With a love connection in her personal life to Paris along with a flat in the city, Serena Williams is already thinking ahead to the clay season after lifting a record sixth title at the Miami Masters. And with coach/boyfriend Patrick Mouratoglou constantly onside – he drove the white Rolls Royce that Williams used all during the Miami event – the 31-year-old No. 1 is keen to get stuck into the clay.
For the moment, she and sister Venus are playing this week on green clay at Charleston, South Carolina. But as with all things Williams, that schedule could be easily subject to a last-minute change.
But Williams insists that she will front up just to get the feel of a peculiarly Americana hybrid of the surface not found anywhere else on the WTA. “Hopefully I can just keep winning matches on clay. I love the clay. I’ll probably hit just a few to get sliding a little bit, because I have a match so soon. My goal is to win a match at Roland Garros this year.”
The French Open is the only one of the four major at which Williams does not have at least a matched set of trophies. But she is making no predictions about how fast that could possibly change. However, making the switch from cement may not be as tough due to current conditions.
“These surfaces nowadays are really slow, like the hard court is a lot slower than what it used to be. I think the adjustment is a little easier. I love the clay, I love sliding. I feel like it’s just such an easy game to play.
“I happen to love Roland Garros, and happy to play there. Hopefully I can just take it one match at a time. That’s in the future. I’m just going to do it one step at a time.”
©Daily Tennis News Wire
Topics: American tennis news, Charleston tennis news, clay court tennis, Roland Garros, Serena Williams, Venus Williams