Serena Williams last played a competitive tennis match during the Australian Open, losing the semi-final to Naomi Osaka.
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Serena Williams last played a competitive tennis match during the Australian Open, losing the semi-final to Naomi Osaka. However, the 23-time Grand Slam champion is rearing to go ahead of the French Open. There were talks that Williams might consider retirement after her Australian Open exit. Yet she is preparing for the Italian Open in Rome, having gotten over with an ‘intense several weeks of training’. She also added that the prospect of competing in a Grand Slam always excites her.
“So we had an intense several weeks of training – very intense. I feel good. I’m going to have some good matches here hopefully, and then I will be at another Grand Slam, which always makes me excited. So I think either way I’ll be ready.”
Williams added that fans shouldn’t be concerned at the lack of tennis information she shares on social media.
“I don’t do a lot of sport content, so I do feel like people are wondering if I’m playing. And I have to say I always am, you just don’t see it. I don’t show what I do. I don’t always show my cards.”
Serena Williams, a four-time champion in Rome, will face either French Open semifinalist Nadia Podoroska or German qualifier Laura Siegemund in her opening match at the Foro Italico. She’s in the same quarter of the draw as Osaka. What’s more, she has a first-round bye.
Williams was also asked if she will play at the Tokyo Olympics if she can’t bring her daughter into Japan due to Covid-19 protocols.
“I haven’t spent 24 hours without her, so that kind of answers the question itself. We’re best friends.
“I haven’t really thought much about Tokyo, because it was supposed to be last year and now it’s this year. And then there is this pandemic and there is so much to think about.
“Then there is the Grand Slams. It’s just a lot. So I have really been taking it one day at a time to a fault, and I definitely need to figure out my next moves.”
