Wimbledon Championships - Women's Final
Venue: All England Club, London Date: Saturday 3 July
Coverage: Live on BBC One, HD, BBC Sport website (UK only), 5 live sports extra; live text commentary online and on mobile phones; watch again on BBC iPlayer
Full details of BBC coverage
Wimbledon day 12 preview
|
By Caroline Cheese
BBC Sport at Wimbledon |
World number one Serena Williams is concerned pressure could be a factor in Saturday's Wimbledon final.
The defending champion, 28, is an overwhelming favourite to beat Russia's Vera Zvonareva and lift the trophy for a fourth time.
Williams said the biggest danger would be "putting too much pressure on myself", adding: "On paper it looks like I should win.
"But Vera has beaten some good people. She's a fighter. She never gives up."
Many bookmakers make Williams a 1/7 favourite to claim her 13th Grand Slam title, which would move her ahead of Billie-Jean King and into fifth on the all-time list.
Saturday's final will feature a Williams sister for the ninth time since 2000, and a fourth Wimbledon trophy would put Serena one behind her sister Venus.
Serena feels 'blessed' to make final
Zvonareva, meanwhile, will contest her first major final having overcome Kim Clijsters in the quarter-finals and Venus Williams' conqueror Tsvetana Pironkova in the last four.
The Russian claims she is not worried about her status as the underdog.
"I always believe in myself. I don't care about what everyone says. I'll just have to go out there on the court and try to play my best tennis," said the Moscow-born 25-year-old.
"I know if I play my best I can beat anyone on the other side of the net. I never look at any odds or comparisons. It's not important to me."
Williams described Zvonareva's greatest strength as not doing "anything terrible".
"It's tough playing a player like that who doesn't really have one real weakness and everything pretty much is a strength, from her forehand to her backhand to her movement," said the top seed.
Zvonareva, though, has a 5-1 losing record against Williams, and the one 'win' came when the American pulled out of a quarter-final in San Diego six years ago.
Williams' Wimbledon run does not make encouraging reading for the Russian either: the 2002, 2003, and 2009 winner has not dropped a set, has lost her serve only three times, and hit 80 aces.
That figure is 50 more than her nearest female rival, and would put her in the top 10 on the men's list.
"I've never served that many aces... It's just really weird. I'm really excited. But it's just really cool," she said.
Dream to make Wimbledon final - Zvonareva
Zvonareva can at least draw on the memories of a recent victory over the American.
The Russian and her partner Elena Vesnina inflicted a first defeat of the year on Venus and Serena Williams in the doubles quarter-finals at Wimbledon, and the pair will play in the final later on Saturday.
"It's going to be a tough challenge, for sure. Serena is great player, defending champion, and very tough to play against," said Zvonareva.
"But I always believe in myself. I think I will just have to go out there and try to play my best, like I did in previous matches. We will see what's going to happen."
No comments:
Post a Comment