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Serena confident to defend Roland Garros title though with only 1 win in 9 months

Xinhua, May 20, 2016 Adjust font size:

World No. 1 Serena Williams came into the French Open main draw with only one title in nine months, but the American told media on Friday that she' s confident in defending her title here at Roland Garros.

Serena crushed out of the U.S. Open semifinals last summer by Roberta Vinci, which ended the 34-year-old' s hops of sweeping majors of the calendar, and had not win a title since then until last weekend when she beat compatriot Madison Keys to lift trophy in Rome.

Despite the low profile, however, the 21-times Grand Slam winner, who played only four tournament so far in 2016, entered three finals, including that of the Australian Open where she lost to Germany' s Angelique Kerber, the third seed here for this year' s French Open.

"For me, if I'm not winning, I'm not happy about my year," said Williams. "Four tournaments, three finals isn't bad for, I think, everyone else. Then again, I'm not everyone else.

"I guess when you win all the time, if you go a couple of tournaments and don't win them, it's like you're in a drought."

Serena pulled out of Madrid through illness, but did not drop a set in Rome, the only clay tourney she attended before coming to Roland Garros.

"It felt good to win in Rome, obviously. I was feeling pretty confident going into some of those matches. Especially the last few I felt a lot better.

"Even if I'd have lost, I feel like some of those matches really gave me the match play that I needed," she said.

Looking back the days before she beat all her opponents and a flu to be crowned at Roland Garros, Serena said she' s very inspired.

"I think about it a lot and I still don't know how I got through it," she said. "In the locker room, the lady said, 'How are you? Are you okay?' Last time she saw me my eyes were glassy and I was just not doing well.

"I think that's probably going to be something that always sticks out in my mind. Like, wow, of all the titles, that was crazy that I was able to win this one last year," said Serena, who' s now taking vitamin C every night to try to avoid similar problems.

The 2016 French Open gets underway on Sunday as the women' s singles final sets on June 4, one day ahead of the men' s final. Endit