World number one Serena Williams heads to the WTA Madrid Open this week unusually still searching for her first tournament win of the season. The 21-time Grand Slam champion has limited her schedule to just three tournaments so far this season despite missing out in the final of both the Australian Open and Indian Wells before crashing out at the fourth round of the Miami Open last month.
Williams has instead been boosting her profile off the court as she starred alongside Beyonce in the pop superstar's visual album this week. However, the two-time winner in Madrid faces stiff competition from a wide-open field on her return to action despite the absence of 2014 champion Maria Sharapova after she admitted to failing a drugs test at the Australian Open.
Williams's conqueror at the Australian Open, Angelique Kerber, is in fine form after backing up her first Grand Slam by retaining her title on the indoor clay of Stuttgart last week. And the German is looking to build on her positive start to the European clay-court season in Madrid and Rome before the French Open next month. "I know I can play well on clay," said Kerber. "This is the attitude I'll take to Paris." The faster conditions than a normal clay surface in Madrid due to the slight altitude of the Spanish capital could help Kerber even more.
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