NEW YORK, NY, USA – Serena Williams was on top of the world at Wimbledon, winning a 22nd major championship to tie Stefanie Graf’s modern era record. Less than 24 hours later, the American began feeling pain in her shoulder.

“Ironically enough, the day after the finals of Wimbledon,” she said during her US Open pre-tournament press. “I was like, how did I win?”

The injury followed her through the Emirates Airline US Open Series, forcing her withdrawal from the Rogers Cup and Western & Southern Open, with a third round loss at the Olympic tennis event in between.

“At the end of the day I knew I gave the best effort I could, and it just wasn’t enough. I just. For the, Olympics I just practiced two days before playing my match. It’s not ideal, but it was all I could do.”

Serena heads to the site of her first major triumph with less than ideal preparation, but feels stronger than yesterday as she attempts to not only break Graf’s record with a 23rd major crown, but also break the all-time US Open record with a seventh victory (currently tied with Chris Evert).

“I haven’t played a lot, I haven’t practiced a lot, but I’m just now starting to feel a little better.

“Hopefully just every day I will keep going higher.”

Still, the top seed will have to hit the ground running in Flushing; her first round is a rematch of her 2014 semifinal with Russia’s Ekaterina Makarova, who won the Olympic Gold medal in women’s doubles.

“I think I try to look at it we all have tough matches. I know she’s a good player. I’ve just got to do the best I can.”

Makarova and partner Elena Vesnina were just the third team to grab a gold medal in women’s doubles since 2000, when Serena and sister Venus Williams began their dominance of the event – winning three times overall.

“She’s a big fighter. She never really stops.

“I think one thing I think that’s pretty impressive is she gets a lot of balls back. You think she’s not super quick, but she is.”

Even with a difficult stretch, Serena bore a quiet confidence in press, knowing that her best tennis is never too far behind her.

“I did serve pretty well at Wimbledon this year. I felt like I was able to hit aces when I wanted to. So, a couple months ago, a few weeks ago.”