Sport
Australian Open 2013: Serena Williams is the one to beat
Women’s US Open 2012 champion, Serena Williams with the trophy. PHOTO/Timothy Clary/Getty Images
Serena Williams goes into the Australian Open a red-hot favorite in her quest for a sixth title with even world number one Victoria Azarenka admitting the American is the player to beat.
Williams gets her 13th Melbourne campaign underway Tuesday against Romania’s Edina Gallovits-Hall, fresh from claiming her 47th career title in Brisbane and with a rare calendar-year Grand Slam in her sights.
But the formidable and newly focused American, 31, is doing her best to play down soaring expectations before the Grand Slam season gets underway at Melbourne Park on Monday.
“That’s an incredible goal,” she said of the Grand Slam of winning the Australian Open, Roland Garros, Wimbledon and the US Open in the same year, a feat last achieved by Steffi Graf in 1988.
“It hasn’t been done since the Eighties. I don’t know if I can do it. Maybe someone else can. We’ll see. But it’s tough to say.”
Williams, who won Wimbledon, the US Open and Olympic gold last year, is also halfway to holding all the major titles at once for the second time, after first completing the non-calendar year “Serena Slam” in 2002-2003.
“I feel like I’m just in the moment right now. For this moment, I’m playing well. I really hope I can keep it up and continue to play well,” she added.
