MELBOURNE, Australia -- Serena Williams walked into her postmatch news conference Tuesday afternoon and sat down in front of the media for the first time since her controversial match against Naomi Osaka in the US Open final in September.
Because Williams was one of few top players who didn't hold a news conference ahead of the Australian Open, this one was highly anticipated. What would she say about New York, the fallout and her subsequent conversations with her coach, Patrick Mouratoglou? What would she think of his recent comments that on-court coaching should be allowed at Grand Slams in the future?
"I literally have no comment," Williams said in response to the first question on the topic. And with the swiftness with which she dispatched her opening-round opponent, Tatjana Maria of Germany, 6-0, 6-2, Williams slammed the door on the conversation.
If Williams has learned anything from past experience, it's that silence is a valuable tool, and a dominant performance has the ability, if not to erase the past, then at least to gently nudge the world to move on from it.
Williams moved the conversation on to how she felt about her performance against Maria, how she chose the design of the flashy green one-piece she debuted on center court and whether she has what it takes to win it all in Melbourne. Suddenly -- aside from questions about her daughter Olympia's Instagram-famous doll, Qai Qai -- it was 2017 all over again, with Williams the odds-on favorite to win this tournament.
But which Williams did we really expect to show up in Melbourne? A woman still in the process of a long comeback from maternity leave or the player who defeated big sister Venus in an unforgettable 2017 Australian Open final to capture her record 23rd major win? Did we expect Serena to play at a level so high that it seemed she, not Caroline Wozniacki, is the defending champion protecting her aqua-blue turf? Does Serena expect that of herself?
"I don't want to give myself a ranking. I think it gives me too much negative expectations," Williams said when asked how she would grade herself at the start of this season. "I always want to reach the sky, and anything below it is not good enough for me. I just know that I'm going in the right direction."
Williams' performance Tuesday certainly hinted at the latter; from her opening serve, she was calm and confident, her game highlighted by the power, precision serving and aggressive, surgical forehands that have made her the greatest competitor in the game. She dropped only five points in the first set, won 63 percent of her break points and was 10-for-13 at the net. Maria, on the other hand, needed 10 games to find any semblance of a rhythm, seemingly blindsided by Williams' on-court presence before she tossed her first serve. Of course, by then, it was too late.
"I think it was a good match today. I didn't make too many unforced errors," Williams said afterward. "She's a tricky player. It could easily have been a 6-3, 6-4 or three-set match. When I know someone is really good, I want to be focused and that was helpful for me today. It was nice to be back out there. I have been working really, really hard in the offseason to be incredibly fit and incredibly ready. But I'm still trying to get 12 months of playing under my belt."
And there, of course, is the reality check. Although Williams looks as fit and ready as she did in 2017, she is still only 10 months into her return and only one official match into her 2019 campaign. It's easy to get caught up in the excitement of those 118 mph aces and forget that last season, Williams was not yet physically ready to compete in Melbourne. Days before the start of the tournament, she withdrew, saying in a statement, "Although I am super close, I'm not where I personally want to be."
When she began her return in earnest at Indian Wells last March, she said she felt far from being in peak playing condition. "I'm thinking, from zero to Serena, I'm only at the S," Williams said then. "I got a ways to go. But I'll get there. It's a journey. I'm not going to get there instantly and I'm going to go for it."
How far she can go remains to be seen. But after Tuesday's performance, a record-tying 24th major seems well within her grasp. "I have been going for the record for what seems like forever now," said Williams, who Thursday faces Canadian Eugenie Bouchard in the second round. "So it doesn't feel any different this time."
That question, she answered with a smile.