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Serena Williams' end at the Australian Open: the tears of the record hunter

2021-02-18T11:58:31.030Z


Serena Williams is still missing a Grand Slam title to catch up with tennis legend Margaret Court. The 39-year-old reacted emotionally to her semi-final defeat in Melbourne - will she be back?


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Fitter and more agile: Serena Williams

Photo: WILLIAM WEST / AFP

The applause was loud and warm.

Serena Williams had just lost the semi-finals of the Australian Open to Naomi Osaka and was on her way into the players tunnel with bags and bags.

She waved to the stands of the Rod Laver Arena, the comforting sound made her pause for a moment.

She put her hand on her heart.

It was this gesture that also made the experts on site pause: Had the American just said goodbye to the Australian fans forever?

Williams smiled at the question.

"If I ever say goodbye, I wouldn't tell anyone," she said at the press conference that followed.

She looked composed, determined to just get this Q&A over with.

Was it nervousness?

"No." What was it?

“Too many unnecessary mistakes.” After answering the question whether she had said goodbye, she reached for her water bottle, took a deep breath, but the tears came anyway.

Williams got up and left the room.

A little later, she spoke up on Instagram, thanked the Australian fans: "I wish I could have played better for you today."

Melbourne and Serena Williams, that really is a special relationship, with seven titles Williams is the record winner of the major, here she won her 23rd Grand Slam victory in 2017 - in the final against her sister Venus.

Williams was already pregnant with daughter Alexis Olympia Ohanian Jr. at the time.

And now, four years later, the stars were more likely than ever for another Australian Open final, even for the 24th title, with which Williams would finally set Margaret Court's record.

She seemed focused and confident as seldom, had got rid of number seven in the world, Aryna Sabalenka, and number two, Simona Halep, on the way to the semi-finals.

"Oh, right, that's how I actually used to move"

Williams has used the past few months to work on her fitness, to improve her footwork.

Long rallies, stops, volleys?

No problem for the now 39-year-old.

That was the key to success against Halep.

“Your only plan was to attack last.

I think that cost her a couple of important matches, so we tried to bring back the footwork she used to have, ”said Williams coach Patrick Mouratoglou over the past few weeks.

Williams drew a crucial insight from this: “I'm good at long rallies.

I'm good at playing hard, I'm good at hitting a hundred balls.

That's the one thing that's unique about me, and I have to absorb the things I'm good at. "

All of this did not help against Osaka, which forced its furious game on the US superstar - without even leaving room for a plan B.

Yet it can also be good news for Williams.

After all, the past few weeks have also been a return to herself, to her own strength before her break, which gave her a kind of aha moment, as she says: "A: Oh, right, that's how I actually moved" , she said.

Williams is aware that the ubiquitous 24th Grand Slam title will continue to float above her.

And while Mouratoglou, with whom Williams has been working since 2012, has already stated that Court's 24 Grand Slam titles cannot be compared with those of his protégé's 23 - "these are two different sports" - Williams had said before the semifinals that it was is actually quite good that there is this record.

It's a different kind of burden on her shoulders as she's used to it, said Williams, who has made four major finals since returning to the tour: "It's more relaxed, I would say."

It seems like the right setting for a year that Williams has big plans ahead of her 40th birthday in September.

If the pandemic allows, the major tournaments in Paris, London and New York are also scheduled for the Summer Olympics in Tokyo.

In 2012 she won gold for the USA in London.

Together with sister Venus in doubles, she even won 2000, 2008 and 2012. But what really drives her are the majors: "I'm really playing for Grand Slams at the moment," Williams said in a TV interview from quarantine before the Australian Open out: "I love to still have the opportunity to be out here and compete at this level."

That doesn't sound like a goodbye soon.

If it were up to Naomi Osaka, the Williams era would never end anyway: "I want her to continue playing forever."

Icon: The mirror

Source: spiegel

All sports articles on 2021-02-18

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