Records and Serena Williams have long gone hand in hand and when the American begins her quest for a sixth title here tomorrow she will do so with even more history weighing on her shoulders than normal. Should she lift the trophy again here this year, the 33-year-old American will have completed her second “Serena slam” of winning four grand slam events in a row, will have taken her grand slam tally to 21 and will be three-quarters of the way to the holy grail, the calendar year grand slam. No pressure, then.
“Personally, it doesn’t make it feel any different,” Williams said, of arriving at Wimbledon with the Australian Open and French Open titles already in the bag, “which I think is a good thing because I don’t feel any pressure to win all four [in the same year]. I’ve been saying that, but I really don’t feel that pressure. Maybe if I would happen to win here, then maybe I might start feeling it after that. Ultimately, I’m taking it one day at a time and I’m not thinking that far.”
The world No1 is the overwhelming favourite for the title but if there is one thing that might keep expectations slightly in check, it is her performances here over the past two years, going out in the fourth round in 2013 and a round earlier 12 months ago. “I think the fact that I lost so early the past couple years definitely makes me motivated but that also gives me a little less pressure,” she said. “It makes me feel like: ‘OK, I’ll be fine.’ I have nothing to lose here. I don’t have many points to defend here. So it’s just like trying to have fun, go through it.”
In the wake of her French Open win, Williams let slip that she did not actually like playing on grass, something that makes her five titles that more impressive. It’s a classic Serena statement but on Saturday she admitted that her game, with her big serve and aggressive groundstrokes complementing the strongest mind in women’s tennis, is perfectly-suited to the surface.
“It never has been my favourite surface, but I’ve always done really well here,” she said. “It’s never been someplace like: ‘I love playing on the grass’, which is just really weird.
“Even when I was younger, it’s always just been different. It’s always been a really difficult surface. And it’s hard because if you don’t play a warm-up [as she did not], it’s the only tournament on grass [and] you dive right in. But my game works on it.”
Maria Sharapova followed Williams into the press room, an accidental hierarchy that nevertheless matches their rivalry on the court, a mismatch in which the Russian has not beaten Serena since 2004, the year that she won Wimbledon as a 17-year-old. Both Williams and Sharapova struggled with a virus during the French Open but on Saturday the five-times grand slam champion said she was 100% fit and ready. Whether that’s good enough to deny Williams is another matter.
“She’s certainly the player to beat, with all the confidence in the world having won the last three majors, not just the two in this year,” said Sharapova, who plays Britain’s Jo Konta in round one. “I think those results speak for herself, and she’s certainly the one to beat. It’s the consistency [that sets her apart]. It’s such a fine line. It’s one thing to do it at one event or two events but in order to have that level to be able to do it consistently I think is pretty incredible.”
