Serena 130 per cent ready to defend her Australian Open crown

“I’m feeling really well and I’m excited about (the tournament)”.

Russia’s Maria Sharapova smiles during a press conference, ahead of the Australian Open tennis championships in Melbourne, Australia, Saturday, Jan. 16, 2016.

Whether she is on the court or not, Serena Williams is pumped up with confidence, and recently flaunted her belly piercing at the Australian Open Players Party.

“Yes, I might be rusty, make a few more unforced errors than I would like, but I’m ready to go”.

Williams, though, said the knee inflammation was no longer a problem – “it’s actually really fine” – and any issues she had on the practice courts were simply the result of her heavy training workload. “I don’t have any inflammation anymore”, she said.

The Australian Open draw was announced yesterday and, in her first official match since September, Serena Williams will face an Italian player entirely different from the one who dealt her a stunning loss in the semi-finals of the US Open.

“First matches at a grand slam … it’s always tricky, especially going into a match against somebody I’ve never faced before”, she said. I actually wanted to have an easy day today.

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

Third seed Roger Federer faces 117th-ranked Georgian Nikoloz Basilashvili in the first round while compatriot Stan Wawrinka, the 2014 champion and fourth seed, plays Russian veteran Dmitry Tursunov, now ranked 265 in the world. Most players in the top 10 have withdrawn from a tournament or retired from a match in the first 2 weeks of the season.

“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”.

One thing Sharapova perhaps had not expected on Saturday was a question about laundry mishaps but happily she had an anecdote immediately to hand after the quirky inquiry was made. “At some point you have to play everyone”, Williams said. “I looked at the draw. But, yeah, I don’t think I would need surgery at all”.

Pressed on whether she could pull off the calendar year Grand Slam this year after so narrowly missing out, she also insisted: “I don’t think about it”. I’ve seen her right next to me just train, train, train.