Serena Williams set to defend at Wimbledon

Top-ranked Serena Williams hasn’t won a grand slam since Wimbledon a year ago, but the 21-time major champion appeared confident about her chances of retaining the title on the eve of the tournament.

“Honestly, I don’t feel any pressure,” said Williams, keeping her answers short at a pre-tournament press conference on Sunday.

“I feel good and confident.”

Williams surprised many by failing to win any of the last three grand slam tournaments.

She fell to Roberta Vinci of Italy in the 2015 US Open semi-final, Angelique Kerber of Germany in the 2016 Australian Open final, and Garbine Muguruza of Spain in the French Open final earlier this month.

Instead of bemoaning those losses, however, Williams prefers to focus on coming back stronger.

“I think it’s important to learn from every loss that you have,” she said.

“I think, in particular, throughout my whole career (I) have been able to learn a lot to come back a much better player.”

Williams enters Wimbledon maintaining her No.1 ranking for what will be an impressive 300th week at the top.

Nevertheless, Muguruza, Kerber, Agnieszka Radwanska and Simona Halep are all positioned to oust Williams from the top spot by the end of Wimbledon.

Williams will play 148th-ranked qualifier Amra Sadikovic of Switzerland, a player she admits knowing nothing about, in the first round on Tuesday.

“It doesn’t matter who I play,” she said.

“It doesn’t matter to me.”

When she captured her sixth Wimbledon trophy last year, it capped the second time in her career she held all four grand slam titles in a non-calendar year. She first achieved that distinction in 2002-03.

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