MELBOURNE, Australia -- One by one, Serena Williams is matching the feats of tennis greatest legends. Wholesale NFL Jerseys . Her next challenge comes at the Australian Open, which starts Monday with Williams seeking her 18th Grand Slam title -- an accomplishment that would match Martina Navratilova and Chris Evert. "It would mean a lot to be on the same level as such great players," Williams said in a pre-tournament news conference Saturday, quickly adding a dash of humility. "I still have a lot of work to do. I obviously want to reach that level, but Im not there yet." "Hopefully, Ill get there," she added. The No. 1-ranked, No. 1-seeded player is entering the new season after a spectacular year. In 2013, Williams won 78 of her 82 matches including the French Open and the U.S. Open. She earned more than $12 million in prize money, a record for womens tennis. At 32, an age where most professional players are in decline, Williams is playing the best tennis of her career, says Navratilova, who predicts that Williams will win in Melbourne and go on to eclipse Steffi Grafs 22 major titles in the Open era. "If she can stay healthy, theres no doubt she can go into the 20s. The sky is the limit," Navratilova said earlier this week. In terms of Grand Slam titles, no woman playing professional tennis today comes close. In a distant second place is Williams big sister, Venus, who won seven major titles during a career that is now waning because of age, injuries and an autoimmune disease that saps her energy. Venus last Grand Slam win came at Wimbledon in 2008. No. 2 Maria Sharapova, a four-time Grand Slam winner, is coming back after playing just one post-Wimbledon match in 2013 due to hip and shoulder injuries. She sat out the last two months of the 2013 season and says she is still nursing her shoulder with "precautionary" anti-inflammatories at times. "Im happy to be back playing a Grand Slam," said Sharapova, who tore her rotator cuff in two places in 2008, requiring surgery that kept her off the tour for nearly a year. "Im happy to get myself back in form and really start well here." The player who is considered the greatest threat to Williams is No. 2 Victoria Azarenka, the two-time Australian Open defending champion. Williams has defeated Azarenka in 14 of their 17 matches -- but Azarenka has excelled more recently in Melbourne where Serena has won five titles but none since 2010. Asked why she has stumbled in Melbourne in recent years, Williams half-joked: "I just wasnt able to stay on two feet. Literally." Last year, Williams tumbled to the court in her first-round match after turning her right ankle. She was then upset in the quarterfinals by Sloane Stephens. "Ive been doing a lot of exercises for my ankles and trying to make sure that theyre pretty stabilized," said Williams. Williams got a strong start to the new season, with back-to-back wins over Sharapova and Azarenka earlier this month in Brisbane. She beat Sharapova in the semifinals and overcame Azarenka in the final. In Melbourne, Williams will only get the chance to play one of them. Azarenka and Sharapova are on the opposite side of the draw from Williams and could end up playing each other in the semifinals. Sharapovas first-round match is against Bethanie Mattek-Sands on Tuesday, when Azarenka faces Johanna Larsson of Sweden. Williams starts her Australian Open campaign Monday against Australian teenager Ashleigh Barty and has 2011 U.S. Open champion Sam Stosur and two-time Australian finalist Li Na in her half of the draw. Barty, who is 17 and ranked 153rd, is bound to have rowdy home crowd support as she steps onto centre court against the worlds top player. "Obviously theyll want Ashleigh to win, (and want) her to do well," Williams said. "Under any other circumstances. Id probably be rooting for her as well." Wholesale Jerseys China . Calvert and his team of Kyle Kurz, Lucas Van Den Bosch, Brendan Wilson, alternate Matt Dunstone and coach Tom Clasper earned their spot in the playoffs by finishing in third place in the round robin with a 6-3 record. Wholesale Jerseys . Thats where their similarities end. Luck was the first overall pick in the 2012 draft and started from Day 1. Keenum joined the Texans as an undrafted free agent and spent all of last season on the practice squad.PITTSBURGH, Pa. - Marc-Andre Fleury made 35 saves in his 30th NHL shutout, and Chris Kunitz had two goals in a three-point game to lift the Pittsburgh Penguins to a 3-0 victory over the Los Angeles Kings 3-0 on Thursday night.Kris Letang scored his first goal of the season, and Evgeni Malkin became the fifth player in team history to register 400 assists as the Penguins used their dominant power play and a steady performance from Fleury to hand the defending champion Kings just their second regulation loss.Pittsburgh went 2 for 6 with the man advantage, including two first-period goals that put the Kings on their heels.Martin Jones made 20 saves for Los Angeles, but the Kings failed to score for the second time in 10 games this season. The Kings lost in regulation for just the second time this season.DEVILS 2, JETS 1, SONEWARK, N.J. (AP) — Jacob Josefson scored the lone goal in the shootout, and Cory Schneider made it stand up as New Jersey ended its tiebreaker frustration with a come-from-behind victory over Winnipeg.Michael Ryder forced overtime for New Jersey, scoring the tying goal with 3:27 left in regulation. The Devils earned the shootout victory after losing all 13 last season and one other this season.Josefson, the Devils second shootout shooter, lifted a shot over sprawling goalie Ondrej Pavelec.New Jersey earned its first home victory in four games and snapped the Jets two-game winning streak.Blake Wheeler, who led the Jets with 28 goals last season, netted his fourth of the season in the first period.BRUINS 3, SABRES 2, OTBUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — Brad Marchand had two goals, including the winner 1:20 into overtime, and Boston earned its third straight road victory by beating Buffalo.Drew Stafford and Tyler Ennis each had a goal and an assist for the Sabres, who are 0-4-1 at home this season.Marchand added an assist on Adam McQuaids goal for the Bruins. Niklas Svedberg made 13 saves for his second win of the season, both coming against Buffalo.Jhonas Enroth made 34 saves for the Sabres.Marchands tying goal at 14:30 of the third period was reviewed after he redirected Loui Erikssons shot past Enroth with his hand.LIGHTNING 4, FLYERS 3TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Steven Stamkos had two goals and an assist, and Tampa Bay beat Philadelphia.Vladislav Namestnikov and Jason Garrison scored the other Lightning goals. Tampa Bay has defeated the Flyers seven straight times at home, dating to February 2011.Wayne Simmonds, Jakub Voracek and Michael Raffl netted goals for the Flyers, who had won three in a row.After Stamkos gave Tampa Bay a 3-1 lead with his eighth goal this season from the left circle at 5:30 of the third, Voraceks in-close shot made it a one-goal game again 68 seconds later.Garrison made it 4-2, snapping his 28-game goal drought, on the power play with 3:12 to play. Raffl cut the Flyers deficit back to one in the final minute.Stamkos had put the Lightning ahead 2-1 during a power play with 45.7 seconds remaining in the second period.PANTHERS 2, COYOTES 1SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) — Scottie Upshall scored 10:56 into the third period, Roberto Luongo made 32 saves in front of another small crowd, and Florida edged Arizona.The announced crowd was 7,691, just 380 more than the franchise-record low of 7,311 that watched the Panthers play Ottawa on Oct. 13th.Brandon Pirri tied it for Florida at 5:37 of the second period with a power-play goal. Jussi Jokinen and Erik Gudbranson had the assists.Coyotes goalie Mike Smith stopped 24 shots.Martin Hanzal gave Arizona a 1-0 lead with 2:33 left in the first period during a power play off assists fromm Oliver Ekman-Larsson and Keith Yandle. Cheap Jerseys Wholesale. BLACKHAWKS 5, SENATORS 4, SOOTTAWA, Ontario (AP) — Marian Hossa had a goal and an assist in Chicagos shootout win over Ottawa, reaching two milestones in the city in which he started his NHL career back in 1997.Patrick Sharp scored the only goal of the shootout. Jonathan Toews scored twice for Chicago (6-3-1), and Kris Versteeg added a goal. Scott Darling turned aside 28 shots for the win.Mark Stone, Clarke MacArthur, Bobby Ryan and Mika Zibanejad had goals for Ottawa (5-2-2). Craig Anderson made 35 saves.Hossas goal at 13:50 of the third period was his second of the season and his 1,000th career point. It came in his 1,100th NHL game.The goal was one of four in a third-period outburst between the teams that entered the frame tied 2-2.BLUES 2, DUCKS 0ST. LOUIS (AP) — Alexander Steen and Ryan Reaves scored, and Jake Allen stopped 24 shots in his second NHL shutout, leading St. Louis over Anaheim.The Blues (5-3-1) won their third consecutive game despite playing without four of their top nine forwards. David Backes and T.J. Oshie sat out because of concussions, Paul Stastny was sidelined by a shoulder injury, and Joakim Lindstrom missed the game due to an illness.The Ducks (8-3) played the second game of a four-game, six-day trip. Anaheim had won four straight against the Blues, including a 3-0 home victory on Oct. 19.Steen tipped in a long shot from Carl Gunnarsson for his second of the season 4:29 in. Reaves made it 2-0 with his second at 2:03 of the third.It was the second goal in three games for Reaves, a fourth-line enforcer, and his 13th in 203 career NHL games.Allen (2-1) posted his first shutout since March 14, 2013.WILD 4, SHARKS 3, SOST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Mikko Koivu and Jason Pominville scored in the shootout to lift Minnesota over San Jose.Kyle Brodziak scored twice in the third period, and Koivu had a goal in the second for Minnesota, which for the second straight game overcame a 3-1, third-period deficit to win.The Wild rallied to win 4-3 Tuesday at Boston, one night after allowing five third-period goals in a 5-4 road loss to the New York Rangers.Joe Thornton, Tommy Wingels and Mirco Mueller scored for the Sharks. Antti Niemi made a career-high 43 saves.AVALANCHE 5, ISLANDERS 0DENVER (AP) — Nathan MacKinnon scored his first two goals of the season and Semyon Varlamov stopped 40 shots for his 14th NHL shutout, lifting Colorado over the New York Islanders.MacKinnon, the 19-year-old reigning rookie of the year, netted both of his goals in the second period, one on a power play. He later tipped a shot past goalie Chad Johnson.Cody McLeod and Marc-Andre Cliche also scored their first goals of the season. Erik Johnson added another in the third period.Varlamov was sharp against the Islanders, one of the NHLs highest scoring teams. It was his first shutout since April 5 at St. Louis.The Avalanche took command with a three-goal second period.The Islanders struggled on the power play, going 0-for-6.CANUCKS 3, CANADIENS 2, OTVANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) — Daniel Sedin scored a power-play goal 2:45 into overtime, off an assist from twin brother Henrik, and Vancouver bounced back from a blown lead and beat Montreal.Daniel took a feed from Henrik off the rush and scored against Carey Price for his third goal of the season after the Canucks squandered a 2-0 lead in the third period.Nick Bonino and Brad Richardson scored for Vancouver (7-3). Ryan Miller made 28 saves.Alex Galchenyuk and Max Pacioretty had goals for Montreal (8-2-1), and Price stopped 22 shots. wholesale jerseys authentic wholesale jerseys nfl cheap cheap jerseys Cheap Jerseys china wholesale jerseys ' ' '
