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06/28 12:08 CDT Serena Williams gave herself a pep talk to play singles at
Wimbledon at age 44
Serena Williams gave herself a pep talk to play singles at Wimbledon at age 44
By KEN MAGUIRE
AP Sports Writer
LONDON (AP) --- Serena Williams had to talk herself into accepting Wimbledon's
offer to play singles.
The All England club was holding one last wild card entry and the 23-time Grand
Slam singles champion --- who had already announced she'd play doubles with her
sister Venus --- had a decision to make.
"I thought I should really take this opportunity. Who knows if I'll ever make
it here again. This could be it," the 44-year-old Williams said Sunday at a
press conference.
"I was like, ?What's wrong with me, Serena? What are you thinking? Are you
nuts? Like you really should do this,'" she added. "People live to be an
athlete. I have this great opportunity to showcase what I do, what I do best, I
suppose. Yeah, I think ultimately I was like that is pretty cool, so I should
do it."
Williams' first match at the grass-court Grand Slam since 2022 will take place
on Centre Court on Tuesday evening when she faces 20-year-old Maya Joint of
Australia as part of her evolving tennis comeback.
Williams had been away from the sport since her farewell at the 2022 U.S. Open.
Her most-recent appearance at Wimbledon was in 2022 when she lost in the
opening round to Harmony Tan, who was then-ranked 115th. The American great
walked away from tennis --- she described it as "evolving" away --- after
losing in the third round to Ajla Tomljanovic at Flushing Meadows.
After earlier accepting a wild card in doubles, Williams described the process
of making her decision for singles.
"So I think it was on, I had until Monday to decide. I think it was like
Sunday. I just wasn't sure up until then," she said. "Honestly, I'm still not
even sure, but we'll see."
Williams is a seven-time Wimbledon singles champion but said Sunday that "in
general my expectations are definitely different for the first time in my
career."
Defending champion Iga Swiatek opens play on Centre Court on Tuesday (1:30 p.m.
local time), in keeping with tradition, against Taylor Townsend. That's to be
followed by Taylor Fritz vs. home favorite Jack Draper --- in what is one of
the most intriguing men's first-round matchups.
And then Williams-Joint.
"Yeah, actually I know her. I've watched some of her videos," said Williams,
who paused for a moment before adding, "I'm sure she knows my game."
Michigan-born Joint slipped from No. 53 to No. 87 in the WTA rankings updated
on Sunday.
Serena gets nervous? Even GOATs get butterflies, apparently. "I expect to be nervous. I was also nervous every single match I ever played in my life," Williams said. "I think that showed the passion and the love and the care, that I cared about my job, whether it was the first round or the second round or the finals. I've always had some nerves. But then I just dust 'em off, then I move on." Williams has a Wimbledon singles first-round record of 19-2 --- the losses coming in her last two appearances: 2021 and 2022. The most-recent of her seven singles titles at the All England Club was 2016. She reached the 2018 final --- 10 months after giving birth --- and lost to Angelique Kerber. A year later, she lost in the final to Simona Halep. Williams officially returned to tennis earlier this month in a doubles match with 19-year-old Canadian Victoria Mboko at the Queen's Club grass-court tournament. She then played doubles in Berlin with Karolina Muchova --- losing in the first round.
What can we expect from Serena? Newly crowned French Open champion Mirra Andreeva probably spoke for lots of top players when she mentioned on Saturday that she was relieved to see the draw didn't match her up with Williams in the first round. "Respectfully," Williams said, "it's not surprising simply because I think anyone that's done --- it's like the big four coming back, I mean, Novak (Djokovic) is still here, but no one would want to play them in their first round. I can't think of anyone that would want to do that." She added: "No one knows how my game may or may not have evolved, what to expect, don't know much. Those type of opponents are always very difficult to play." ___ AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis
Serena gets nervous? Even GOATs get butterflies, apparently. "I expect to be nervous. I was also nervous every single match I ever played in my life," Williams said. "I think that showed the passion and the love and the care, that I cared about my job, whether it was the first round or the second round or the finals. I've always had some nerves. But then I just dust 'em off, then I move on." Williams has a Wimbledon singles first-round record of 19-2 --- the losses coming in her last two appearances: 2021 and 2022. The most-recent of her seven singles titles at the All England Club was 2016. She reached the 2018 final --- 10 months after giving birth --- and lost to Angelique Kerber. A year later, she lost in the final to Simona Halep. Williams officially returned to tennis earlier this month in a doubles match with 19-year-old Canadian Victoria Mboko at the Queen's Club grass-court tournament. She then played doubles in Berlin with Karolina Muchova --- losing in the first round.
What can we expect from Serena? Newly crowned French Open champion Mirra Andreeva probably spoke for lots of top players when she mentioned on Saturday that she was relieved to see the draw didn't match her up with Williams in the first round. "Respectfully," Williams said, "it's not surprising simply because I think anyone that's done --- it's like the big four coming back, I mean, Novak (Djokovic) is still here, but no one would want to play them in their first round. I can't think of anyone that would want to do that." She added: "No one knows how my game may or may not have evolved, what to expect, don't know much. Those type of opponents are always very difficult to play." ___ AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis
