Serena Williams is the Terminator of tennis – she just keeps on kicking ass.

At 35 Serena doesn’t just look unstoppable on court, she is also dominating off it. One foolish Australian journalist took on Serena in a post-match press conference and paid the price.

The reporter who suggested Serena’s straight sets win was ‘scrappy’ (a fairly strange observation to put it nicely) was quickly put in his place by the star.

“I think that’s a very negative thing to say,” she responded. “Are you serious? That was a great performance. I played well.”

Loving my Aussie fans, you guys keep me going. pic.twitter.com/k7RaoASCMd — Serena Williams (@serenawilliams) January 18, 2017

Serena is spot on, she is playing some great tennis. The explosiveness, grunt and power that has left her opponents for dead for almost two decades is still there. More importantly so is the hunger and desire to succeed despite the fact she has already achieved basically everything there is to achieve as a tennis player.

A photo posted by Serena Williams (@serenawilliams) on Dec 22, 2016 at 5:17am PST

“Sometimes it’s difficult but I feel like when I have nerves it makes it real and it makes me human. I feel like nervousness fires my desire in every match I play.”

Whilst there is nothing getting in her way on the court, some believe it could be her off-court life that may put the breaks on Serena’s tennis career. She recently became engaged to Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian.

But Serena is taking it all in her stride as she dances towards another Grand Slam final.

It’s so important to have passions in your life that are just for you. What do you do for you? #DoItForYourself #BerleiAustralia @berleiUSA pic.twitter.com/wZx88s6Owp — Serena Williams (@serenawilliams) January 12, 2017

“It feels good,” she shared when asked about her engagement.

“I really haven’t thought about it too much. I wasn’t going to think about it until after the tournament. I keep saying that in February I will start looking at the bigger picture of my life.”

Whilst Serena does have a lot happening of the court, her results at this year’s Australian Open show that she has no reason to rush into retiring.

….. And the girl who never took a vacation took one day off…and then she came back A photo posted by Serena Williams (@serenawilliams) on Sep 17, 2016 at 8:00am PDT

Dumb press conference questions aside, the star appears to be enjoying her tennis as much as she ever has before. Despite the millions in prize money Serena is still very much in touch with her roots.

“I grew up in Compton and it is this place that made me who I am. It made me tough, it made me appreciative and it made me Serena. I travelled there recently and it gave me inspiration. To know I grew up there and became a great tennis player was a really awesome feeling.”

Whether Serena plays on for one more year or ten, watching her on court continues to be a great privilege.

Are you a big Serena fan? Prove it! See if you can pick Serena out amongst the crowd in the ultimate Guess The Grunt Competition.

by Michael T. Lynch – contributor