Roddick on Serena: “She’s Still the Best in the World”

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Roddick on Serena: “She’s Still the Best in the World”

The last American male to win a Grand Slam title has the back of America’s most decorated female champion. His advice? Watch out world, Serena Williams is not going to take defeat lightly.

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"People who refer to this as a rough patch for Serena, we should all be so lucky to have our rough patch end at number one in the world," Roddick told Omnisport. "I think she's a victim of her own success; she's playing against the shadows of history now, not just against the current crop of players.”

Roddick says that not much has changed since last year when Williams was in the midst of a run for the Calendar Slam. Losses in each of the last three majors? They’ll only make her stronger, says Roddick.

"We're not that far removed from her playing for the calendar-year Grand Slam,” he said. “She's still great. She's still the best in the world… Other women might think they have a shot at her a little bit more on a day-to-day basis right now, but I've known her since we were kids, we're great friends, and she'll only come back harder when faced with a defeat.”

He added: "She's been dealing with uphill battles her entire life, so it's not going to be anything new for her. She has nothing to prove at this point, she's just playing for record books."

Williams will next play at Wimbledon. The six-time champion at the All England Club will be aiming for her third successful title defense at SW19. If she does it she’ll tie Steffi Graf on the all-time major title list with 22.

“The only thing I can do is just keep trying,” Williams said last Saturday after falling to Garbiñe Muguruza in the Roland Garros final.

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