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 The three-times defending champion enters the Aug. 31-Sept. 13
tournament in New York as the odds-on favorite to win and become the
first player in 27 years to complete a Grand Slam by capturing all
four majors in one season.
"I don't feel that fresh pressure," Williams, who has already
claimed the Australian Open, French Open and Wimbledon titles in
2015, said after the draw for the U.S. Open.
"If I make it far, maybe I'll start to feel pressure. But as of now
I really don't feel any. I'm just here to perform and do the best I
can."
Williams said that going for her second 'Serena Slam' at Wimbledon,
where she triumphed in July to hold all four slam titles at once,
prepared her for the media onslaught at this U.S. Open.
"At Wimbledon I was going for the second Serena Slam. That is rare.
That really gave me the best practice and preparation in terms of
going for the Grand Slam," Williams said.
Williams, dominating the women's game at the advanced age of 33,
would join Maureen Connolly (1953), Margaret Court (1970) and Steffi
Graf (1988) as the only female Grand Slam winners.
But Williams is playing for much more.
A victory would be her record-setting seventh U.S. Open singles
triumph, pushing her past Chris Evert on the all-time tournament
list in the Open era.
It would also tie her with Graf at 22 grand slam singles titles for
second place on the all-time list behind Court (24).
“There’s always another record, then there’s always another person
to catch up with or to pass,” said Williams, who won her first grand
slam singles title at the 1999 U.S. Open.
Lacking a primary rival, Williams has grown even better in the
slams, notching eight wins going back to the 2012 season.
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She gives her coach Patrick Mouratoglou credit.
“Working with Patrick has helped me a lot and helped me to achieve
that consistency and have different goals, change different elements
in my game, and also just be overall a better competitor on every
single surface and every single match," she said.
Williams would not be drawn into comparisons with other greats of
the game.
“I never really thought I would be in this position where I would
even be talking about records, talking about passing Steffi Graf or
even mentioning Margaret Court," she said. “I just grew up trying to
be the best that I could.
“I can sit here and say that I’m the greatest player that I’ve been
able to be. It’s really difficult to compare one generation to
another."
Williams, seeking her fourth consecutive U.S. Open title, may not be
obsessed with numbers but she does pay attention.
“I do read numbers and I do see numbers," she said. "I believe in
those numbers."
(Editing by Frank Pingue)
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