Dubai: Agnieszka Radwanska feels she may have to put her long-standing dream of being world No.1 on the back burner, especially if the Williams sisters continue to display current form.
The 27-year-old Polish player, currently ranked world No.6, has set a goal of winning a Grand Slam and becoming number one, was all praise for the resilience shown by Serena and Venus Williams.
“If Serena is on fire, then of course, the number one is her. She is definitely playing amazing tennis again. She is not playing much of the tournaments, so it’s hard to expect what she is going to do. But if she is there and playing her best it is tough [to beat her]. What she achieved in the Australian Open was unbelievable and she really deserved it. She played some amazing tennis,” Radwanska complimented.
“Serena has so much experience and she has played for so many years on the Tour. She has played so many tournaments for 20 years, so I think less is better for her. That’s probably the reason why she can still win the Grand Slams despite not playing for a couple of months,” she added.
Radwanska was equally effusive about Venus’s fantastic run to final at the Australian where she went down to Serena. “Venus’s reaching the final is for sure very impressive. Yes maybe it’s surprising on one hand because there are so many other good young players playing great tennis. They are all healthy, strong and motivated,” she noted.
“But on the other hand, she is still Venus. She can also play unbelievable tennis. She played so many good matches in the Australian Open. She didn’t have an easy draw and she still played unbelievable till the end,” Radwanska added.
Having said that, the Pole is quite content on walking the same path in the future. “My schedule for this year is pretty similar to what I had last year. I didn’t play that much last year and I don’t think I am going to add anything new this year. We will see how it is going to be,” she said.
“It’s always hard to say what it’s going to be like in a few months. Maybe, on the other side, I want to play more matches and tournaments. I might add one or two, but it’s not going to be a huge difference. If I am going to have too much, then maybe I will skip something. But it’s too early to say now,” Radwanska added.
A champion here in 2012, Radwanska was all set to give off her best in Dubai. “It’s different conditions here. The courts are different and the ball is flying. So it is good to be here couple of days before the start of the tournament to prepare well,” she noted.
And her loss to Caroline Wozniacki in last week’s Qatar Open in Doha has only given her an added motivation to do well in Dubai. “I actually played a good match [in Doha]. It was a tough job in the first match especially considering the conditions, and we didn’t know whether we were playing or not. It wasn’t fun,” she said.
“Well, definitely it always hurts to lose early and we will see how much I can do here,” Radwanska added.
