Australian Open: Serena Williams 'playing better than ever' as she aims to equal Steffi Graf's Slam haul

Mouratoglou believes the four-month break Williams took from competitive tennis has left her mentally rested

Serena Williams of the United States plays a backhand during a practice session on day eight of the 2016 Australian Open. (Getty Images)

Patrick Mouratoglou, the coach of Serena Williams, has a chilling message for the rest of women’s tennis. Not only is the world No 1 over her disappointment at missing out so narrowly on the calendar year Grand Slam last season but she has also taken her game up to another level – and wants to continue dominating for years to come.

“I think she’s playing better tennis than last year,” Mouratoglou said as he looked forward to the 34-year-old American’s meeting with Germany’s Angelique Kerber today in the final of the Australian Open. “She won a lot last year, but I think she was far from her best and I think she’s closer this year, considering this is the start of the year.

“I’m happy with her level and I’m happy about the way she is playing. We’ve worked a lot on that in the pre-season. She’s obviously the tennis of the past because she’s dominated the game for so much of the last 20 years; what I want, and what she wants too, is that her tennis is the tennis of the future. That’s why we’re working on things to improve and looking at what tennis is going to be like in the next few years.”

When Williams withdrew from all competition for the rest of 2015 following her defeat to Roberta Vinci in the semi-finals of the US Open – at that stage she was just two wins away from becoming only the fourth woman in history to win a “pure” Grand Slam – some observers wondered whether she would ever rediscover the same motivation. When she was unable to complete a match at the Hopman Cup earlier this month in her only warm-up tournament for Melbourne because of a knee problem, the doubts increased.

However, Mouratoglou insisted: “I was not really concerned about her motivation. I just knew she needed time to recover. Obviously, to go back on the court and practise immediately afterwards, when she had just failed to win the Grand Slam and there wasn’t another Grand Slam tournament for a few months, it was difficult to have a very high level of motivation then. I always told her that I didn’t want her to compete if she wasn’t ready. I thought that would be a mistake.”

Mouratoglou believes the four-month break Williams took from competitive tennis has left her mentally rested. “When you take time off and you come back to the game, then it’s more excitement and less stress,” he said. “When you are on tour for a year, at the end of the year you get tired mentally. She’s fresh mentally.

“I think she’s also excited to add new things to her tennis. I think she enjoys the matches a lot. She doesn’t always enjoy them – sometimes you can feel that it’s not a pleasure to be on the court competing – but at the moment it’s a lot of fun for her.”

Williams has played in six previous Australian Open finals and won all of them. She has reached her seventh without dropping a set and agrees that she has played better here than she did for much of last year, when she regularly had to come from behind to win matches at Grand Slam tournaments.

“I think I’m playing better,” she said. “I know my practices are better. Hopefully, I’m playing better. So I definitely can play more consistently and be more mentally stable.”

Williams will equal Steffi Graf’s Open era record of 22 Grand Slam titles if she wins. Asked if she felt under pressure to match the record, she said: “Everyone has expectations. I’m the favourite. I was the favourite in New York. I feel like I could have done better in New York. But that was a learning experience. So hopefully I’m going to take that to the court, not only for this tournament but for the rest of these Slams.”

Graf sent Kerber, her fellow countrywoman, a text message congratulating her on reaching her first Grand Slam final. The world No 6 will be the underdog but thinks Williams will be the player under greater pressure.

“She’s the world No 1,” Kerber said. “She’s the champion. She won everything. I have nothing to lose. But I will still go out there to try to challenge her and play good tennis. I know that I’ve beaten her once, so I can do it, but I will have to play my best.”

Whatever the result, Kerber will be in the world’s top five next week. Although she has finished in the top 10 for the last four years she has generally flown under the radar, though that is changing. “I was walking by the river this morning,” she said yesterday. “A lot of runners stopped by and said, ‘Good luck for the final. We saw your match yesterday.’ People are recognising me more and more.”