SERENA’S COURT IN CROSSFIRE

SERENA WILLIAMS will be under ‘100 times’ the pressure she normally faces as she bids to make history on Centre Court today.

Williams faces battling Romanian Simona Halep aiming for a 24th Grand Slam victory, which will put her level with Margaret Court as the woman with most singles Grand Slams.

But last night her coach Patrick Mouratoglou admitted that the 37-year-old is under more pressure than she has ever been – and has to put any thoughts of records out of her mind against the dangerous No.7 seed.

Williams’ meltdown in last year’s US Open final defeat by Naomi Osaka, when she was warned for illegal coaching, smashed her racket, and abused the umpire was an indication of the pressure the former world No.1 (above) is under. Mouratoglou said: “When you enter the court to win a Grand Slam or equal the all-time record or make history, the pressure is multiplied by 10 or 100.

“Nobody can feel what Serena will feel on the court. You have to accept it, deal with it, talk about it, get ready for it. That is what we will do.”

The Frenchman said that the prospect of beating Court’s record was what persuaded the American to return to tennis after having baby Olympia in 2017. “This will be the most special Grand Slam. I won’t lie about that. This is the Slam to equal the record of all time,” he said.

“Serena has beaten lot of records. This is the ultimate one. This record is the reason she came back. She had a baby, became a mother, so for her to say ‘This is my life, but I will put it to one side – I will accept living this life travelling around the world at 37’ is because she wants it so much. It’s the only reason she came back.”

Williams passed Martina Navratilova’s mark of 18 Slams in 2015, and levelled Steffi Graf’s total of 22 a year later.