Saturday 16 January 2016 09:55, UK
Multiple Grand Slam champion Serena Williams has declared herself "130 per cent" for her Australian Open title defence
The 21-time major singles champion pulled out of the Hopman Cup two weeks ago with knee inflammation and has played almost no competitive tennis since the US Open last September.
Williams insists the knee inflammation was no longer a problem although pictures of her taking a time-out during training circulated on social media on Saturday, raising concerns she might not be fit to take on Camila Giorgi in the first round at Melbourne Park on Monday or Tuesday.
The 34-year-old American, who won three out of the four majors last year, claimed any issues she had on the practice courts were simply the result of her heavy training workload.
"I'm a little tired today. I've been working so hard and doing so much work, so... maybe I had a bad attitude out there," the world No 1 and top seed told reporters.
"I'm at 120, 130 per cent right now... I actually wanted to have an easy day today. But to me in my mind 'easy' is just two hours of really intense working out."
Williams said she would be relying on her vast experience to make up for her lack of time on court ahead of her 16th Australian Open. She has won the event six times.
"I didn't have the match play that I've wanted to have," she said. "But after playing for so many years on tour, I should be able to focus on that and the fact that I have played a lot of matches."
A shock defeat to Italy's Roberta Vinci in the semi-finals of last year's US Open denied Williams the chance of a calendar year Grand Slam after she had won the Australian Open and French Open as well as Wimbledon.
We will bring you all the news, views and reaction from the Australian Open starting on Monday 18th January.
