Los Angeles, July 19: Serena Williams believes she needs to make a little change to her hard-court preparation, and that's why she's suddenly decided to play in the bank of the West Classic starting on Monday.
"I need to play some more, and I think this will be a perfect opportunity," Williams said yesterday. "I haven't been there before."
Her older sister Venus is the defending champion but is not entered this year at Stanford University. In 1994, at age 16, Venus made her pro debut at this event, then held in Oakland. "I'm excited to play there. Venus goes every year but wasn't able to make it this year," Williams said. "We switched off this year. I've always loved that area, Northern California.

"We normally just don't play the same smaller tournament. I just decided I wanted to pick it up this year."



The no. 1-ranked Williams, coming off her second straight Wimbledon title, leads a field that features nine of the world's top 20 players, including no. 2 Kim Clijsters, no. 5 Lindsay Davenport and no. 7 Jennifer Capriati.



This year, Williams is 17-0 on hard courts and 36-3 overall.



"It's a great, strong field," she said. "It should be a wonderful tournament -- you have all the best players there."


Bureau Report