Between bites of some “frites” at the players’ restaurant, Oracene Price smiled at the thought of being back at the French Open with her daughters, Serena and Venus Williams.
The family wasn’t at Roland Garros a year ago, making it the first Grand Slam tournament since 2003 without either Williams. Serena was still working her way back from a series of health scares, including two foot operations and blood clots. Venus revealed in August she’d been diagnosed with an autoimmune disease that causes fatigue.
Now they’ve returned.
“I’m happy about it. They’re happy about it,” Price said Friday. “Serena’s thanking God that she’s able to play at all. And so is Venus, with her illness; it’s still there. They’re doing the best they can do.”
Which tends to be pretty good, of course.
Both have been ranked No. 1. Serena’s 13 Grand Slam titles are by far the most among active women; Venus comes next with seven. None of the other entrants in the French Open, which begins Sunday, owns more career Grand Slam match wins than Serena’s 211 or Venus’ 210.
And it’s certainly tough to match Serena’s self-confidence on a tennis court.
When it was pointed out to her Friday that five women divvied up the past five Grand Slam titles — Kim Clijsters at the 2011 Australian Open, followed by Li Na at the French Open, Petra Kvitova at Wimbledon, Sam Stosur at the U.S. Open, and current No. 1 Victoria Azarenka at January’s Australian Open — Serena needed only a second or two to formulate a response.
“Hopefully,” she said, “it will be six this time — with me.”
She’s 17-0 on clay this season and among the favorites heading into the French Open, which she won in 2002.
What would a second title, a decade later, mean to her?
“It would be really intense and really crazy,” Serena said. “I mean, obviously there are several people here that want to win. I think I’m one of those people.”
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article courtesy of TheGrio.com
