WIMBLEDON — Serena Williams revealed a silver lining to her recent life-threatening lung condition yesterday when she reveled in being able to run better than ever as she prepared to defend her Wimbledon title.

The 13-times grand slam winner suffered potentially fatal blood clots in a lung earlier this year, only returning to action last week after nearly a year on the sidelines due to a combination of health issues and injuries.

“I have to do things differently because I had to expand my lung capacity, because I lost a little bit of my lung,” Williams, 29, said at a news conference on the eve of the start of the grasscourt grand slam at the All England Club.

Williams opens her bid on Centre Court against France’s Aravane Rezai tomorrow with a possible fifth Wimbledon crown far from her thoughts after a year where the lung problems followed two operations on a sliced tendon in her foot.

“My thought process is just to play the best I can and to be positive,” she said. “I’m happy . . . that I can even compete and be in a position I wasn’t sure I’d have a chance to be at again is more than enough.”