Pain in the grass as Williams chases ‘Serena Slam’
Women’s tennis world No 1 Serena Williams is a five-times Wimbledon champion, but the American has surprisingly declared she ‘‘never really liked grass’’.
To complete the ‘Serena Slam’ for the second time in her career, the US Open champion will need to conquer the lush green lawns of the All England Club from June 29-July 12 after winning the French Open yesterday.
For a player who won the first of her 20 Grand Slam titles way back in 1999, Williams has had to wait until the ripe old age of 33 to claim back-to-back ralian Open and French titles.
While that has raised the possibility that she could become the first female since Steffi Graf in AustOpen 1988 to capture the calendar Grand Slam of all four majors in a single year, Williams is more interested in what comes next.
‘‘I would never have expected at this time in my career to win three Grand Slams in a row. This for me is unbelievable,’’ Williams said after beating Czech Lucie Safarova 6-3 6-7 (2) 6-2 in the French Open final.
‘‘I’m really excited to have done this. I’ve got a ‘Serena Slam’ and I’m close to another.
‘‘At Wimbledon the monkey is on my back because I have not done well there in a couple of years. Considering how well I have done there for so many years, I now consistently do terrible there so that is the one I really want to do well in.’’
Williams has failed to make it past the fourth round in London for the past two years, a shock to the tennis world, but not to her.
‘‘I’ve never really liked grass and I just don’t know how I’ve done so well.’’
With only Graf (22) and Margaret Court (24) ahead of her in the list of all-time Grand Slam winners, Williams has already cemented her place among the greats. But, as for where she ranks among them, it is not something that keeps her awake at night.
‘‘I promise you I’m not even looking at it.
‘‘When you are still playing and start thinking ‘well I’m here in the history books and soon I will be there’ . . . then you become really satisfied,’’ she said.
‘‘I don’t want to be satisfied. I want to keep going.’’