Following her spectacular qualification for the third round of the US Open, Serena Williams on Wednesday thanked golf star Tiger Woods for her support in returning to tennis after a long hiatus.
Woods himself went to the center court of Flushing Meadows (New York) on Wednesday to support Williams in her three-set victory against number two in women’s tennis, Anett Kontaveit.
“It was a privilege to witness greatness. Congratulations,” Tiger wrote later on Twitter, sitting next to Serena’s older sister, Venus.
Woods “is one of the reasons I’m here, one of the main reasons I’m still playing,” Serena acknowledged at the news conference.
“We talked a lot. He really tried to keep me motivated,” explained the tennis player, who returned to the courts at Wimbledon in June after a year out due to injuries.
With Woods, “it was like, ‘Okay, we can do this together,'” Serena recalled. “And it was good because I didn’t know what I wanted to do. I was lost, with so many questions.”
“When you can trust someone like that… I mean, my God, it’s Tiger Woods. It was really helpful for clarity,” said Williams, who has the tennis world on edge over a possible withdrawal after the US Open.
Williams, almost 41 years old, is the second tennis player with the most Grand Slam titles in history with 23 crowns.
Woods, also second in major golf trophies, with 15, is a specialist in staggering sporting revivals.
The last one occurred in April at the Augusta Masters, where Tiger reappeared after more than a year of rehabilitation from serious injuries sustained in a car accident.
gbv/cl
