Serena Williams warns Wimbledon 2018 rivals her competitive side is stronger than ever

Fighting talk | Serena Williams
Getty Images

Serena Williams has warned her rivals that her competitive desire is stronger than ever as she eyes an eighth Wimbledon singles title.

The former world No1 is bidding to equal Margaret Court’s record of 24 Grand Slams at the end of the fortnight, nine months after giving birth.

There has been conjecture about the potential form of the No25 seed after she pulled out injured from the French Open, but Williams said: “I don’t think I ever actually lost that competitive side. In fact, I feel like it’s stronger, because I’ve been through so much. I put so much on the back-burner.”

Her pregnancy meant the 36-year-old missed last year’s Championships and means she has not lost here since 2014, when she was surprisingly knocked out by France’s Alize Cornet.

Photo: PA
PA

The American admitted, however, that her desire to get back to the top of the game had not been entirely expected. “It definitely surprises me a little because I thought it would be different,” she said. “I thought, ‘Hey, I have this amazing child, I have all these Grand Slams, this is all super bonus’, and it is.”

In Pictures | Wimbledon 2018

1/208

Despite her time out, Williams, along with Petra Kvitova, is the pre-tournament favourite and ahead of her opener against Aranxta Rus — the third match on No1 Court today — she said: “I feel a lot less pressure out there, but I am a little bit shocked at how much I almost want that pressure. I almost want to feel the need to go out there and be the best that I can be.”

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in