Serena in 'good place and pain-free' at Wimbledon, says coach

Serena Williams is in a good place, pain-free at last and 100 percent focused on winning Wimbledon, her coach Patrick Mouratoglou said Wednesday.

Williams, 37, has worked incredibly hard to come back from giving birth, and multiple injury problems, in order to target Margaret Court's all-time record of 24 Grand Slam titles, he said.

Crucially, the American's trademark ability to raise her game to another level is back -- and she has found her rhythm once more, the coach said.

Williams, the 11th seed, takes on the Czech world number 54 Barbora Strycova on Thursday in the semi-finals.

"She's in a good place at the moment. She's happy," Mouratoglou told reporters.

"Her husband is here, her daughter is here, and she's pain-free now for three weeks.

"When you focus on your pain every day, it's very difficult to prepare well for tournaments.

"You compete with pain, so it's difficult to focus on the match because you're suffering.

"Now things are different. And when she's playing, she's 100 percent focusing on the game and on winning.

"She's raised her level when it was necessary, which is one of her trademarks, and this is back, so everything's positive."
- Chasing 24 -
==============
"You have no idea how hard she worked to come back to that level, and she came back for that, so it will probably mean a lot if she makes it."
- 'Better and better' -
=======================
And in a warning to her rivals left in the tournament, he said: "I knew that match after match, she will get better and better."