Williams Has Cavalier Attitude on Arriving in Australia

Written by: Staff on 3rd January 2012

Brisbane International tennis tournament in Brisbane, Australia

Williams Has Cavalier Attitude on Arriving in Australia

Serena Williams of USA looks on after playing a shot during her first round match against Chanelle Scheepers of South Africa at the Brisbane International tournament in Brisbane, Australia, 02 January 2012. Williams defeated Scheepers 6-2, 6-3. EPA/DAVE HUNT AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND OUT |

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Serena Williams in January has often been a confounding sight. Several times she has arrived at the Australian Open looking grossly unfit only to play herself into condition and end up winning the title.

This time it is her words and thoughts rather than lack of physical conditioning that is causing the confusion. Never exactly a workaholic when it comes to the amount of tournaments she plays, Serena insists 2012 will see her play even less tennis.

Serena began whatever will be her 2012 schedule by beating South Africa’s Chanelle Scheepers 6-2, 6-3 at the Brisbane International but then said: “I mean I don’t love tennis today, but I’m here, and I can’t live without it.

“So I’m still here and I don’t want to go anywhere any time soon. It’s not that I’ve fallen out of love; I’ve actually never liked sports, and I never understood how I became an athlete. I don’t like working out, I don’t like anything that has to do with working physically.”

With 13 majors titles to her name and $35 million in prize money alone to her name, Serena has done enough to walk away from tennis tomorrow and not feel a financial pinch.

Yet when asked why she hadn’t played since her well publicized meltdown against Samantha Stosur in the US Open final, she said: “Officially, I don’t know.”

Now she is taking 2012 s it comes but won’t make any verbal commitments. “The motivation? It’s there,” she said.

“I’m here and I’m feeling good. The feeling, it’s intense. For me it’s all about that, as opposed to my skill or anything else, so as long as the motivation’s there it’s definitely going to be cool. I’m not playing a full schedule this year — I just want to be able to do other things that I’m doing and expand on that, and I think that’ll help keep my motivation up.

“Everywhere I go is going to be really special for me and for the fans, and that’s what I want it to be. It’s just going to be where I’m really excited to play there and it’s one of the reasons I wanted to come to Brisbane, because it was like, ‘I’ve never been here and I felt like I had fans here, too, but I’ve never played here and it’s really cool.”

©”DAILY TENNIS NEWS WIRE”