TENNIS in DEPTH.

Second seed Serena will open her campaign against Switzerland’s Patty Schnyder today.

It will be her first match since being knocked off the top of the world rankings by Russian Dinara Safina.

“We all know who the real number one is,” Serena told a news conference on Monday. “Quite frankly, I’m the best in the world.” This kind of brash statement is reminiscent of  boxer Mohammed Ali made in jest, but unfortuneately Williams was quite serious. It is best to keep your mouth shut, and to prove yourself on the tennis court! 

Safina has never won a Grand Slam title – and was easily beaten by Serena in this year’s Australian Open final – while the American has won 10.

Serena said her toughest opponent was herself, explaining: “I always beat myself.”

Safina, the younger sister of former men’s number one Marat Safin, said time would tell if her rival was right.

“She can say this because she won many more grand slams than me,” said the 23-year-old.

“But she’s also older than me so she has more experience. So let’s see when I’m her age how many titles I have and then we can say,” added Safina, who has contested 10 finals over the past 12 months, winning four titles.

“It’s not luck. Nobody gave it to me. I played two grand slam finals and last year I won four titles. This didn’t come out of sky.”

In other matches on Monday, sixth seed Victoria Azarenka won the first set against Ayumi Morita 6-0 before the Japanese player retired with a left thigh strain, and Venus struggled to win in 3 sets against Czech qualifyer Lucie Safarova 6-2, 4-6, 6-2.

Ninth seed Carole Wozniacki of Denmark defeated Agnes Szavay 6-3 6-2, while fellow seeds Agnieszka Radwanska, Flavia Pennetta, Alize Cornet and Jie Zheng also went through.

Related Posts:

• Serena wins Sportswoman-of-the-Year award.
• Serena will visit her school in Kenya next week.
• Ivanovic will replace Serena in the MSG fiasco!

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