World number one Serena Williams exudes a supreme confidence on the tennis court that could be deemed as a sign of an intense ruthless streak, even bordering on arrogance.
However, the American admitted after she had advanced to the Australian Open fourth round with a 6-0, 6-3 victory over Spain’s Carla Suarez Navarro on Saturday that she can get star-struck. “Every time I see [actor] Leonardo DiCaprio I get totally speechless,” a giggling Williams told reporters. “Every time I’m like, ‘hi’,” she added while mimicking being tongue tied and unable to get another word out.
Williams said her infatuation with the 35-year-old Academy Award nominee had begun with his leading role in 1997 blockbuster Titanic.
“It was how he just sacrificed [his] life,” she said.
Williams, who had said she felt the same way when she met the late Michael Jackson, met Britain’s Prince William on Thursday when he visited Melbourne Park, but did not get as nervous.
“I told him that I might like his little brother better because he’s the little brother, and he laughed and said he might like [sister] Venus better because she’s older,” she said.
“So we just had a little joke about that.”
Williams, who will next meet 13th seed Samantha Stosur, said her match against the diminutive Spaniard, who beat Venus last year at Melbourne Park, had been a bit tougher than the one-sided scoreline indicated.
The final game of the first set took eight set points before she sealed it and only after she had spent a short time deep behind the baseline talking to herself.
“It was definitely the toughest six-love set. Especially in the end because she was really fighting for it.
“I didn’t want to lose that game… [so] I thought, ‘okay, Serena, don’t put too much pressure on this. Worst case scenario it will be 5-1’.
“At the end of day I’m glad I didn’t lose that game.” – Reuters