ROGERS CUP 2015: WHO WILL STOP SERENA WILLIAMS RUN TO FULL GRAN SLAM

By Juan Carlos Cordero, UNO International News Service, aat Women's Tennis Rogers Cup 2015. Photos by Bianca Carolina Cordero-Ramirez

It is a rainy day at the AVIVA Tennis Centre, York University. Only Italian Flavia Penetta could play early defeating Canadian Gabriela Dabrowski in two sets 6-4 and 6-1 in 1 hour and 9 minutes. All the other matches have been postponed due to 10 to 15 mm of heavy rain and thunderstorm. All the Order of Play at Centre Court has shifted waiting for Sara Errani (Italy) plays Kristina Mladenovic (France) and Madison Bengle (USA) goes against Canadian Carol Zhao, a qualifying winner.

The match of the day between Germany's Sabie Lisicki (the most powerful server in history, 210.8 kilometre per hour in a tournament in Stanford and a record of 27 aces in a single match) versus former No. 1 Venus Williams (7-time Gran Slam winner). We are waiting for the go ahead this evening at 7 p.m.

Indoor, at the VIP Media conference and gathering, none of the Top 8 WTA players wants to talk about this year' Serena Williams absolute dominance (ALMOST 34 year old and more than 70 singles titles). Her friend and colleague Danish Caroline Wosniacki prefers to laugh: "Hey, where were you last night?" Serena, dressed in a classic orange track suit jacket and black pants, simply laugh: "With you, having dinner".

Wosniacki declined to talk about Serena's world tennis domination in 2015: "Well, that is up to the fans to decide. I am in the game and I want to defeat her like everyone else. Can Serena be beat here or at the US Open Series? Certainly, she can be defeated. For me, it is not frustration, simply I need to play better to beat her, she is so powerful right now, one level beyond everyone else."

Serena entered in a great fashion, kidding Caroline Wosniacki and going right to the point: " I came to Toronto to get well prepared in hard court. I am not thinking about a 2015 Great Grand Slam. If it happens, it will happen. `

Serena Williams won her sixth Wimbledon and 21st major title, defeating first-time finalist Garbiñe Muguruza in the final, 6–4, 6–4. She also achieved her second non-calendar year Grand Slam after winning the 2014 US Open, 2015 Australian Open and 2015 French Open. With this win, Williams also became the oldest woman to win a Grand Slam singles title in the Open Era at 33 years and 289 days old, beating Martina Navratilova, who won the 1990 Wimbledon Championships at 33 years and 263 days old.

- Serena, is your current success and longevity a matter of physicality and power? "Not necessarily. We are getting a little bit older or getting more experience and wisdom? I do not know, but right now I feel stronger.  I feel I love to put myself out and appreciate that I am still living my dream. I am 35 now. I have had ups and downs, I have learned from them. I deal with pressure better and I try not to play more than 16 tournaments in a year. Today, there are also other powerful players so it is hard to win, not so simply as you want to believe."

Seed No. 2 and world ranked 3rd, Rumanian Simona Halep has lost twice in Grand Slam this year so she is preparing hard, after a time of solace and rest with her family in her country. "I was tired so I deciced to go back home and spent time there because I needed to get better, feel confident. The beginning of 2015 was good, but then I lost those two Grand Slam, it is hard in your mind. I
am preparing to be able to defeat Serena. As long as I get better and play great tennis, I will beat her again. I am younger and I can wait to be No. 1. Success has taken too a lot of my life, I wasn't prepared for the spotlight, but now I feel that it will be my moment".

For current Rogers Cup champion, Polish tennis player Agniezska Radwanska is very simple: "Serena is definitely dominating the tour. Nobody wants to talk about it, but it is the truth. She is playing good tennis, getting good results, dominating so it looks like intimidating.  All of us are trying to stop her, in all kind of surfaces. But we respect her because she is so good, so powerful. Before every single Grand Slam has a different winner. But now, Serena Williams is winning all. It happens also in men's tennis. There are 3 players that go to all semifinals and finals."

Garbiñe Muguruza Blanco is a Spanish-Venezuelan professional tennis player who is currently ranked ninth in singles and twelfth in doubles by the Women's Tennis Association.

Venezuelan-born, Spain-citizen Garbiñe Muguruza is one of the youngest (seed No. 8, No. 9 of the world, 21 year old - October 3, 19993, 1.82 mts tall, 73 kilos) and one of the powerhouse that can challenge Serena Williams as she did at 2014 French Open when she defeat the No. 1 in the second round in her route to her first Grand Slam quarterfinal. This year, the Spaniard lost to Serena at Wimbledon finals 6-4, 6-4 in a game that could be her, really: "Well, everyone wants to beat Serena, you do not want to see her near your competition in the draw because she is so powerful and is a pressure every single point.

- Garbiñe, a simple question: If Serena Williams is so powerful why everyone in the WTA Tour plays her game against her, instead of not trying the physical aspect, the power of her game?

- The thing is that power and intensity is the game of the future. It is the style that best I can play, in my own case. If I play like that, I can win more matches, my body is built for that. In Spain the believe more in me after Wimbledon. I know I can go against Serena and defeat her. It was more mental pressure than physical for me. Now, I know that I can eventually win a Slam soon.

- What did you learn from the final versus Serena Williams in Wimbledon 2015? It was so close 6-4, 6-5 and even with an advantage?

- First, I never knew how my body was going to react in a final vs. the No. 1 of the world. But now, after playing that, I know that I have the power in me and that with the pressure I can perform and everything will change in the future.