With Williams’s daughter Olympia now two years old, Mouratoglou argued that for this reason – as well as the former World No.1 recovering from the injuries that have plagued her this year – he feels time is still on her side. “I feel that time works for her, and I know it can sound strange because she’s not very young,” he said. “I feel she’s moving better now than she was a few months ago.”

Williams’s health permitting her to reach full fitness will also be key to snapping her three-match losing streak in Grand Slam finals, said Mouratoglou. “Clearly the goal is not to lose in final,” he stated. “My opinion on that is that clearly a final is not a match like any other. I know she’s played a lot in her life, but still, there is a special emotion in a final, especially when you’re supposed to win – and when you are called Serena you are supposed to win all the time. So it’s not the same as for another player playing a final, an unexpected player in the final, for example, or anyway, so the pressure is very important, even more when you play to beat the record of all times.

“And when you have emotions and you’re tighter than usual, it’s important for you to have a plan B, to feel like, OK, if this doesn’t work I can do other things. And when you’re not fit, you don’t have a plan B. I mean, the level of stress goes to another level, because you have no other option and the option 1 is not working.

“That’s why I thought that it was very important for her to get back again to her best shape to have the movements, because when you’re able to move well, even if you don’t hit the ball the way you want, you can still put the ball in play, rally, and slowly but surely get your rhythm back. And also you have other options.

“That’s my view on what happened in the past –  I have seen her very tight or nervous in the past in other Grand Slam finals, not playing well but winning because she had many other options that she didn’t have the last three.”

Those options, Mouratoglou said, will be key to Williams’s continued progress at Flushing Meadows. Regarding the specter of yet another injury rearing its head after Williams landed heavily on her ankle during her win over Martic, Mouratoglou revealed that the No.8 seed “doesn’t feel much pain”, but the extent of its severity was not known yet.