Serena return still packs a punch

Serena Williams was still taking her seat and fiddling with her sparkly pink handbag when the first question was asked – and what a question it was.

“The prevailing talk is that the Williams are declining. Venus has lost. Do you feel you need to win this tournament to counter that sort of talk?” asked the man from the Boston Globe.

It was the equivalent of a thumping first serve down the middle, but the response was like a forehand return winner down the line.

“I don’t appreciate that language, to be honest with you,” bristled Williams, who was today facing Maria Sharapova in the semi-finals of the Australian Open.

“We’re not declining. We’re here. I don’t have to win this tournament to prove anything. I know that I’m out here and I know that I’m one of the best players out here.”

That is undoubtedly the case even now, but almost unnoticed in the impassioned reply was the use of two little words which never previously belonged in the Williams lexicon.

Being “one of” the best never used to be an issue for Serena – even when sister Venus was world number one most experts were predicting the younger sibling would be the better player.

They were quickly proved correct, Serena beating Venus to the first grand slam title at the 1999 US Open and then taking over the mantle of world number one after beating her sister in the 2002 Wimbledon final.

She had already taken the French Open title and won five of the six grand slams she contested between 2002-03. But she has not won one since, reaching only one final.

That was at Wimbledon last year, and Williams was quick to point out she had undergone knee surgery after the 2003 final. But the manner of her 6-1 6-4 defeat to Sharapova was nevertheless hugely significant.

Where once the Williams sisters would brush aside opponents with sheer power and almost unprecedented athleticism now they found every shot coming back with interest from a new breed of young and hungry players.

Sharapova is at the forefront of that generation – especially in the absence of the injured Justine Henin-Hardenne and Kim Clijsters – her Wimbledon victory at the age of 17 the most remarkable of the three grand slam triumphs by Russian women in 2004.

To prove it was no fluke, Sharapova also beat Serena in the final of the season-ending tour championships – recovering from a set down as she has already done twice in Melbourne over the last 10 days.

“She’s playing really well,” admitted Williams.

“I think she’s a really mentally tough character out there. To be honest, I feel like I don’t have anything to lose. I think I was way too nervous at Wimbledon. I couldn’t sleep; I couldn’t breathe. Sometimes you want it too bad, so bad that you just freak yourself out.”