ORDINARY mortals talk about taking one match at a time.

Serena Williams has a different perspective on that cliche. For her, it's all about taking one Grand Slam title at a time.

The world No 1 refused to talk about completing the so-called Serena Slam - holding all four majors at once, though not in the same year - until she completed it by beating Garbine Muguruza in the Wimbledon final on Saturday. Soon, as she prepares for the US Open in earnest, she will refuse to answer questions about her bid for the calendar-year Grand Slam, last achieved by Steffi Graf in 1988.

But after that victory against the No 20 seed from Spain, Williams was in a relaxed and expansive mood, and willing to look ahead to the US Open, where she will also have a chance to equal Graf's total of 22 Grand Slams. But she explained that the key to succeeding at Flushing Meadows will be to take the same approach as at Wimbledon: regard it as a one-off tournament, not as the latest step in a long, triumphant sequence.

"It would be amazing," the 33-year-old said when asked about the possibility of emulating Graf in those two respects. "It would be really good to have an opportunity. Being an American, with that amazing New York crowd - hopefully people will be cheering me on to push me over the edge, give me that extra strength I need to go for this historic moment.

"That would be great. And I think in a way, it also makes thing easier for me, because I feel like I have nothing to lose. I feel like I can just go in there and do the best I can and hope for the best.

"And you better ask all your questions about the Grand Slam because it WILL be banned soon. It's going on a ban. I'm really nice right now, but sooner or later it's going to [be] cut out, because I can't think about that.

"I have to go into New York thinking, 'Listen, I want to win the US Open. I want to defend my title'. And that's the only reason I want to be there. I want to go in that locker room and take my famous picture on my knees and hold up that No 4 [Grand Slam trophy of the year].

"That's what I want to do, and that's how I got through this. It wasn't about winning the Serena Slam, it was about winning Wimbledon. I hadn't won here in a while, I really wanted to win this title and that's the same mind frame I want to go into the next Grand Slam.

"I didn't want to talk about the Serena Slam - I was just more focused on winning Wimbledon. In the beginning of the year, this is the one I really wanted to win. That was the main thing on my mind."

It would be hard to say that winning four majors in the same year is superior to winning four in a row the way Williams has done: it is, after all, no more than a quirk of the calendar. Even so, the former feat, which Maureen Connolly in 1953 and Margaret Court in 1970 are the only ones apart from Graf to have managed, remains one of the few things in tennis to have eluded Williams. She first achieved the Serena Slam in 2002-03, so by winning Wimbledon this year has only equalled what she has done before. Should we then regard the calendar-year Grand Slam as more prestigious? Should there be a difference in people's minds?

"I don't know," she answered. "I guess there is a difference, because you win it all in one year, but, at the same time, winning all four in a row . . . . All four trophies are at my house right now, so that's kind of cool. And that's definitely different. So I think you can't be disappointed with winning four in a row not in the same year."

Having said that, she accepted that the calendar Grand Slam had to be viewed as the ultimate achievement. "I think so, because of what everyone says and what everyone writes and seeing it as the ultimate, so obviously you can't help but see it that way too. There's a reason it's been 27 years since it's been done. I mean, it's not the easiest thing to do."

Beating Muguruza was not exactly easy, but Williams was in control once she reversed an early break, and appears to be in the best shape of her life. Still, the good news for the 21-year-old runner-up, who has the talent to be a finalist on many future occasions, is that the American does not expect to be playing for that much longer.

When it was mentioned to her that Martina Navratilova was in a Wimbledon final at 37, and she was asked if there was any reason she should not go on for as long, she explained that she had presumed she would be retired by now. "Wow, I didn't realise she was 37. That was an incredible run.

"Who knows? I would like to believe that I wouldn't still be playing when I'm 37. But then I would never have dreamt that I'd be playing at 33.

"I'll be 34 next ... five, six, seven. I never thought I'd be playing at 33. Never say never. I don't know what to say to that. Who knows? Physically I feel better than I have generally when I was younger. I'm just doing the best I can."