By Erik Gudris | Monday, March 31, 2014

 

Defending champion Serena Williams along with Jelena Jankovic, Sam Stosur and Sloane Stephens sat down to discuss their games before the start of the Family Circle Cup.

Photo Credit: Christopher Levy

Top seeds at the Family Circle Cup in Charleston gathered for the WTA's All Access media roundtable.That included World No. 1 and two-time defending champion Serena Williams.

Williams, fresh off winning a record seventh Sony Open title, admitted she often didn't play her best in Miami but is glad she pulled through.

"I started off really, really rough and was struggling in my first couple of matches. But you know getting through those helped me to just to get through the tournament. So it didn't matter how I played, it just mattered that I was able to win and just stay in the event."

Last year's finalist and former winner Jelena Jankovic is also back in Charleston. After returning to the top ten, Jankovic is working on trying to keep her often volatile on-court emotions more in check this season.

"It's a work in progress," Jankovic said about her game. "Right now I am working on just trying to stay calmer on the court and just keeping my composure and I think I did that a lot better in Indian Wells. So it's not gonna come overnight because I've been doing it so long."

The likable Jankovic admits she has two personalities on and off the court. Even she is sometimes surprised when she watches her matches later at how she lets her emotions get the better of her.

"I am so competitive and then it's like basically my evil twin comes on court," Jankovic said laughing.

On the other side of the personality spectrum is Sam Stosur. A former champion in 2010, Stosur is looking forward to better results this time after entering Charleston injured last year. While her season so far has been up and down, Stosur sees the positives.

"I've been quite happy with it to be honest. I feel like I've been playing well. I haven't had as many wins as I would like, but I think a lot of my losses have been close three setters which I guess is kind of a good thing cause it means you are in those matches. Feel like as a whole I've been playing well, feeling good on the court, practicing well, so hopefully it will translate into those matches."

Sloane Stephens once again enters Charleston with a lot of expectations. After crashing out early last year, Stephens is aiming to go deep this time. To help her, Stephens is not focusing on her ranking and wants to keep having fun on court.

"I'm just trying to enjoy myself. I have a lot of tennis to play in the next ten years or however long I play, so just going to enjoy it and have fun."

One thing that's helping Stephens is being more used to the tour now and not minding being away from home so much as she once did. She's also managing the expectations placed on her much better.

"I'm in the same spot rankings wise. The beginning of this year has been solid but not great but still pretty decent," Stephens said. "There's still a lot of tennis to be played this year so I'm not too worried about it."

Main draw play commences on Monday.