Olympic Medals Generate Interest For Serena Williams

Written by: Staff on 7th August 2012

Olympic Medals Generate Interest For Serena Williams

epa03340434 Serena Williams of the USA poses with her gold medal after winning the final against Maria Sharapova of Russia 6-0; 6-1 at the London 2012 Olympic Games Tennis competition in Wimbledon, Greater London, Britain, 04 August 2012. EPA/ANDY RAIN |

Serena Williams’ love for jewelry has been well documented over the years but right now she simply has a lust for gold. Four Olympic medals in that most precious of medals has not satisfied her desire and now she is insistent on adding to her collection at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics even though she will be close to her 35th birthday by then.

Little more than a year ago, such optimism would have been unthinkable but Serena has recovered supremely from major health issues that she insists didn’t just threaten her career but her life. Now the 14-time Grand Slam singles champion, who shares the tennis record of four Olympic golds with elder sister Venus, is totally focused on tennis and intent for making up on lost time.

Looking forward to the Rio games, a victorious Serena insisted: “I plan on being there unless an act of god doesn’t allow me to.”

Williams was still in London on Monday, basking in the glory of a double Olympic triumph after winning the singles gold with a crushing final win over Maria Sharapova and then following up alongside Venus by winning a third Women’s Doubles gold.

She intends to take in a couple of other Olympic sports before heading for Cincinnati to contest next week’s Western and Southern Open which will be her only tournament before the U.S. Open where she could reclaim the world no.1 ranking after nearly two years off the top.

“When I feel I can’t be the greatest I shouldn’t play anymore, but I feel I belong,” enthused the player who dominated the All England Club grass this summer, winning both the singles and doubles at both Wimbledon and the Olympics. “I’m not tired. I’m enjoying myself.

“I was so happy to just win. I’ve been so out of it the last years, and from where I was to come back and win this is just an amazing thing for me, for all the hard work I’ve been doing.”

Williams was last top of the WTA rankings on October 10, 2010 and currently stands sixth in the all time list with 123 weeks at the top. If she does reclaim the world no.1 slot, she will need to fend off the opposition for more than a year to overtake fifth placed Monica Seles while the likes of Steffi Graf, Martina Navratilova, Chris Evert and Martina Hingis seem safe for the time being in their top four places.

But Williams has proved yet again she can never be written off and heading to the United States hard courts, she is only 775 rankings points behind topped placed Victoria Azarenka, 675 points behind second placed Sharapova and a minimal 215 points behind world no.3 Agnieszka Radwanska.

Topics: 10sballs.com, gold tennis medals, Olympic London 2012, Serena Williams, Sports