Serena keeps Wimbledon title defense
Defending champion Serena Williams says she can’t guarantee to keep her cool at Wimbledon despite gliding into the fourth round with a 6-0, 7-5 win over Slovakia’s Dominika Cibulkova on Saturday.
Williams, who beat sister Venus in last year’s final here, has yet to drop a set in the first three matches of her title defence and she was far too strong for world number 46 Cibulkova.
However, with tougher opponents in the line up next week, that easy ride may not continue longer and Serena has at times displayed her anger on court when things are not going the way she has planned.
At last year’s US Open, she became involved in a furious altercation with a lineswoman screaming that she would like to shove the ball down her throat, after being called for a foot fault.
That led to her being docked a point on match point – handing victory to Kim Clijsters.
Wimbledon witnessed another example of what pressure can do to a player on Friday when Romanian 31st seed Victor Hanescu supposedly had a spat at spectators watching his match against Daniel Brands.
Hanescu was reportedly reacting to the taunts from the crowd and he then appeared to deliberately foot-fault and double-fault before retiring from the match, citing a leg injury.
Serena is aware to avoid any similar scenarios but she admitted it was impossible to know how she would react to a flashpoint in a match.
"Sometimes you lose your cool. I have experience with that," she said.
"That (the US Open incident) was maybe a one time thing, I hope. You never know. Maybe I’ll be inspired to do it again. Who knows.
"I don’t live with too many regrets. I have other regrets outside of tennis, silly things like not going to concerts or something like that."
The American top seed will either face 2004 Wimbledon champion Maria Sharapova or Barbora Zahlavova Strycova in the next round.
Serena, who lost to Sharapova in that final, said: "Everyone is just so intense, no one really wants to go out.
"Everyone is really fighting, just really serious. It’s just all business in there."
The three-time champion had been defeated for five games in the previous two rounds at the All England Club. Her victory over Anna Chakvetadze in the second round taking just 49 minutes.
Now she won the opening set in both her opening two matches with dropping a game and once again she tournament.
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