This content was published 12 years ago. It may refer to a past edition of the Internazionali d’Italia.

A true champion in life puts everything to one side in order to achieve their aim. By a quirk of fate Serena Williams was on court twice in the space of 15 hours for her first two matches. After beating Galina Voskoboeva in the first round which finished at 11.30pm local time on Tuesday, the Floridian was back out on Wednesday afternoon to take on Nadia Petrova. It was not a straightforward passage.

Serena eventually won 4-6, 6-2, 6-3 to progress into round three where Anabel Medina Garrigues awaits. But she refused to complain.

“It wasn’t that easy,” she said. “It was a quick turnaround. When I saw the schedule, I said – Oh my God – are you serious. That’s life. You just have to be able to adjust and make the best of it and so I was really happy to come through today.

“Everyone has aches and pains here and there and today I felt it a lot because I have been playing a lot and practicing even more. Hopefully I’ll be better by tomorrow.

“I thought, just stay in here and when I lost the first set I thought I’d have a change and today I just didn’t want to give up – well, I never do want to give up or have never wanted to give up. I really wanted it today regardless about how I was feeling.”

It is a refreshing attitude that a 13-times Grand Slam winner with 41 WTA Tour titles still has the drive and determination about her, and is a major example to all young players starting out in the game.

“I am so inspired to be out there,” she said. “The only incentive that I have is that I love tennis and I love playing. I say, this is what I love best and there are a lot of times in life that you don’t get the chance to do what you do best but this is definitely where I belong.

“I definitely have developed a lot of confidence on clay and I like it – well I have always liked it – its only I haven’t won a lot of tournaments on it. But now I’m getting more wins!”