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Tag: Serena Williams

  • Williams crushes Suarez Navarro to reach quarter-finals

    Serena Williams reached her 14th Wimbledon quarter-final by overwhelming Spain’s Carla Suarez Navarro 6-2 6-2 even though she was not at her magnificent best on Court One on Monday.
    The 37-year-old American, aiming for a record-equalling 24th Grand Slam title, produced 19 unforced errors, including a bizarre mistake when she leaned over the net to hit a volley and had the point docked.
    But she also conjured 21 winners, some of which left the crowd gasping in admiration and her 30-year-old opponent helpless on the other side of the net.
    Williams, seeded 11th, had little match practice coming into Wimbledon because of injury and teamed up with Andy Murray in the mixed doubles to get some more playing time.
    “I’ve had more matches this week than the past five months but it’s definitely good and I know I can play and I’m now physically better (so) it’s almost a feeling of relief more than anything,” she said immediately after coming off court.
    Suarez Navarro, ranked 31 in the world and one of the smaller players on tour, lacks the big weapons and serving power needed for grass and has always had trouble against Williams.
    Monday’s defeat was her seventh against the seven times Wimbledon champion.
    Though the Spaniard broke the American’s serve in the second set, she had no answer for Williams’s pounding groundstrokes. Suarez Navarro slipped trying to retrieve the ball to go match-point down, then mis-hit a backhand to concede defeat.
    Williams, who first played at the All-England club as a 16-year-old in 1998, said she was still ambitious.
    “I’m a really pumped player and of course I still want it or I wouldn’t be here,”she said.
    Williams faces Alison Riske in the quarter-finals after the American upset top seed Australian Ash Barty earlier on Monday.
    “She’s great on grass and just took out the world No.1… I watched that and I’ll be ready,” Williams said.

  • Serena says she’s available for mixed doubles as Murray seeks partner

    Serena says she’s available for mixed doubles as Murray seeks partner

    Serena Williams ignited talk of a dream-team partnership with home favorite Andy Murray after declaring her availability for the Wimbledon mixed doubles on Saturday.

    Murray returned from a five-month injury lay-off last week to win the men’s doubles title at Queen’s Club with Feliciano Lopez and is entered with Pierre-Hugues Herbert at Wimbledon.

    The 32-year-old, twice a men’s singles winner at Wimbledon, also plans to play mixed as he continues his recovery from hip-resurfacing surgery in February.

    He is not playing singles.

    Murray was turned down by new women’s world number one Ash Barty.

    But the 37-year-old Williams, who will be aiming for a record-equalling 24th Grand Slam singles title here, left the door open for a possible approach.

    “I’m available. I’m feeling better now. So, I’m definitely available,” Williams told reporters when asked whether she would like to play with Murray.

    Her playing time this year has been restricted to five tournaments because of knee issues.

    Pushed on the subject, Williams added a word of caution though, suggesting it would depend on her fitness: “I mean, we just have to wait and see. I like to be tongue-in-cheek.

    “Let’s see how my knee’s going. I’m finally doing good. I don’t want to, like, go back.”

    Murray said he had spoken to several players but understood that singles was their priority.

    Asked about Serena he said: “If I’m going to play mixed, which is the plan, you obviously want to be playing with someone who’s going to be there for the whole event, and they’re in it to try to win matches and win the event.”

    “I appreciate with singles players that’s not always going to be the case.

    “But she’s arguably the best player ever. It would be a pretty solid partner,” smiled Murray.

    Williams, who won the Wimbledon mixed doubles with Max Mirnyi in 1998, has not played a competitive match since losing in the French Open third round to Sofia Kenin.

    Seeded 11th, she begins her quest for an eighth Wimbledon singles crown against Italian qualifier Giulia Gatto-Monticone.

    In spite of not playing any grasscourt warm-up tournaments, she is optimistic about her fitness.

    “I was dealing with some bad injuries all year. I just haven’t had enough match play, quite frankly,” she said.

    “Finally feel like I found some good results in Paris. I stayed there. I saw some good doctors. Yeah, I’m feeling better.

    “I have been really just mentally training, physically training for that time here.

    “I’m just going to do the best that I can now that I’m here. I know how to play tennis.”

  • Serena knew she had no chance at French Open, says Coach

    Serena knew she had no chance at French Open, says Coach

    Serena Williams’ coach Patrick Mouratoglou had written off her chances of winning this year’s French Open even before she lost to fellow American Sofia Kenin in the third round on Saturday.

    “Honestly, if Serena didn’t lose this one she would probably lose next round, or when the top players would have been the other side of the court,” said Mouratoglou, talking in an interview with broadcaster Eurosport.

    “Of course it’s a disappointment, but in a way it had to happen. She knew she had little chance of winning this year’s French Open,” he added.

    Williams’ time on court has been limited to a handful of matches since the Australian Open because of a knee injury.

