Serena confesses to weight worry

The weight of history might be playing on the mind of Serena Williams as she bids for a fifth consecutive Grand Slam title.

But it is the only weight she is prepared to own up to.

Williams kick-started the defence of her French Open challenge on the red clay of Roland Garros today with a bright and breezy 6-2 6-1 win against Germany’s Barbara Rittner in a mere 53 minutes – and then admitted she is as coy about her figure as the next woman.

The better half of the most famous sisters act in sport has been working out in the gym to gain the Tysonesque physique which makes her the most powerful woman in tennis – and one of only five women to have won four Grand Slam titles in a row.

And while she states her weight in the WTA Tour media guide as 130lbs, that statistic is about as accurate as her declared height of 5ft 8ins.

“I haven’t stepped on a scale in about six, seven years. I never will step on a scale, so I’m not sure if I lost weight or not,” said Williams, who would almost certainly now possess a calendar year Grand Slam, rather than merely her ‘Serena Slam’, if she had not suffered an ankle injury at the Australian Open last year.

“It’s like an American thing. No woman in America would. Pretty much everyone thinks they’re overweight. I currently believe like I need to lose 15 pounds. Even Venus says she needs to lose 15 pounds which we know is ridiculous. That’s just the way we are.”

Williams admitted she stayed away from the scales because “I can get depressed because muscle weighs a lot”.

It is the gym work and the extraordinary power and speed that has generated which has sent Serena surging past sister Venus – and why Britain’s Virginia Wade believes Venus will quit the tour soon because she can no longer compete with her younger sister.

“I just worked a lot on my fitness, my legs, because coming into a clay court season it’s very important to have your legs in the best possible shape that you can be in, as well as obviously some gym stuff,” said Serena.

“Going into Roland Garros you have to be in really good shape.”

It is clear it will take a supreme performance here to derail her surge to greatness and Rittner, despite breaking Williams’ second service game, never looked like troubling the number one seed who admitted she saves her best for the Grand Slams.

“I think players generally believe that I’m the player to beat in any tournament, especially in Slams, because I kick it up to a new level physically and mentally,” said Williams. “This is what I play tennis for, to be remembered.”

She admitted it was the prospect of Grand Slam defeat, which she last experienced against sister Venus in the 2001 US Open final, which spurs her on.

“I definitely remember that feeling,” she said. “It’s important that I don’t forget that feeling because it could be around the corner. You just have to stay focused. It’s important never to forget.”

It’s a feeling she might experience in the not-too-distant future if fifth seed Amelie Mauresmo has her way.

Mauresmo won the day’s all-French battle, defeating Virgine Razzano 6-3 7-5, and then gave the others hope that Serena could be beaten.

“It’s maybe the surface she doesn’t like too much,” said Mauresmo, who is one of only two women to have beaten Serena this year, the other being Justine Henin-Hardenne.

“I feel she has a bit more trouble moving. It’s a surface you can disturb her.”

Fourth-seeded Henin-Hardenne from Belgium, who defeated Serena in Charleston and is scheduled to meet her in the semis here, was given a tough work-out before finally overcoming Austria’s Patricia Wartusch 6-3 7-5.

Henin-Hardenne admitted she had struggled to overcome nerves brought about by the memory of her first round knockout last year when she was suffering from sickness.

“It was always in the back of my mind,” she said. “But I stayed calm and did what needed to be done. So I think that was positive.”

Meanwhile, Russia’s Elena Likhovtseva became the first seed (number 29) to exit in the women’s draw when she was beaten 6-3 6-2 by Emilie Loit of France.