Melbourne: Being the world’s top tennis star can be a lonely business - just ask Serena Williams.
The in-demand 21-time Grand Slam winner and top seed at the Australian Open said she had been spending plenty of time on her own in Melbourne at the opening Grand Slam of the year.
“I haven’t been doing anything. I have been spending a lot of time learning about myself this trip. It’s been kind of sad,” she said after sweeping into the quarter-finals. The world number one and defending champion smacked down Margarita Gasparyan 6-2, 6-1 in just 55 minutes on Rod Laver Arena to ensure a mouth-watering showdown with Maria Sharapova. Sharapova came through a 7-5, 7-5 winner in a thriller against fast-rising Swiss teen Belinda Bencic.
“I have been alone a lot. It’s been kind of like boring.”
Asked what she had learned about herself on the trip Down Under, she replied: “I think I hate being by myself.
“As much as I always want to be alone, I don’t think I like it so much. It’s just been - it’s been long. I feel like I have been here for three months.”
Despite the often solitary times on the world tennis tour, the Florida-based 34-year-old said there was nowhere else she would rather be right now.
“I love it here in Australia,” she said, while raving about Melbourne.
“I love how it’s just - it’s this little world that no one can discover or appreciate unless you come,” she said.
“They have the best cafes; they have the best restaurants. I just learned a couple years ago that Melbourne is famous for its coffee, which I would have never even known.
“I just love discovering those little places. I love the really organic shops that are just around town that are just really cool.
“I just love this little - this world. It’s so many wonderful things that I’m always discovering every time I come here.”
The Russian world number five, who lost to Williams in the Melbourne Park final last year, said she was always looking to improve and used the losses against the mighty American to examine what she could do better.
“Absolutely. It’s not like I think about what I can do worse,” she said.
“You’re always trying to - always trying to improve. I got myself into the quarter-final of a Grand Slam.
“There is no reason I shouldn’t be looking to improve and to getting my game in a better position than any other previous round. It’s only going to be tougher, especially against Serena.”
A nonchalant Williams, who rarely looks beyond her next opponent in the draw, claimed she didn’t know Sharapova was now in the way of her bid to win a 22nd Grand Slam and equally Steffi Graf’s Open-era record.
“I’ll be ready, she had a really good match - I had no idea I was playing her (Sharapova) next,” she told the courtside interviewer.