    “First of all, she knew she was not coming to this tournament being prepared the way she wanted to because of the big injury in Miami,” Mouratoglou said.

    “For many weeks she was not able to do anything because she had to recover.

    “So the time she had to prepare was much too short. She did her best, she really tried hard and she really wanted to compete.

    “People who know tennis can well see that from the first round she was not moving well enough to possibly be a winner here,” the coach stated.

    Had she won, 10th seed Williams would have faced Australian Ashleigh Barty who is seeded eighth.

    Williams has hinted that she could take a wildcard for one of the Wimbledon warm-up events on grass.

  • Serena withdraws from Miami Open

    Serena withdraws from Miami Open

    Serena Williams has withdrawn from the Miami Open with a left knee injury, tournament officials said on Saturday.

    It is the second consecutive WTA event in which the American has been unable to continue, after her retirement from last week’s tournament in Indian Wells with a viral illness.

    “I am disappointed to withdraw from the Miami Open due to a left knee injury,” the former world number one said in a statement.

    “I hope to be back next year to play at this one-of-a-kind tournament in front of the incredible fans here in Miami.”

    The eight-times Miami champion had begun the tournament with a tough three-set victory over Sweden’s Rebecca Peterson, winning 6-3 1-6 6-1 on Friday.

    “I knew I could play a lot better than I was playing,” Williams had said afterwards of her error-ridden second set.

    “I just said, `Okay, you’re better than this, Serena’.”

    At Indian Wells, Williams had claimed a 7-5, 6-3 victory over two-time Grand Slam winner Victoria Azarenka.

    She was then forced to retire from her third round match against Garbine Muguruza, when trailing 6-3, 1-0.

  • Serena Williams knocked out of Australian Open

    Serena Williams knocked out of Australian Open

    Serena Williams says she “did not choke” after missing four match points as Czech seventh seed Karolina Pliskova won the final six games to win a dramatic Australian Open quarter-final.

    The 37-year-old American, going for a record-equalling 24th Grand Slam singles title, led 5-1 in the decider but lost 6-4 4-6 7-5 in Melbourne.

    “I think she just played lights out on match points,” Williams said.

    “I took my chances,” said Pliskova who won on her third match point.

    Former world number one Pliskova will meet Japan’s fourth seed Naomi Osaka in the last four on Thursday with eighth seed Petra Kvitova taking on unseeded American Danielle Collins in the other semi-final.

    BBC

  • Australian Open: Serena defeat world number one to reach quarter-finals

    Australian Open: Serena defeat world number one to reach quarter-finals

    Serena Williams outlined why she is the favourite to win the Australian Open with a 6-1 4-6 6-4 win over top seed Simona Halep in a high-quality last-16 match.

    The 37-year-old American dismantled Halep’s game to race through the opening set in 20 minutes.

    Romania’s Halep, 27, recovered in the second, breaking in what proved to be the final game.

    Williams, seeded 16th, saved three break points for 3-3 in the decider, crucially winning the next game to seize control.

    The 23-time Grand Slam champion comfortably held her next service game to edge closer, then served out for victory over last year’s runner-up in one hour and 47 minutes.

    Triumphantly punching the air with both arms as she gave a steely stare towards her box, Williams showed how much relief she felt at beating the world number one.

    “It was an intense match and there were some incredible points, but I love being here,” she said.

    Williams, searching for her first Grand Slam title since coming back from pregnancy last year, has now won nine of her 10 meetings with Halep.

    The seven-time champion will meet Czech seventh seed Karolina Pliskova, who beat Spain’s two-time Grand Slam winner Garbine Muguruza earlier on Monday, in the last eight.

    If Williams goes on to extend her record number of victories in Melbourne, she will equal Australian Margaret Court’s all-time tally of 24 Grand Slam titles.

    BBC

  • Australian Open: Williams sisters through to second round

    Australian Open: Williams sisters through to second round

    Serena Williams stormed into the Australian Open second round as she began her bid for a 24th Grand Slam title with a win over Tatjana Maria.

    The 37-year-old American, whose 23rd major title came in Melbourne when she was pregnant two years ago, won 6-0 6-2 in 49 minutes on Rod Laver Arena, BBC reports.

    Williams holds the most Open era singles titles, but is looking to equal Margaret Court’s all-time record of 24.

    Sister Venus dug deep to beat Mihaela Buzarnescu 6-7 (3-7) 7-6 (7-3) 6-2.

    The Romanian 26th seed served for the match at 5-3 in the second set but Venus broke to love.

    The 38-year-old American, ranked 36th, went on to take the set before dominating the third.

    The seven-time Grand Slam champion said: “It was pretty hairy there. I hope that this tough match will prepare me for the rest of the tournament.”

