You want to enter a big tournament with good performances on your back because it makes you feel good.
If you get beaten a few times ahead of a major, it can get your confidence down irrespective of the fact that you are a big player.
Even if you are top ranked in the world, the defeats would affect you and you would definitely start having slight doubts about your game and you don’t want to be in that situation when the first Grand Slam of the year is just days away.
Serena Williams, however, is finding herself in such sort of situation at present. She got defeated twice successively in a team competition recently, there in Australia, and she lost in singles both times, not in doubles.
And, it’s not that the players that she was facing, they were any better than her or higher ranked than her. But, Serena was just not there, that ruthlessness that people expect from her was missing.
The kind of mentality that Serena carries, you can trust her to be absolutely furious about those defeats.
She did not really try to hide her emotions or make excuses about her poor performance in the press conference.
She was very clear that by playing such sort of tennis, she could not think of the Melbourne glory again, that is, for the 6th time.
The 33-year old was quoted as speaking, “To be honest, it’s not the ideal preparation. I would have obviously liked to have had slightly better performances under my belt going to Melbourne Park.”
On the other hand, Maria Sharapova, who is Serena’s arch rival, has had wonderful preparation for the Australian Open.
The Russian player became the champion in Brisbane the other day by getting better of Ana Ivanovic in the title match.
Sharapova was in top form all throughout the Brisbane International.