Serena Williams is not only an ambitious tennis champion these days, she's also a confident one.
I don't know the last time she won a tournament on clay but I'm sure it's been at least three years. But that doesn't mean she doesn't think she can win the French Open which begins next month. She beat her sister Venus for the 2002 title but has not made it to the finals since.
But after storming to victory at the Australian Open in January and making minced meat out of Maria Sharapova, Serena believes in herself again and also loves proving skeptics wrong.
"Everybody had written me off. Everyone was like 'she can't win a grand slam,' which I thought was outrageous," Williams told Reuters in an interview with Reuters on Tuesday. "It was good. I like nothing more than proving people wrong."
Serena, 25, also claimed her fourth Sony Ericsson Open title last month in Miami where she overcame an opening set 0-6 blowout by top-ranked Justine Henin. Now she has her eyes on Paris.
"I have something in mind, but I'm not going to say. It has something to do with clay," the 12th-ranked Williams said slyly. "I'm really looking forward to Roland Garros. It's going to be fun....I'm playing again in Germany in a couple of weeks, then there's Rome," she said about her preparation for the French. I want to start sliding more. I've been playing on hard courts for so long, so intensely that I haven't been sliding as well as I want to, so I have to work harder on that."
I applaud Serena's confidence but still think Justine Henin is more likely to win with Serena sp prone to knee injuries. Justine is a three-time champion in Paris and beat Serena in the 2003 semis when Williams was absolutely dominating the women's game.
But hey, Serena has already proven skeptics like me wrong!