Wimbledon 2010: Serena Williams swats aside Michelle Larcher de Brito

Serena Williams clearly had a lot of things on her mind coming into the Championships. Michelle Larcher de Brito was not among them. After completing a 6-0, 6-4 win that was surely not quite as authoritative as it could have been, Williams explained that her two top concerns were, in no particular order, the USA's World Cup match against Algeria tomorrow and the Queen's visit here on Thursday. Beating Portugal's De Brito was almost an afterthought, but then she is ranked 147 places beneath Williams, the top seed. When talking about her own performance Williams only had a few bland platitudes to offer ("I thought I served well and I think I could have come to the net more") but as soon the conversation switched to football she began to talk with a fan's enthusiasm. "I live and die watching the USA, I even speak in terms of 'we'" she said. "Let me tell you, I'm jumping, I'm screaming, I'm punching the air. I'm just really into it. So I am definitely going to work my schedule tomorrow around the game." Asked to predict the result she showed she has even picked up the essentials of the football pundits' lingo: "You never know. You can't underestimate anyone and Algeria still wants to do well, so we'll see." Soon she'll be describing it as a "funny old game". In between taking in the World Cup's group games it seems Williams will be working on her curtsy and planning her outfit for Thursday, which will be "a little more conservative" than the "strawberries and cream" number she wore For those who are not fashion-minded "strawberries and cream" means a white dress and shocking pink pants. The red trim apparently "symbolises a lot of the things I do in Africa". As for the curtsy, "I'm trying to tone down my wrist action. It's a little dramatic. We really don't do that so much in the United States, so I am really working hard on it. I just want it to feel a little more natural. Right now it seems forced." Williams has a child's enthusiasm for these foolish things, but an altogether more world-weary approach to her own work. It seems the time she could have spent preparing her curtsy before the tournament was instead taken up with practising her serve. "I served so terrible in my last match at the French," said Williams, remembering her quarter-final defeat to Sam Stosur at Roland Garros. "I was incredibly disappointed with it so I went home and worked really hard on it." It paid off. She hit 15 aces against De Brito, who was utterly unable to cope with Serena's slice. De Brito made a name for herself at last year's French Open with her screams, which sound like nothing so much as a cheap firework fading away into dark on bonfire night. But after all the controversy it caused her she has turned herself down several notches. In the sorry first set De Brito hardly made a squeak. The second though was a little closer, as she held her own from the baseline. De Brito was helped by the loud support of the crowd. It may just that be that the British love an underdog, but there were very few people shouting for Serena on Centre Court. The public may be fatigued with Williams' remorseless excellence, or it could be that the memories of her ugly outburst at a linesman at the US Open last year are still a little too fresh. When De Brito held her serve in the third game of the second set, the flat atmosphere began to turn as the crowd clambered onto Williams' back, roaring at every point she conceded and greeting each of De Brito's occasional winners with rapturous applause. This, it turned out, was just another opportunity for Serena to talk about her new obsession. "I noticed that," she said. "I probably would have gotten behind her as well, especially now that I am watching a lot of the football. I really got behind North Korea. My heart went out to them, especially against Brazil. Oh my heart went out to them, I could only imagine. I was glad to watch the soccer because it helps my tennis game, it makes me realise that maybe they're just rooting for the underdog." It might be better for her if the USA do get knocked out. It seems the distraction of fitting their matches around her's might be the biggest challenge she faces in this first week.