London - No sooner had Serena Williams secured title No 22 than the conversation turned to No 24 but the Grand Slam great is facing a fight to equal Margaret Court’s all-time record.
By her own admission, the American will find it difficult to continue competing when her 36-year-old sister Venus retires and would contemplate hanging up her racket too.
Serena, 34, beat Angelique Kerber 7-5, 6-3 to draw level with Steffi Graf’s open era tally of 22 Grand Slam titles but Court and her 24 are within touching distance.
Whether she will get the chance, though, could come down to her big sister.
Serena spoke at the end of an exhausting day after winning not one but two Grand Slam titles, having also secured the women’s doubles with Venus.
Asked whether she could see herself competing in a Grand Slam if Venus was not there too, the Queen of the Court conceded it would be ‘very difficult’ to do so.
‘It would be hard,’ Serena said. ‘Who knows? She’s definitely been my backbone in this journey we’ve been on for a really long time. Hopefully she won’t be retiring soon. It would be weird. I know she absolutely loves being out here and sometimes is like, “Wow, I really, really love it”. I know she’s feeling it.’
It has been a difficult 12 months for Serena since she won here last year. She missed out on the calendar year Grand Slam by losing in the US Open semi-final to unseeded Italian Roberta Vinci. She then failed to secure No 22 in the Australian Open and French Open finals.
Being stuck on 21 for so long weighed on her mind and ‘sleepless nights’ were had. ‘It wasn’t easy,’ Serena said. ‘I was going for something historic and it didn’t quite work out.
‘For me it’s been a tough year but only I would classify it like that. I had a lot of good wins. I played really well but there were moments where I wasn’t where I wanted to be.
‘The finals of Australia, France, even the finals of Indian Wells and winning Rome, it was consistent tennis but I didn’t get the results I wanted.’
Her coach Patrick Mouratoglou said last week the ‘real Serena’ was back, and asked what he meant by that, Serena explained: ‘I promise you, one day I woke up and it was different. It’s weird. Usually you don’t know, but I felt it. I felt a relief. It was like, I’m not going to worry about anyone or anything. I’m just going to worry about tennis.
‘I’m not going to worry what people say or don’t say. I’m just going to worry about tennis. I talked to Patrick, sent him a message, and he said I was back.’
In her press conference Serena hit back at questions as hard as she had been serves at SW19 this tournament. If she did not agree with the line of inquiry, then you would know about it, and when asked about No 24, Serena refused to entertain the idea.
‘One thing I do now is not talk about it, so I’m not even talking about 24,’ she would only offer.
Asked about the Australian record-holder, whom she met in Perth in January, Serena said: ‘I don’t know much about Margaret Court. I don’t know much at all besides basic facts. I know she won a lot and that’s basically it.
‘I met her this year. To just get to see her was really cool. She was a wonderful champion and anyone who can win that much has to be a great champion.’
A tough 12 months ended in two triumphs at Wimbledon this weekend, and, as her coach insists, it is hard not to think that the real Serena is back.For how long, though, could be up to her big sister Venus.
PSBritain’s vote to leave the EU has cost Serena £293,000 since the pound dropped against the dollar. Although prize money is up on last year to £2m, it converts to ‘only’ $2.59m, as opposed to $2.97m pre Brexit vote. She also dropped £50,000 on her doubles prize.
Daily Mail