NEW YORK -- It was on a US Open practice court where, if you were especially intuitive, there were signs last year that Serena Williams was headed for an unhappy ending to her quest of completing the seventh calendar-year Grand Slam in the history of the game.It wasnt necessarily what she did that day, tossing and serving for well over an hour -- first from the deuce court, then from the ad and over to a different court for more of the same.It was more of what drove her there and the purposefulness with which she marched over directly after her match. Williams would later admit to being nervous during her eventual second-round victory against the 110th-ranked player in the world, a match in which she would squeak out a first-set tiebreaker 7-5, after committing eight double faults and 26 unforced errors in the opening set.She would close the match out 6-3 in the second; the match point was not accompanied by anything close to the shrieks heard that afternoon but rather utter silence, a disgusted look and an eye roll. She later characterized it as not one of my happiest moments.At that point, Williams was already tired of the questions and seemingly tired of the grind. Tired of being tired. She even all but demanded that any inquiries with the words Grand Slam in them cease. And when she lost in a semifinal shocker to Roberta Vinci, the 43rd-ranked player in the world playing her first career Slam semi, Serena blew through a four-minute news conference and left the grounds.You could hardly blame her. But back in the second round here Thursday against 27-year-old American Vania King, Williams mood was decidedly different.I think Im more relaxed, for sure, Williams said this earlier this week.While not exactly operating under the proverbial radar, Serena is trying to win just her second Slam in a row after prevailing at Wimbledon and only trying to surpass Steffi Grafs record of 22 career majors.And while King is an 87th-ranked wildcard who succumbed to Serena in their only previous meeting, 6-1, 6-0 in 56 minutes in the 2014 US Open, you suspect Williams opponent, as always, has very little to do with the outcome.While Serena is still dealing with a shoulder issue that had her going for placement rather than speed on her serves in her 6-3, 6-3 first-round win over Ekaterina Makarova, there is considerably less emotional weight on both shoulders this year.In 2015, Williams played 17 three-setters going into the Open in 10 tournaments, plus two rounds of Fed Cup; she won 16 of those three-set matches. This year, there have been five three-setters in seven tournaments, including the Olympics. She lost that third-round encounter to 20th-ranked Elina Svitolina in straight sets on Aug. 9, her last match before New York.Even with the shoulder concerns, Williams was asked, is this US Open already a more pleasant experience?I was going for something that no one has done in a really long time, she said of last year. Yeah, it didnt end wonderful for me or the way I wanted it to end. But it was all I could do. Thats all I could do.While the three-set victories were a testament to her competitive toughness, the off-court battle turned out to be a considerably tougher one. After the 2015 Open, she cited a broken heart from her loss to Vinci in addition to other injuries and subsequently announced she was withdrawing from three tournaments, including the WTA Finals.Williams coach, Patrick Mouratoglou, said the motivation just wasnt there, and it was the only sensible decision. And this year, while Serena, who is weeks short of her 35th birthday, said she would have preferred to play more coming into the final Grand Slam of the year, she is trying to be optimistic.There is nothing we can do about it, she said. You just have to make the best of every single opportunity. Thats all I can do now.Usually, thats more than enough. Wholesale NFL Jerseys . The Vikings announced Thursday that Priefer will be one of seven holdovers from the previous staff, along with offensive line coach Jeff Davidson, wide receivers coach George Stewart and others. Norv Turner will mark his 30th year of coaching in the NFL as the offensive co-ordinator, as widely reported for weeks, and George Edwards will be the defensive co-ordinator. Cheap Jerseys Free Shipping . Goals from Jerome Boateng, Franck Ribery and Thomas Mueller extended Bayerns unbeaten run to a record 37 matches. "This record is incredible," Bayern coach Pep Guardiola said. https://www.nflcheapjerseysfreeshipping.com/ . LOUIS -- Cardinals cleanup hitter Allen Craig says hes recovered from a foot injury and ready to be put on St. Cheap NFL Jerseys . This should be celebrated because it will not always be this way. With the amount of money given to players by their clubs these days, it is a wonder that so many of those teams allow the sport to continue to take away many of their assets so they can play for a different team in the middle of their season. Authentic NFL Jerseys China . "Four now," Carl Gunnarsson told the Leaf Report proudly following a 5-2 victory over New York on Tuesday night, the clubs fifth straight at home. BOSTON -- Julian Batts and Jerome Frink hit back-to-back 3-pointers to give LIU Brooklyn the lead with 1:29 left and the Blackbirds held on to take a 78-74 win over Northeastern in the Steve Wright Classic at Boston University Saturday.It was the first meeting between the teams since 1988-89.Bolden Braces 3-pointer to put the Huskies up 71-65 with 2:46 left, but the Blackbirds answered with a layup by Nura Zanna. Batts followed with a trey with 2:12 left and Frinks 3 gave thhem the lead, 73-71.dddddddddddd Jashaun Agosto added a 3-point play in the final minute to cap an 11-0 run.Agosto finished with 20 points for LIU Brooklyn (3-0). Batts contributed 13 and Frink added 11.T.J. Williams shot 12 of 14 from the line and led Northeastern (2-2) with 18 points. Shawn Occeus hit 4 of 7 from long range and added 14 points. ' ' '