Serena Williams, chasing her sixth Wimbledon crown, will share her thoughts with USA TODAY Sports during the fortnight in a Wimbledon diary. The top seed defeated Caroline Garcia 6-3, 6-2 in a second-round match Thursday.
My next opponent is 42-year-old Kimiko Date-Krumm, the oldest player to reach the third round at Wimbledon in the Open era. Impressive. I remember she was so cool and fast. I remember her being No. 4. I remember being happy for her. Now she's back playing some of best tennis of her career. She stopped for 12 years which is nuts. She's so fit. She looks great.
At Wimbledon a year ago I called my serve "mean." I want it to be what it was last year. I mean, 23 aces in one match! I don't know how I could ever do that again. It was crazy. Shocking. If I could just do half of that I'll be OK. If it was "mean" last year this year it's consistent. I'm hitting higher percentages on my first serve.
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On my off days I'm a total slug. I Watch TV. I watch a lot of the matches. I love the first week of a Grand Slam because there are so many matches going on so many courts. It turns out I really enjoy watching tennis. The older I get the more I love it. I've also been checking out different movies. Venus suggested I watch Problem Child 2. It's hilarious. It's an early 1990s flick. I can't believe I was watching it. I saw the first one a long time ago. I have Netflix here, so I've been watching a lot of other things, too.
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I don't spend much time in Wimbledon village at all. I'm the one player that you never see hanging out. You go to a players' spot — you'll never see me. I'm a homebody. I don't go out. I eat at home. I don't read the papers. I live a really boring secluded life for two weeks. I don't know how I do it, but I do.
I really miss my newest dog, Chip. He can't come to England because they have strict quarantine laws. And he's been having a lot of trouble lately — accidents in the home. He's used to staying in hotel rooms and our house in Florida is pretty big. He seems unsure of himself. I was really disappointed in him. I was going to send him back to dog school, but Venus said she would take care of him. She knows how to handle little boys because she always has boy dogs. I always have girl dogs. The other day she sent me a video of Chip who got into my clothes. He was running around in one of my t-shirts. So I guess he misses me too. He needs his mom.
Since Venus isn't here, and we're not playing doubles, some people have brought up the idea that I could play mixed doubles here. Actually, I haven't played mixed in a long time. I won here in the 1990s with Max Miryni. If I played again, though, I would try to play with Bob or Mike Bryan. They're great guys. Or I might play with Michael Llodra. He's a lefty, great hands, excellent at doubles. And he's French, so I'd play the French Open with him. I would play with anyone lefty because I've played the forehand side returning all my life. I think I was born on the forehand side. Venus plays the backhand side. That's just the way it is.
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