Serena Williams stands on 23 Grand Slam wins, one behind Margaret Court. Time is running out for her to match the Australian, who won many of her titles in a less competitive age when fewer players travelled as much as today. Court has attracted a fair share of criticism for her socially-illiberal attitudes, and there are many who would not be sorry to see Serena match her Grand Slam record. The US Open commences on 31 August in New York. It looks as though many of the top players will be missing due to the pandemic and a reluctance by many to travel. It may therefore represent Serena's best and last chance to equal Court's record. The makeup of the field is not yet certain, which makes Serena's chances difficult to assess at present. She is however available at 8/1. Before that, Serena takes part in the warm-up event, the WTA Lexington which commences tomorrow (Monday) and concludes next Sunday (16 August). This field is less challenging than the US Open promises to be, with Aryna Sabalenka, Cori Gauff, Sloane Stephens and Victoria Azarenka perhaps posing the biggest challenge to Serena, who is higher-ranked than any of those players. Serena will want to damn near win this tournament if she is to put up a serious challenge for the Open later in the month. She is 7/2, which equates to a 22% chance of winning. I tend to think that her preparation will have been in earnest given the possibility of history awaiting her in the Open, and I give her a better chance of winning than the odds imply.
