Jo Durie: Serena Williams will win the 'calendar slam', if she doesn’t beat herself

It’s such an enormous thing to accomplish, which is why I’m hesitating. Watching her all year, especially at the French Open, with three set after three-set match, I know she was ill there and then at Wimbledon, she just causes herself so much anguish but you wonder if she’ll beat herself.

Obviously her opponent has to play as well as they can because she is far and away the best player. But it’s whether she lets everything get to her. But I have been watching her give interviews and she has been keeping quite calm - one match at a time, that kind of comment. Obviously that’s all you can do as it is pre-empting that bit of history which is huge. So that’s the only reason I hesitate because it’s so huge.

Everybody knows that to complete a Grand Slam, you have to do it in order. OK, she won the US Open last year and now she holds all four, so she’s done it in that order which is fantastic. But to do it in the right order, you know at the beginning at the year what you have to do.

I would imagine even Serena at the back of her mind would have thought “I can do all of these four”. But you don’t want to think about it, because it’s a long time to be doing it. How many three-setters has she clawed her way out of when you thought “she is down and out here?” But she is such a winner. Although I’ve seen her say a few times: “I hate to lose”. So maybe that’s it, she hates to lose more, just can’t bear it, that’s why she wins so much.

Definitely. If you ask any tennis player, a Grand Slam is done in a year. To hold al four – what an achievement but to do it in the right order is just something else. Only three other women have ever done it Maureen Connolly, Margaret Court and Steffi Graf. And Steffi did the golden slam as she won the Olympics in the same year.

Well, maybe next year! The other pressure is that she wins one more major and she’s equal to Steffi, who in my mind has been the greatest of all time and now Serena is right up there with her. So that is another thing for her to overcome - to equal that record.

I think she will surpass it, she’s at the peak of fitness almost at the moment, almost better than she was when she did her first Serena Slam in 02-03 when she held all four major titles at the same time. I think she’s fitter and better than she was then. So how about next year? How many more can she win?

No, it doesn’t matter. Look at Roger Federer. He is 34. And Serena hasn’t played a lot of tennis every year, throughout her career. Sometimes she’s only played six or seven tournaments and she’s had the injuries as well. Compared to someone who’s played a lot – let’s take Caroline Wozniacki, who has played tournament after tournament, year after year. Her body might be letting her down now because of that.

But Serena has had these phases where she’s not actually been on the circuit so her body tennis-wise is younger than 33 if you see what I mean, so she has a few more years right there.

Yes, it did get her through some matches. But you can look at it both ways. When you are young you don’t have as many years as when you are older because you know what you’ve got to lose. When you are young, you don’t realise. But here she will have a lot to lose.

But I liked her quote. She said: “Look, if I don’t do it, I’m not going to die.” She’s absolutely right, it is huge because it’s just so special. But when it comes down to it, it’s only tennis matches. But I think a lot of players want to see her do it, because it is history in the making. She is far and away the best player on tour and if you are there to witness it, it would be something very special.

Her draw is hard. Sloane Stephens has beaten her. Belinda Bencic has beaten her. There’s her own sister, Venus - I just can’t think how awful that would be for them both if they had to play each other. Karolina Pliskova as well - I think the top half of the draw, is heavy with good players. Plus she’ll be battling herself – she’ll be trying to keep calm but I think she wants it badly. It’s a balancing act.

I’d have to pick two! Her serve is the best serve ever in women’s tennis - the most amazing serve. And her character, her fight is astonishing.