Shift in mindset key to Serena’s latest pursuit of Grand Slam No. 24

Photos: A first look at your 2021 Australian Open semifinalists

When Serena Williams won her 23^rd Grand Slam singles title four years ago at Melbourne Park, No. 24 seemed a foregone conclusion.

At 35, she became the oldest woman to win a major championship, but what the world didn’t know at the time was that she was playing for two; Serena was nearly two months pregnant, a fact she would not reveal for another three months. 

The arrival of Alexis Olympia Ohanian Jr. – her initials intentionally are the same as the Australian Open – left Serena with priorities beyond tennis. She didn’t play the next four Grand Slam events and, since then, has gone 0-for-10 in her attempt to tie Margaret Court’s all-time record of 24.

Four times she has come tantalizingly close, losing in major finals – to Angelique Kerber, Naomi Osaka, Simona Halep and Bianca Andreescu. There were times when her desire to win was so intense it may have prevented her from doing so.

Now, at age 39, she finds herself in the semifinals of the Australian Open, awaiting an enormously anticipated Thursday match with Osaka. Before the tournament began, the inevitable question surfaced:

The number that everyone is talking about is number 24. How much does that weigh on your shoulders as we start a new year?

“It’s definitely on my shoulders and on my mind,” Serena answered. “I think it’s good to be on my mind. I think it’s a different burden, I should say, on my shoulders because I’m used to it now. It’s more relaxing I would like to say, yeah.”

While she has experienced some physical issues of late, a sore serving shoulder and, going back to last year’s French Open, a tender Achilles, Serena’s mental approach may well hold the key against Osaka.

Earlier this week, her coach, Patrick Mouratoglou, talked about Serena’s state of mind, simultaneously offering a master class in sports psychology.

“The only way is not to think about the opportunities,” he explained to reporters. “Because when you think about the opportunities, you bring expectations, and we all know that expectations are not the best friend of the professional athletes.

“The only way is to focus on how to get what you want. You don’t think about what you want, you just think about what you have to do, focus only on that. But it’s definitely not easy.

Mouratoglou has coached Serena for nearly nine years and helped her win 10 major titles, an Olympic gold medal and two year-end No. 1 rankings. His favorite example of focusing on the journey rather than the destination is Marion Bartoli.

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She came into the 2013 Wimbledon event with a 14-12 record and, in 46 previous majors, had failed to win a title. Against enormous odds, the Frenchwoman won all seven of her matches in straight sets, prevailing over Sabine Lisicki in the final.

“There were several players that probably had the opportunity of their lives during that Wimbledon,” Mouratoglou said. “We’ve seen that a lot of them have been completely unable to play tennis because, again, expectations and, yeah, opportunity, they don’t want to miss it.

“If you think about that, it’s finished.”

So, to review, that elephant looming in the room? Try not to think about it.

So far, so good for Serena.

After an uneven third-round match against Russian teenager Anastasia Potapova (she was down 3-5 in first set and 3-5 in the tiebreaker), Serena beat No. 7 Aryna Sabalenka in three sets and then played her best match, knocking off No. 2 Halep 6-3, 6-3.

Though much has been made of Serena’s potential path through the stacked draw that includes the top three seeds, ESPN analyst Mary Joe Fernandez argued that was a good thing.

“The better the opponent, the better she plays,” Fernandez observed during her quarterfinal match against Halep.

Degree of difficulty is one of the discussion points regarding Court’s record. The Australian won 13 of her 24 titles before the Open era began in 1968, when fields were comprised largely of Australian players and draws were as small as 32.

“There is tennis before the Open era and tennis after the Open era,” Mouratoglou said. “We all know it’s two different sports. It’s an amateur sport and a professional sport. Doesn’t make really sense to compare.

“But it’s probably fun to talk about beating records, which is something that I understand.”

Speaking of records, with a win over Osaka, Serena would pass Roger Federer for all-time Grand Slam singles match wins, with 363.

“I feel good,” Serena said. “I feel like, you know, I’m here and I’m happy to be here. I got to keep going. That’s obviously the goal. Obviously I have an incredible opponent to play, so it would be nice to hopefully keep raising the level of my game. I’m going to have to.”

Mouratoglou will try to keep his athlete focused more on the journey than the history it might create.

“Does she need that validation?” Mouratoglou asked. “I don’t think she needs that validation. But, I mean, clearly she came back to tennis to win some other Grand Slams, so that’s for sure the goal. Now, she’s not as obsessed with the 24 than most of the people in the tennis world, but definitely she wants to win Grand Slams.

“That’s the only reason why she came back to tennis.”