No pressure, please: Serena Williams and number 24
The next try: Serena Williams hunts for her 24th Grand Slam title at the Australian Open. The first step is apparently effortless.
by SID
last edit: Jan 20, 2020, 01:59 pm
Serena Williams is always good for a comment. But not always. What can she say to her friend Meghan and her husband Harry now that the two are no longer "Royal Highnesses"? Williams looked a bit irritated by the first question after her opening win at the Australian Open, grimacing and saying that she didn't want to put anything on the record. "I have no comment on the subject," she said quietly.
Williams was invited to the wedding of the Sussexes after the pleasing 6: 0, 6: 3 against Anastasia Potapova from Russia at the start in Melbourne, but then other issues were important for the 38-year-old American. For example: A possible 24th Grand Slam title, with which she would finally catch up with record holder Margaret Court from Australia. The hunt for this title had hurt her in recent years, admitted the current world rankings ninth.
The pressure to finally catch up with Court was already stressful, "it had a big impact on my game," Williams conceded. She won her 23rd title in Melbourne three years ago against Sister Venus. On the first day of the tournament in Melbourne Park, she was defeated by the potential successor to the Williams sisters: As in the first round of Wimbledon last year, she lost to 15-year-old Cori Gauff, who then emphasized: "My mission is to be the greatest . "
Williams after Auckland win: "Monkey off my back"
Serena Williams is still way ahead of her - even if the last few years have been tough. After the 23rd title she gave birth to daughter Olympia only under difficult circumstances, returned soon on the tour - but: she won no tournaments. Not even in Wimbledon and at the US Open, where she lost the final in 2018 and 2019 - in 2018 in Wimbledon against Angelique Kerber.
Last weekend in Auckland, Williams had another win - that the competition at the tournament over in New Zealand was not the greatest: free. Now the "monkey off my back" was finally over - the hurdle, Williams emphasized, "it was a relief." What does that mean for the Australian Open? Well, "I can definitely improve in the course of the tournament," she said with a smile.
And the hunt for the record? Serena Williams believes she is now more relaxed about the pressure: "It is more or less about Serena Williams doing the best that she can do." Translated: She would rather not think of the record. Margaret Court, she said, was a "wonderful, great champion", but now the only thing that counts for her is the answer to the question: "How great is Serena Williams?"