Serena setting new goals
SERENA Williams will pursue a record 24th grand slam singles title at the US Open in New York tomorrow.
Win or lose, the US great says she is only starting the latest phase of her career.
“I’m still on the way up,” said the 36-year-old, playing her seventh tournament since the birth of daughter Olympia a year ago.
“There’s still much more that I plan on doing.”
Another US Open title — four years after her sixth — would not be a culmination but a springboard.
“I just feel like there’s a lot of growth still to go in my game. That’s actually the most exciting part,” Williams said.
“Even though I’m not a spring chicken, I still have a very, very bright future.”
Williams, who has spoken of the emotional roller-coaster of being a new parent, said: “I don’t feel like me. My mom said it takes, like, a full year to kind of get back. I’m at a full year now, but I’m also playing a sport professionally.
“I just feel like I’m definitely not there. Even my body is different. I actually weigh less than I did before I got pregnant, but it’s distributed differently now. I’m still waiting to get to be the Serena that I was — and I don’t know if I’ll ever be that physically, emotionally, mentally.”
The players who have faced her at Flushing Meadows say this Serena is perhaps as good.
“It’s tough to say,” Latvia’s Anastasija Sevastova said after Williams swept past her 6-3, 6-0 in yesterday’s semi-final.
“She played finals in Wimbledon. She’s playing finals here. I think this year is not bad for her.”
Next up is Naomo Osaka, the 20-year-old who made the record books with a 6-2, 6-4 win against Madison Keys, the 2017 runner-up.
Osaka told Williams, “I love you”, moments after becoming the first Japanese woman to reach a grand slam final. When asked on court what she told herself as she served for the match, she said: “Don’t double-fault.”
“Why,” the interviewer asked. “Serena,” she said.
“I love you, Serena,” she said before saying: “I love you, Mom; I love everybody.”
Osaka, the 20th seed, defeated Williams in Miami in March.
Keys, 23, had beaten Osaka all three times they had met, but the 14th seed said she was completely overpowered.
“I thought I could get a break, but every time she would hit an ace or a big shot,” Keys said.