Champion Serena brushes off Australia Open injury concerns

Earlier Saturday at the Australian Open, Maria Sharapova was asked if she had any freakish circumstances with her laundry.

Defending champions Serena Williams of the USA and Serbia’s Novak Djokovic pose for a photo with their trophies as they arrive for the official draw at the Australian Open tennis championships in Melbourne, Australia, Friday, Jan… Serena Williams has won six Australian titles, Djokovic has won five – and neither player has lost a final at Melbourne Park.

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) – Injury?

Williams, who was 26-1 in majors past year and is 33-1 dating back to the 2014 US Open, plays No. 35 Camila Giorgi in the first round Monday.

“I’ve always been someone that’s been able to treat their practice as something meaningful, there’s something on the line, you’re not just going through the motions”.

Despite withdrawing from the Hopman Cup with inflammation in her left knee two week ago, Serena Williams says she’s feeling fine heading into the Australian Open. “I’ve been working so hard and doing so much work”.

“I don’t really ever look at the draw, so I would appreciate if you didn’t mention it”, Williams said.

The 26-year-old is drawn to meet third seed Garbine Muguruza in the fourth round, with the 22-year-old Spaniard also tipped to contend after she made her first grand slam final last year, losing to Williams at Wimbledon.

She was on track for a rare calendar-year Grand Slam until she was beaten by Italian Roberta Vinci in the US Open semi-final in early September, before bringing an early halt to a season that took a heavy physical toll. She doesn’t expect injury to be a problem.

“No, I’m a little exhausted today”, she said.

Bouchard will open her tournament against world No. 121 Aleksandra Krunic of Serbia in what will be their first meeting. Doesn’t matter who I play.

“I’ve had a really good preparation”.

“I have to keep my expectations quite low and just work my way, work my game, work my mindset through this draw”, she said.

“I might be rusty, make a few more unforced errors than I would like, but I’m ready to go”, Sharapova said. She claimed her first Australian Open title way back in 2003, beating elder sister Venus in the final, and reached her sixth previous year when she toppled arch-rival Maria Sharapova. Most players in the top 10 have withdrawn from a tournament or retired from a match in the first 2 weeks of the season. “But it still wasn’t there”, she said.

In the lead up to the first Grand Slam of the year she put and a group of models put the sportswear range to the test by taking part in various exercises at an event in Melbourne.