adminJust short of turning 33, Serena Williams is having her own house built in Palm Beach and finally moving out from living with sister Venus, even if she is only heading down the street. This week she is presenting her latest collection of designer clothes at New York Fashion Week. So much goes on in her life it is a wonder she has time to keep racking up the Grand Slam titles.
Before heading straight to the fashion studios yesterday she visited a sponsoring bank to discuss her latest US Open triumph, having beaten her great friend Caroline Wozniacki 6-3, 6-3. She now has 18 Grand Slam titles, putting her level with Martina Navratilova and Chris Evert.
Strangely, the European-style home in Florida she is building – in association with an architect all the way from San Francisco – has what she describes as a ‘‘shrunken’’ trophy room from her last house.
Almost as big, she said, will be a purse room. ‘‘I have a bag problem so I decided to go with that,’’ she added.
All this should not be construed as a lessening of her desire to win. Indeed, there were some ominous messages for her would-be rivals interspersed with musings about her personal habits.
‘‘Every year I feel more fit. I just feel better, it’s the strangest thing. Thirty is the new 15,’’ she said, laughing. Even for an exceptional – and sometimes unfathomable – athlete such as Williams it is going to be quite a task at her age to pass the next landmark in sight, which is Steffi Graf’s total of 22 Grand Slams.
Eighteen is already a towering achievement, and we will never know how much Graf’s tally may have been inflated by the grotesque piece of fortune that saw her biggest threat reduced after Monica Seles was stabbed in 1993.
After winning on Sunday night, Williams’s coach Patrick Mouratoglou praised the ‘‘humility’’ she had shown in going back to basics and working hard following the debacle at Wimbledon, which may have been contributed to by the on-off nature of her personal relationship with the Frenchman.
‘‘I feel like I’ve always had a humble spirit, I don’t have an ego,’’ she responded.
‘‘I had to really find a way of winning matches and tournaments again, to beat players that weren’t the top-ranked players but playing really hard against me.
‘‘People were coming so hard at me, so I had to figure out a way to be better.’’
From the depths of the Wimbledon episode, when she retired from the doubles looking totally dazed, she has risen again, but insisted she could not remember what she was feeling two months ago.
‘‘I’m not quite sure if I was even able to think,’’ she said. ‘‘I didn’t leave the bed. I didn’t even leave the country until after the finals, which never happens (when beaten early). If anything it was just trying to get healthy.’’
Of her place in the sport’s pantheon of greats she is unsure: ‘People are always so quick to say legend — “Now that you’re a legend” — and I’m saying, “Hold on, take it one day at a time”.
‘‘I feel like 19 is my goal now, not 22. I definitely overdid it and put way too much pressure on myself for 18, but at least I’ll learn. Going into the next Slam there will be no pressure.’’
Looking at the competition, while there are some strong new players coming through, there appear few obvious challengers to her overall superiority, although certain players are good enough to cause her particular problems in certain environments.
These include Petra Kvitova on grass, Simona Halep and Maria Sharapova on clay and, if she gets back to full form, Victoria Azarenka on hard courts.
The women’s game is relatively open, and the men’s seems to be heading that way, with Kei Nishikori and Marin Cilic battling for the men’s title on Monday.
There is enough out there to keep Williams honest, and she does not know how long she will play on.
‘‘I would love to go out on top but who wouldn’t?’ she said. ‘Everyone does, I can’t write the end of my story. I don’t know how it will end.’’
One thing Williams will not elaborate on is the state of her love life. It is, of course, her own business, but it does appear to have had a bearing on her tennis this year.
Referring to her upcoming tournaments in China she, came up with one of her better one-liners: ‘‘No time for love when I’ve got to go to Wuhan.’’ – Daily Mail.
Online Reporter