
Serena Williams is aiming for her first French Open title since 2002. (Clive Brunskill/Getty Images)
Five questions to ponder as the French Open approaches …
1. Can Serena Williams shake her demons? She’s the favorite. There’s no way around it. She can try to downplay her chances all she wants, say her goal is just to do better than last year (which means simply winning one match) and dismiss the notion that she feels any pressure to win the French Open for the first time since 2002. She can do all that, and it still doesn’t erase the fact that she’s the No. 1 player in the world and riding a four-title, career-best 24-match winning streak that includes convincing victories against her two primary “rivals,” defending champion Maria Sharapova and Australian Open champion Victoria Azarenka.
Williams says she’s more focused this year, given her stunning loss to Virginie Razzano in 2012, Serena’s first defeat in the first round of a Grand Slam tournament. I believe her, having watched her and spoken to her during title runs in both Charleston, S.C., and Rome. She’s not taking anything lightly, especially the early rounds of the tournament, which is where she’s struggled. The fact that Williams hasn’t made it past the quarterfinals of Roland Garros since 2003 is a pretty amazing stat, though it should be noted that she missed the tournament in 2005, 2006 and 2011. But she’s peaking at the right time, thumping the field at the Italian Open by losing no more than four games to any opponent. If she plays as well as she’s capable of, then it’s her title to lose.
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