Wimbledon Serena Williams never decided to retire
Wimbledon Serena Williams never decided to retire
Serena Williams acknowledged that she was unaware of how and when she would return to the tennis courts, but insisted that the word “retirement” was not included in her dictionary despite a year’s absence during a press conference Saturday two days before the start of the English Wimbledon Championships, the third Grand Slam.
Williams said, “I didn’t retire. I just needed to heal physically and mentally. I have no plans. I didn’t know just when I was coming back. I didn’t realize how I was going to come back. ”
7 times on English turf, Williams is seeking her 24 Grand Slam title, tying the record set by the Australian name Margaret Court.
Her long absence from the world of yellow-ball led to her decline in the 1204th World Professional Women’s Player Rankings, and she needed an invitation card to run in Wimbledon this year, seeking her first major title since winning the Australian Open during her 2017 pregnancy.
Wimbledon Serena Williams never decided to retire
Serena Williams is back
The 40-year-old American star is back in the singles category for the first time since her tearful first-round exit in London in 2021, after playing just six runs against Belarusian Alexandra Sasnovich.
Serena asserted that she did not want her latest tragic exit to be her last memory at the All England Club, adding: “To be honest was a great motivation. I’ve always felt something since the game ended this way. ”
“Wimbledon was difficult last year. I felt like I had been injured most of the year. She then had a torn hamstring. I tried hard to play in New York (Flushing Meadows), I did everything I had, every day, to be ready or at least try to be. But I ended up realizing I couldn’t. So I put my bat aside while I recover. ”
In a change of tradition, and with a nod to the seriousness of Williams’ injury last year caused by her slip and fall, organizers allowed training rations on the centre court to make the grass less slippery in the first innings.
In this regard, Williams commented, “The goal is to sleep on the grass so that female players can quickly adapt to the world’s most famous grass.”
“On the one hand, it’s amazing. But on the other hand, we have to keep the centre court “and” obviously I was very happy to be there and I had this opportunity, and it was also nice to get that out of my mind because the last moment I had on the centre court was probably not my best moment. ”
Williams confirmed that she had made the decision to return to Wimbledon before the French Open, the second Grand Slam tournament, and attended by playing two matches in the doubles category with Tunisia’s Anas Jabeur at the Eastbourne course.
She said, “Maybe I could have contested the singles class there, Eastbourne. I felt more prepared than I thought I would be a month or two or three months ago “.
Williams did not address her long-term future and whether this was her last tournament at Wimbledon or not, concluding the American, who turns 41 next September, “I can only tell you that I’m here. Who knows where I’ll show up next “.
Wimbledon Serena Williams never decided to retire