Major Mindset: Serena Sets Sights On Slam Sweep

Back in the days when the WTA Tour season reached its climax inside the World’s Most Famous Arena, Serena Williams once towered over Manhattan from her prominent perch atop Madison Square Garden taking sight-seeing to skyscraper heights.

An immense promotional poster of Serena, so mammoth it would have made the Prometheus statue that stands in Rockefeller Center look about as large as Dominika Cibulkova in comparison, hung from the side of the Garden prior to the 2000 year-end Chase Championships (now known as the Sony Ericsson Championships) and Williams came face-to-face with her larger-than-life alter ego in October of that year when she hopped out of a cab and posed in front of the image for promotional photos.

It was a striking photo-op: only the sizeable Serena could overshadow the actual Serena, but Williams herself never did get to play at MSG — a left foot injury forced her to withdraw from the event and by the time she won her first year-end Championship title the following year the event had been moved to Germany, for an ill-advised one year stop, before bouncing back to Los Angeles.

On Monday, the World No. 1 will play Madison Square Garden for the first time in the inaugural BNP Paribas Showdown for the Billie Jean King Cup and she arrives carrying some monumental major aspirations.

The architect of the Serena Slam told Tennis Week today her goal is to sweep the Grand Slam this season.

"Obviously that's a goal for anyone (who opens the season winning the Australian Open)," Williams said. "Unfortunately, I've had this opportunity four times and I haven’t done it yet. I am hoping I can actually capitalize on it…I’ve always thought about winning four in a row in the same year."

It’s a Grand Slam plan within Williams’ reach if she can win Roland Garros where she has not reached the final four since 2003. To advance to Monday night's final, she'll have to beat the reigning Roland Garros champion.

The four players competing in Monday night's exhibition — Serena, older sister Venus Williams, Ana Ivanovic and Jelena Jankovic — were seeded based on their 2008 year-end rankings. The 2008 year-end No. 1 Jankovic is the top seed and will play Wimbledon champion Venus, who closed the year at No. 6. The other semifinal features 2008 US Open and 2009 Australian Open champion Serena, who finished 2008 No. 2 but has now regained the No. 1 spot, against French Open champion Ana Ivanovic, who ended 2008 at No. 5.

Limited tickets are still available and can be purchased at the Madison Square Garden box office, all ticketmaster outlets and online at www.thegarden.com.  The matches will be broadcast live on HBO beginning at 7:30 p.m. Eastern. Queens' natives John McEnroe and Mary Carillo and Billie Jean King will serve as analysts. Serena called King "my idol" in today's interview.

"Billie Jean King is one of my role models; I think she is a great role model," Williams said. "She is my idol. She transcended tennis and was a role model for women's sports in general and that's what I would like to do and ultimately what I would like my career to be like."

Monday marks Serena’s Madison Square Garden debut. She said her own tennis dreams were rooted in the Garden as she grew up a Monica Seles fan watching the year-end Championships on television.

"I think growing up I always watched tennis in Madison Square Garden — the WTA Championships event — as long as I  can remember," Williams said. "And I  never really thought I would have a chance to play there then and now here I am. I also think this is a great event and I think women’s tennis is the mecca of female sports. Having myself and Venus and Ana and Jelena at Madison Square Garden just shows how amazing tennis is and I’m excited to play in front of these New Yorkers."

The Williams sisters combined to appear in five of six US Open finals between Venus' 1997 debut at the Flushing Meadows major and Serena's victory over Venus in the 2002 final. Their annual appearance on the final Saturday in New York — and the muscle they flex in moving television ratings higher — is widely regarded as a primary reason why the USTA made history in moving the US Open women's final to prime time on Saturday night in 2004 marking the first time a major final was scheduled for the evening hours. Serena said today growing up looking up to and playing against Venus helped her develop mental strength.

"I think I developed (mental strength) growing up and having a sister like Venus being the one and at the start I had to develop a strong mental strength to compete with someone like Venus to hold my own," Serena said. "Mentally, I feel like I'm playing one of the best players on the tour; Venus and I are probably the two best players and two most powerful players. Playing each other we are able to take it to a new level. I feel  like I have to really lift the level of my game to really play great (against her)."

In addition to the older sister across the net, there is always the larger-than-life figure looking over her shoulder.

The Serena Williams who won five of the six Grand Slams she entered in a dominant display from 2002 to 2003 not only shadows this Serena Williams everywhere she goes — popping up in press conference questions, shining on the surface of Grand Slam silverware and residing in the record books — she is ultimately the toughest Williams encounters at every event.

