SERENA’S GRAND SLAM NEARS AFTER WIMBLEDON WIN
HAVING overcome suffocating pressure to win a fourth successive major, Serena Williams says she is ready to tackle the highest mountain in tennis – the calendar grand slam.
Declaring herself to be in the best physical and mental condition of her life, Williams will attempt to make more history at the US Open next month. The American is the first player since Steffi Graf in 1988 to travel to New York with the chance of adding the US Open to the opening three majors of the season – Australian and French Opens and Wimbledon. If she wins a fourth straight Flushing Meadows crown, she would be only the fifth player in history to have hoisted all four major titles in a calendar year.
Relieved to have completed the “Serena Slam” with a 6- 4 6- 4 win over Spain’s Garbine Muguruza, Williams said she was finally ready to address completing the grand slam sweep. The feat has been accomplished only five times previously – by Americans Don Budge ( 1938) and Maureen Connolly ( 1953), Australians Rod Laver ( 1962 and ‘ 69) and Margaret Court ( 1970) and Germany’s Graf ( 1988).
“You know what, I feel like I’ll be okay,” Williams said.
“I feel like if I can do the Serena Slam, I will be OK heading into the grand slam.
“Like I always say, there’s 127 other people that don’t want to see me win.
“I had a really tough draw ( here). This gives me confidence that if I had this draw, I can do it again. I’ll just do the best I can.”
Asked what snaring four majors in a row meant, Williams said: “That I’m able to do anything. Anyone’s able to do anything they really set their mind to.
“I also learned it takes teamwork. It’s a lot of people behind me, from my coach ( Patrick Mouratoglou), who I think does a wonderful job keeping me consistent in not only all the grand slams.”
Williams, 33, said she was a better player in all aspects despite having her career threatened by pulmonary embolism, badly cut feet, knee injuries and personal upheaval, including the shooting murder of her sister Yetunde.
“I feel almost better now,” she said. “I do have some aches and pains. But overall physically, I feel like I’m better.
“I feel like I’m more fit. I feel like I can do more than I did 10- 12 years ago. I just keep reinventing myself in terms of working out, in terms of my game. It’s been working.
“I feel great. I definitely don’t feel old. I think in life I’m still pretty young.
“With new technology, new workouts, all this other stuff, I think the life of an athlete is changing and the longevity is becoming longer.”
Winner of 21 majors to trail only Graf ( 22) and Australia’s Margaret Court ( 24), Williams anointed Muguruza as a future major winner.
“I think she’s such a great player,” Williams said. “She’s beaten me before. “I think she really stepped up to the plate.”