STILL celebrating a sixth Australian Open crown, Serena Williams launched the mental chase for a share of tennis history that has so far eluded her.
Even approaching 34, this fanatically determined women’s flagbearer will pull back the tournament workload to be primed for the French Open in May.
Williams’ 19th major singles title gives her the first leg in a bid to join fellow American Maureen Connolly (1953), Australian Margaret Court (1970) and German Steffi Graf (1988) to complete the elusive calendar-year Grand Slam.
Winning the French Open, Wimbledon and US Open would pull the dominant world No.1 level with Graf on 22 titles, just two behind Court’s all-time mark.
“I would love to get to 22. I mean, 19 was very difficult to get to, took me 33 years to get here,” Williams said.
“But I have to get to 20 first. There’s so many wonderful young players coming up, so it will be a very big task. My next goal was just to get to 19. I didn’t think it would happen this fast, to be honest, but it feels really good.”
Don’t bet the Big Four is beyond her! An ankle injury from a semi-final in Sydney forced her out of the 2002 Australian Open and she then won the French, Wimbledon and US titles later that year.
Williams has extended the ranking buffer on Maria Sharapova, her nearest rival, allowing her to tailor the tournament schedule to suit the build up to the Paris, London and New York assignments.
Serena Williams is hungry for more grand slam success.
“I’m definitely not going to play as much this year and I’m just going to go for everything when I do play. Try to be more focused in every tournament,” she said.“I’m a little more comfortable with my ranking now. Now I can really move.
“When I think of Paris, I don’t think about 20. I just think about winning there. It’s the one slam I don’t have more than two titles. I did so bad last year at Roland Garros and Wimbledon as well. So those are the two I really have my eye on.”
Williams’ premature ‘c’mon’ call that cost a point penalty for “hindrance” at 3-all in the second set was symptom of a more carefree attitude from this almost untouchable ruler of the women’s game.
“I got too excited and I hit a great serve and Maria hit an even better return. I didn’t expect her to get it back,” she said.
“I said c’mon a little too soon. I guess there’s a rule that you can’t do it, so I’m fine with it. I moved on very fast to the next point, just tried to stay as focused as I could.
“It just goes to show you I have more fun on the court. I would have never done that three or four years ago. I would have stayed in the zone, so focused.
“Every match I want to go out and just enjoy myself. Whether I win or lose, I just want to have fun.”
Even amid the despair of a 16th consecutive loss to her nemesis, Sharapova vowed to continue to stalk Williams and ultimately deny her that Grand Slam sweep.
Maria Sharapova sees silver lining
“Look, I actually believe that we attract what we’re ready for. Yes, I haven’t won against her many times, but if I’m getting to the stage of competing against someone like Serena, I’m doing something well,” Sharapova said.“I’m setting up a chance to try to beat her and it hasn’t happened. But I’m not just going to go home without giving it another chance. That’s just not who I am and not who I was raised to be. I’m a competitor. I love the competition. I love playing against the best. And, at the moment, she is.”
Williams explained her lengthy acceptance speech on Rod Laver Arena was a mix of motivation and gratitude.
“I had a lot to say. I wanted to thank the crowd because this crowd here in Australia is really good to me. I don’t get that everywhere. I really feel my heart really is here,” she said.
“Also, I wanted to motivate people that may not have come from a lot. You can still make it and you can still do it if you just persevere and you believe in yourself. I think that was a good message to get across.
“I did a (TV) ad for Motor Neurone Disease and it’s so important to raise awareness for that because anyone can get it. It’s affecting our friends, people on the (tennis) tour, people that I personally know. I just wanted to address that as well.”
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