This time around, the 23-time champion benefits from a layoff that has affected everyone else equally. (AP)
When Serena Williams performs at Arthur Ashe Stadium in Queens this September, she will have a decidedly different look and sound.
Fans will not be on hand to cheer for her, or to cheer on her, because that “fourth wall” of a live theater audience won’t be within reach. This could benefit the 23-time single major champion, and as she managed to summon the personal taste of eliminating two opponents in a quarter-final at the Top Seed Open in Kentucky. He would lose a third-set tiebreak to Shelby Rogers on Thursday.
One of those deceased enemies was Sister Venus Williams, who is now 40 years old. Serena will turn 39 this September between US and French Open events, and she recalled, as reported by the New York Times“Christopher Clarey, the days when he would know from applause or quiet in a stadium if his older sister was winning.
Victory itself is a Williams hallmark, of course. With 30 Grand Slam singles titles between them, as well as 14 main doubles crowns and a smattering of mixed doubles titles, every game – yes, any championship – has been on their rackets so often.
Serena lost in the US Open final last year to Bianca Andreescu. (Getty)
Serena chases a clean, even greater, number 24 in New York City this month, though some say she’s still on the hunt for this as if it would tie Margaret Court’s Open Era record. This is debatable, given that Court has won 11 of his majors at the Australian Open, with all but four of those arriving before the Open era began in 1968, at a time when few top-tier opponents have made it. travel to Australia to compete in the event.
The court results deserve full credit, but in reality, Serena may be more likely to try things against herself now.
As her coach Patrick Mouratoglou told Clarey, “I think she has the same chance she has since the birth of her daughter. She absolutely has the level. It still depends a lot on her if she wins a Grand Slam. COVID, for me, doesn’t absolutely nothing has changed in that department. “
While Serena has been blocked by brilliant opposition – Angelique Kerber, Naomi Osaka, Simona Halep, Bianca Andreescu – in her four major endings since returning from childbirth, this time she has the benefit of a layoff that has hit everyone else equally. way.
New York remains on guard.
