Serena sets sight on Rio success

By Agencies | China Daily | Updated: 2016-03-05 08:26

Serena Williams says she's ready to win tournaments - even if she hasn't played in many recently.

"There's nothing that can stop me right now besides me," Williams said on Thursday.

The 21-time Grand Slam champion has played in just one tournament since mid-September. She sat out the rest of the fall season to rest various injuries after her stunning loss in the US Open semifinals.

And she recently pulled out of two events, citing illness.

But the top-ranked Williams looked plenty sharp for most of that one tournament, the Australian Open. She was dominant in her run to the final before being upset by seventh-seeded Angelique Kerber.

"I was ready to go in Australia," Williams said on a conference call previewing her return to the court next week in an exhibition at Madison Square Garden against close friend Caroline Wozniacki.

"I'll be ready to go today. I'll be ready to go tomorrow. And I'll definitely be ready to go on Tuesday."

Williams joked that her temperature reached "120 degrees" during a recent bout with the flu.

She missed some practice time, but not a significant amount, she said. She is scheduled to return to competition at Indian Wells late next week.

"I feel like this is a great opportunity for me to see how I'm feeling physically," Williams said of the exhibition. "I've been doing pretty good."

She'll cut down her competition schedule this year to stay fresh for the Rio Olympics, which take place between Wimbledon and the US Open.

Williams plans to go for more gold medals in singles and doubles, and reiterated that it's "definitely not impossible" she could play mixed doubles too, though she hasn't given much thought to a potential partner.

Success in Rio counts among her biggest goals for this year.

"Tennis players never really thought about winning the Olympics; you grew up thinking about winning Grand Slams but now, with tennis in the Olympics, of course you think about it," Williams said.

"The Olympics have had such a big impact on everyone. It (the August Games) will probably affect my schedule a little bit and I probably won't be playing as much because I will be in Rio. I am really looking forward to it."

Regarding concerns about the Zika virus in Brazil, Williams said it's something "you want to be careful about, but I'm going to have to read a little bit more."