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By Chris Oddo | Sunday January 15, 2016

 
Serena Williams

The celebration can wait--Serena Williams is thinking about tennis and tennis only ahead of her first-round match with Belinda Bencic.

Photo Source: Mark Peterson/Corleve

Serena Williams’ surprise engagement to Reddit co-founderAlexis Ohanian will not be a distraction for the 22-time major champion at this year’s Australian Open. In fact, she hasn’t even let the fact that she’s engaged sink in. She’ll do that when her business is done down under.

More: Bencic Not Intimidated by First-Round Clash with Serena Williams

“I don't think I've had an opportunity to, like, let everything sink in,” she told reporters in Melbourne on Saturday. “I won't allow it to sink in because I'm so focused. It was right in the middle of pre-season. I'm really focused training, cardio, all kinds of stuff. Now I'm on the road, already back at work. I don't want to get too happy because I want to stay focused."

Williams has instead placed her focus on getting healthy ahead of the tournament she has won six times, but only once since 2011. And though she may be the greatest tennis player—or athlete—of all-time, she has her work cut out for her in Australia. After a surprisingly poor start to the season in Auckland, where she was upset by No. 72 Madison Brengle in the second round.

Williams hinted on Saturday that she may not be 100 percent fit even today, but that she improved quite a bit in the time that she spent rehabbing after her last appearance of the year at the 2016 U.S. Open.

Was four months enough time for Williams to get healthy, and has she done enough to be match ready in these last two weeks? “I got a lot better,” Williams said of her nearly four-month off-seson. “I had a little bit of a problem initially in the pre-season. Just did a ton of therapy, exercises. I was able to get a lot better. I felt that if I hadn't of taken that time off, could have been bad for me.”


Williams will be put to the test quickly in Melbourne. She’ll face former World No.7 Belinda Bencic in the first round, and could face another former Top 10 player in Lucie Safarova if she advances to round two.

[Bencic] has had a good win over me,” Williams said. “It's never easy for me. So I always go out there, and all I can do is do my best. I didn't come here to lose in the first round, or the second round, or at all. If I can play the way I've been practicing, it will be fine.”

 

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