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 The 21-times grand slam singles champion has played almost no
competitive tennis since the U.S. Open last September and pulled out
of the Hopman Cup two weeks ago with knee inflammation.
Pictures of the 34-year-old taking a time-out during training
circulated on social media on Saturday, raising concerns she might
not be fit to take on Camila Giorgi in the first round at Melbourne
Park on Monday or Tuesday.
Williams, though, said the knee inflammation was no longer a problem
-- "it's actually really fine" -- and any issues she had on the
practice courts were simply the result of her heavy training
workload.
"I'm a little tired today. I've been working so hard and doing so
much work, so ... maybe I had a bad attitude out there," the world
number one and top seed told reporters.
"I'm at 120, 130 percent right now ... I actually wanted to have an
easy day today. But to me in my mind 'easy' is just two hours of
really intense working out."
Williams said she would be relying on her vast experience to make up
for her lack of time on court ahead of her 16th Australian Open, six
of which she has won.
"I didn't have the match play that I've wanted to have," she said.
"But after playing for so many years on tour, I should be able to
focus on that and the fact that I have played a lot of matches."
A shock defeat to Italy's Roberta Vinci in the semi-finals of last
year's U.S. Open denied Williams the chance of a single season grand
slam after she had won the Australian and French Opens as well as
Wimbledon.
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Williams said she was neither prepared to discuss that missed chance
nor would she contemplate her chances of achieving the rare feat
this year.
"I don't think about it, I never thought about it really," she said.
"It was in front of me last year but it still wasn't there, so ..."
Williams also brushed off any thoughts that she might be suffering
more from nerves this year because of her lack of on-court action
over the last four months.
"I don't have anything to prove," she said. "I have nothing to lose.
I can only gain. That's kind of how I look at it right now."
(Writing by Nick Mulvenney in Sydney, editing by Peter Rutherford)
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