Serena wants to go out on a high

In the absence of the proverbial “King of Grass”, Federer, all eyes will be on Djokovic, still attempting to catch up to Nadal, the GOAT with 23 singles Slams.

Nadal, according to his coach Carlos Moya, is intent on beating Djokovic to winning four Majors within a calendar year, with two already under his belt in 2022 – the Australian and the French.

What will be of slight concern to Moya, is that Nadal was beaten in the Georgia Armani Exhibition at Hurlingham by Tony Nadal’s new charge, Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime, who outdid him in tiebreaks.

How often have we seen finals come down to tiebreaks, and invariably it is the opponent consistently unleashing lethal first serves that prevails.

Once again Nadal has a soft draw at Wimbledon.

He is not in the same quarter as either Djokovic, Casper Ruud, Carlos Alcaraz or Stefanos Tsitsipas, yet ironically the biggest threat in his section is none other than Auger-Aliassime.

Djokovic, too, doesn’t initially have to contend with the likes of Matteo Berretini, Nick Kyrgios and Tsitsipas (all grouped together in the third quarter). The only other top ten player in Djokovic’s quarter is Alcaraz, who may have beaten the top seed on clay in Madrid, but grass is another proposition for the fifth seed, still adjusting to this surface.

No 3 seed, Ruud, is also lurking in his own quarter, and immediate threats posed to him would be Cameron Norrie, Hugo Hurkacz and Grigor Dimitrov.

The latter recently appeared on a social media-orchestrated ‘chat’ with Nadal, whom he cheekily asked to consider coaching him post retirement.

Unsurprisingly Nadal’s tongue-incheek reply was: “I would be very expensive.”

The fact of the matter is Dimitrov, originally dubbed “Baby Fed”, modelled his game on Federer.

Thus if ever the Bulgarian No 1 would seek a celebrity coach for future posterity, it would definitely be the Swiss GOAT, rather than the Spanish.

For Wimbledon 2022 nevertheless, it is the Spanish GOAT who will be roaming the hallowed grass, relishing the fact that both Alexander Zverev and Federer are not encroaching on his patch and primarily in his eyes, only the Serbian GOAT is left to lock horns with.

SERENA Williams admits that she didn’t know how or when she would return to tennis, but insisted retirement had not been on her agenda during her year-long absence.

“I didn’t retire. I just needed to heal physically, mentally. I had no plans. I just didn't know when I would come back. I didn’t know how I would come back,”said the 40-year-old yesterday.

The American star will return to singles action at Wimbledon next week for the first time since her tearful exit from the All England Club in the first round in 2021.

The seven-time Wimbledon champion is chasing a record-equalling 24th Grand Slam title.

However, her lengthy absence from the sport has seen her ranking plummet to 1204 in the world.

She needed a wildcard to play Wimbledon this year, as she seeks a first major since capturing the Australian Open while pregnant in 2017.

Her last appearance at the All England Club ended after just six games when she was forced to quit her Centre Court opener against Aliaksandra Sasnovich.

Having made her debut in 1998, Williams said that she didn’t want that heartbreaking exit to be her last memory of Wimbledon.

“It was a lot of motivation, to be honest. It was always something since the match ended that was always on my mind.

“Wimbledon was tough last year. I felt like I was injured for most of the year. Then I ripped my hamstring.

“I still tried to make New York. I gave everything I could, just every day getting ready or trying to make it. But then it’s just like, I’m not going to make it. Hung up my racquets for a little bit until I could just heal.”

In a change to tradition, and with a nod to the gravity of Williams’ injury last year, which was caused by her slipping and falling, organisers have allowed practice sessions on Centre Court.

The aim is to bed in the grass so that players can enjoy immediate grip on the world’s most famous patch of grass.

“On the one hand it’s amazing, but on the other hand it’s like, we have to preserve Centre Court,” said Williams.

“Obviously I was super happy to be out there and have that opportunity, and it was also good for me to get that out of my system, because the last moment I had on Centre Court was probably not my best moment.”

Williams said she decided before the French Open to make her comeback at Wimbledon, and to warm-up for the big occasion, she played two matches in doubles with Tunisia’s Ons Jabeur in Eastbourne.

“Probably could have played singles there. I felt more prepared than I thought I would have been a month or two months or three months ago,” she added.

Her rivals at Wimbledon, which gets under way on Monday, are delighted to see the American back on court.

“I saw her yesterday, I was pretty overwhelmed,” said world number one Iga Swiatek, the recently-crowned French Open champion.

Williams, meanwhile, was not in the mood to discuss her long-term future in the sport, and whether or not this is her last Wimbledon.

“I can only tell you that I’m here. Who knows where I’ll pop up next,” said the American who turns 41 in September.