Williams was once so dominant tennis’ most coveted championships were engraved with her name while the rest of the WTA Tour looked up to see her at the top of every draw. The toughest challenge Williams faces now is living up to her own legacy. In that sense, she is her own toughest opponent as she will be subject to comparisons to the woman who dominated tennis in 2002 and 2003. But since reaching three consecutive Grand Slam finals and regaining the World No. 1 ranking, Williams is playing like a player with even greater aspirations. 

Venus stopped Serena, 7-5, 6-4, in the 2008 Wimbledon final and beat her again in last week's Dubai semifinals, 6-1, 2-6, 7-6(3) to take a 10-9 lead in their head-to-head series. The Dubai tournament was overshadowed by the United Arab Emirates refusal to grant a visa to 48th-ranked Israeli Shahar Peer. The Williams sisters are members of the WTA Player Board and Serena said both sisters were on the phone to WTA Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Larry Scott before the event began discussing actions, including a possible boycott of the event. Serena suggested Scott and Tour executives encouraged the players to play rather than boycott, but believes player actions pressured the UAE government to grant a visa to Israel’s Andy Ram for this week’s Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships men’s event.

"That was a really, really tough situation especially myself and Venus being board members," Serena said. "(We) were on the phone a long time with Larry Scott talking about what needs to happen and we were talking about a possible  boycott which they didn't think would be good because the tournament had already started. I think it ended up being good that we fought for it (equal treatment for Peer and all players) and the tournament has had a lot of repercussions. But also they allowed Andy Ram to play and they were not going to give him a visa under any circumstance. Over everything we talked about and complained about, it allowed him to get a visa. We are very confident that (discrimination) won't happen again."

Williams' will to win once she's actually on court has seldom been in doubt; it is her ability to remain fit, focused and interested enough in tennis play for sustained stretches that has been questioned.

During her lost 2006 season when Williams was coping with an aching left knee and saw her year-end ranking plummet to an unsightly No. 95 there was the perception she treated tennis as a pit-stop en route to a different career track and her habit of withdrawing from tournament after tournament did little to alter that perception.

Times have changed and Serena has shaped up. She has reached the final in four of her last nine Grand Slam appearances, including three consecutive trips to major finals. Williams points to her active schedule throughout the first two months of this season as a sign she is committed to playing championship tennis: she has posted a 16-2 record in four tournaments this season.

"My strategy is to play the tournaments I'm interested in playing and I think I've already played more this year than I ever have (through the first two months of any prior season)," Williams said. "I don't think I've ever played that many tournaments back to back to back  to back. My goal is to be everywhere I enter and stay really consistent."

The fact is, even when she was at her peak, Williams seldom played an extensive schedule. The designing diva who dominated tennis in winning five of the six Grand Slam tournaments she entered from 2002-2003, entered only 20 tournaments in that two-year span of superiority. Granted, her 2003 season was cut short by surgery she underwent on her left knee on August 1, 2003, but Williams has never played more than 13 tournaments in a single season and she reached that mark just twice: in 2002 when she registered a career-best 56-5 record and last season when she posted a 44-8 record winning Bangalore, Miami, Charleston the US Open and the Olympic gold medal in doubles.

Since she's never shown the inclination to play a full schedule, it's ludicrous to expect that trend to change at this stage of her career. Williams will always be a player driven to perform her best in major matches on the game's greatest stages; grinding through an entire season is as exciting to her as the prospect of dating a crash test dummy.

While you can argue Williams may be at her best playing 12 to 14 tournaments a year, it's inarguable that her absence for sustained stretches diminishes the exposure for a Tour that requires her star power and cross-over appeal to continue the growth Larry Scott has charted. Williams' reduced scheduled in comparison to other top 10 players means she has less mileage on her body than other top players, she still owns the best serve in the sport — the shot that fueled her ferocious attack by enabling her to rip returns without conscience or concern of losing her own serve — and when she's sharp there is no other woman who plays as big and as bold.

The fear factor is a formidable weapon in Williams’ arsenal: when she’s playing her best tennis she can physically intimidate opponents and the fact is she’s one of the few women in tennis (Venus is another) who is not afraid of winning, does not shrink at the prospect of serving out a match, and does not shy away from the white-hot glare of the Grand Slam spotlight.

There is one prospect that the World No. 1 admits is positively frightening to her:  the prospect of playing against herself in a mythical match.

"It would be a very scary and a very intimidating experience (to face myself)," Williams said. "And I would have to bring my best game. That’s why people play me so hard. I guess they must think I’m the best because they play me so hard."