Wrecking ball Serena back in swing
CENTRE COURT was half empty for a good chunk of the first set and the Royal Box not even close to a quarter full, but the only quantity of relevance is the one concerning the old queen’s proximity to total fitness. Serena Williams is getting there, of that there can be no doubt. But will this be a Slam too soon? Is there enough match fitness in her 36-year-old body to get through seven rounds? That is yet to be determined, but what must be ominous for those who have made hay in the past 18 months is that it is all grooving into place. Piece by piece, winner by winner, ace by ace, Williams is starting to resemble that familiar wrecking ball. It’s just one indicator, but look at the speed of her serve yesterday — at one point in the blitzing of Viktoriya Tomova there was a 117mph delivery. Not quite the 123mph maximum she sent down at Wimbledon in 2016, but an improvement on recent showings. For a woman who withdrew from the French Open because of a pectoral injury, this suggests the problem has passed. And if it has, then she might soon have a fully functional serve. And if she has a fully functional serve, then she will be a serious contender for a first Slam since leaving the tour in January 2017 to have a baby. As always with Williams, only a fool would bet against her. She is a winner of 23 Slams and five of the top 10 seeds are out. Next up is Kristina Mladenovic, who has never passed the third round here. ‘For me it’s really hard to say how close I am (to my best),’ Williams said. ‘There’s so many things to improve on but I’m going in the right direction. This match was better than my first and I hope every match is better. ‘I served more consistently but I want to work on getting my first serves in more. But it’s definitely a little better than the first round.’ If it sounds understated, it’s because it was. And that is part of the point — she is not yet at the swaggering, growling end of her spectrum. But there were hints that the aura of brutality was coming back. Not in the first set because that was a no-contest that she won 6-1. In the second, though, Tomova, the world No 135, put up a fight and that drew a bit of eye-balling from Williams. But by the close of the set, which she won 6-4, Williams was clenching her fists. So, slowly it is coming back together. Slowly she looks her old self. It might of course be a false dawn. But what an absolutely terrifying and chilling prospect it will be for the other women if it is not.