Serena Williams 'Will Do Everything' To Beat Margaret Court's Record, Mouratoglou Says

Serena Williams returned to the top-10 in the WTA rankings for the first time since taking a break to give birth to daughter Alexis Olympia Ohanian in September 2017. The American had dropped as low as 491st in the standings when she made her return in the early part of the 2018 season.

The 23-time women’s singles Grand Slam champion has made her way back into the top-10 with some impressive performances, which includes two Grand Slam final appearances. Williams lost to Angelique Kerber at Wimbledon and Naomi Osaka at the US Open in 2018.

The 37-year-old has not played on the WTA Tour since her quarterfinals loss to Karolina Pliskova at the Australian Open in January but went ahead of Caroline Wozniacki, who was in 10th position, in the points standings after the Dane’s points from last season’s Doha semi-finals expired.

Osaka maintains her position as the world number one in women’s singles with Simona Halep in the second position. Sloane Stephens, Petra Kvitova, and Karolina Pliskova make up the top five, but there are just over 500 points between the chasing pack.

Meanwhile, Williams’ coach Patrick Mouratoglou is confident the American will win at least one more major title before she calls time on her career. A 24th Grand Slam will see her tied with Margaret Court who currently holds the all-time women’s singles majors record.

Williams, who is already considered among the greatest in the history of the sport, could have tied Court when she made the finals at Wimbledon in 2018 and was certainly the odds on favorite when she came up against then 20-year-old Osaka at the US Open women’s singles final.

But the American was unable to make it count as she succumbed on both occasions in straight sets. Mouratoglou, however, is certain she still has the ability to triumph at a major tournament and admitted that Williams “will do everything” to beat Court’s record.

"Her target has always been to win grand slams and that's why she came back because she believes - and of course I believe too - that she is able,” Mouratoglou said at the recently held Laureus World Sports Awards 2019 in Monaco, as quoted on Tennis World USA. “She has the level to win grand slams. She was close two times last year, played to grand slam finals, so this year the goal is to do better than last year and win the last two that are missing, and then we see."

“What Serena has achieved over the last 20 years is unique in the history of the sport, but she's a unique person, she's a unique player and we will do everything to beat that record, so she stays in all the [history] books forever,” he added.