    Williams, who has reached the final at Melbourne Park twice, most recently in 2017 when she lost to Serena, will meet Alize Cornet of France next.

  • Serena coach pleads for honest, open on-court coaching

    Serena coach pleads for honest, open on-court coaching

    Patrick Mouratoglou, the coach whose attempts to guide Serena Williams mid-match during this year’s U.S. Open final, has called for on-court coaching to be permitted.
    His attempts led to the player’s explosive row with the umpire and a code violation en route to defeat.
    But Mouratoglou has now admitted gesturing to Williams from the stands during her match with Japan’s Naomi Osaka.
    It was in contravention of U.S. Open and other Grand Slam tournament rules, even though the American player was left incensed at the umpire’s strict interpretation of the rule.
    She said she had not seen Mouratoglou’s signal and that she had “never cheated in her life”.
    The incident and the ensuing row resulted in a game penalty and a 17,000 dollars fine for Williams, and divided tennis by triggering a debate about sexism in the sport.
    The debate was fuelled by Williams’s and others assertions that an umpire would not have dealt with a male player in the same way.
    Coaching during matches is permitted in some women’s events, but Grand Slam tournaments are among those which do not allow it.
    The U.S. Open permitted players to talk to their coaches during qualifying and junior matches.
    However, any move to allow it during main draw matches would need to be unilateral among the four slams.
    This is likely to be problematic, with Wimbledon so far entirely against it, although Wimbledon chief Philip Brook told reporters recently it was time for a “grown-up conversation” about the issue.
    Mouratoglou clearly thinks it is a good idea and on Thursday said mid-match coaching needed to be authorised in order to “ensure tennis sustains its development”.
    The Frenchman said it was time coaching was both recognised and valued, because the fallout following last month’s U.S. Open final made it look as though coaching was shameful.
    “Authorising coaching in competition and actually staging it so that the viewers can enjoy it as a show would ensure it remains pivotal in the sport,” he posted on his Twitter feed.
    Mouratoglou said he could not understand why tennis was “just about the only sport” where coaching was not allowed, citing football, basketball and boxing as high-profile examples.
    He also pointed out that elite cyclists are in radio contact with their advisors during races.
    Touching on a theme raised by the Williams episode, Mouratoglou said legitimising in-competition coaching would end hypocrisy.
    “It is a very basic truth that the vast majority of tennis coaches are actually coaching on court, in spite of the rule,” he said.
    “Of course, coaches are usually discreet… Occasionally the players are punished for it, but for the most part they are not.”
    Representatives of the four Grand Slam tournaments are expected to meet before the end of the year, at which point the future of mid-match coaching will be a topic of conversation.
    Reuters/NAN

  • We won’t mark our daughter’s birthday because we’re Jehovah’s Witnesses – Serena

    Serena Williams’ daughter, Alexis Olympia, is turning one on Saturday, but it will be free of fanfare, according to her mum.

    At a Saturday press conference surrounding the U.S. Open, the 36-year-old tennis superstar explained why she and husband, Alexis Ohanian, aren’t planning a party for their daughter.

    “Olympia doesn’t celebrate birthdays,” said Williams. “We’re Jehovah’s Witnesses, so we don’t do that.”

    According to Wikipedia, Jehovah’s Witnesses “is a millenarian restorationist Christian denomination with nontrinitarian beliefs distinct from mainstream Christianity,” and those who subscribe to the faith typically don’t celebrate birthdays, Christmas, Easter and some other holidays.

    This has not gone down well with many of her fans and social media followers, though, as they criticised her other lifestyles.

     

  • French Open bans Serena Williams catsuit

    French Open bans Serena Williams catsuit

    Serena Williams will be banned from wearing her black catsuit at the French Open in the future, with the tournament set to introduce a stricter dress code.

    The 23-time Grand Slam champion said the outfit made her feel like a “superhero” at Roland Garros this year.

    She claimed it helped her cope with the issue of blood clots, which she said almost cost her her life giving birth.

    “It will no longer be accepted,” French Tennis Federation president Bernard Giudicelli told Tennis magazine.

    “I believe we have sometimes gone too far. You have to respect the game and the place.”

    Giudicelli did not reveal the new rules but said they will not be as restrictive as at Wimbledon, where players must wear all-white outfits.

    He added that although most player uniforms for 2019 have already been planned, the FTF is asking manufacturers to share the designs.

    Williams, 36, made her return to Grand Slam tennis at the French Open in May following the birth of her daughter last September.

    The three-time winner wore the catsuit in each of the first three rounds but had to pull out of her fourth-round tie against Maria Sharapova because of injury.

    She dedicated the outfit to new mothers and said it made her feel like a “queen from Wakanda” in reference to the Black Panther movie.

    Williams is bidding for a seventh US Open title when the tournament starts on Monday and the 17th seed faces Poland’s world number 60 Magda Linette in the first round.

    BBC