she wasn’t sure she’d make it back from. “I don’t know”, Williams said. “For me that was really important and it was something that I really wanted to do and I was really nervous to do and I didn’t want to think about that either”. A month from now, the world no. 1 will be at the US Open with one goal in mind and that is to win. Serena Williams has been the subject of nasty body shaming online after a few people suggested that she only won because of her manly physique. “I always have a little (bit of) nerves, a little trepidation, but right now I feel like I don’t have anything to lose”.
Williams is expected to make her comeback at the WTA Rogers Cup in Toronto in two weeks’ time and admitted that she is excited about the hard court season.
“I love to be able to do the best that I can and win”, Williams said.
But as much as the Rogers Cup may be a favourite for Williams and the Canadian players, the eyes of the tennis world are zeroed in on the U.S. Open, the final major of the year. She’s not old, by any stretch, but surely at the point in her life where this kind of success is more gratifying, no? I felt if I could have just half of that year next year I’d be happy.
“I just have to go there and maintain and do the best that I can do”, Williams said.
“Is it more gratifying?” “You’ve got to enjoy the challenge and get ready for it. I’m up for it, and I’m usually excited to see what happens”.
“I have a good history (in Toronto), I’ve done really well”.
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But for the women on the other side of the net, facing a player who has owned the game the way Williams has this year, not so much. “Whether I’m 20 or 18 or 6 or 30 or 80, for me it’s going to be all the same”.
