SougarLord Posted February 19, 2021 Posted February 19, 2021 After falling in the semifinal of the Australian Open against Naomi Osaka (6-3, 6-4), Serena Williams stopped on her way to the locker room to say goodbye to the public, who returned to the Rod Laver Arena after five days of confinement. The defeat meant that not even the great performance of these two weeks, the best in a long time, had been enough to beat Osaka, the new face of women's tennis. She that she has not won a big one for four years and that, close to 40 years old, she is running out of time to hunt down Margaret Court's record. Williams' overwhelming record boasts 23 titles and 39 Grand Slam semifinals in four different decades. It is the best testimony of her reign. How far it has come and how much it has spread. But she hasn't played metal for four years. The last was precisely an Australian Open, in 2017 and against her sister Venus hers. She later confessed that she played the final two months pregnant. And that is where the gap opens. Williams won 23 of her first 29 Grand Slam finals and since her return has lost all four that she has played. Two at Wimbledon and two at Roland Garros. Two against former number one (Angelique Kerber, Simona Halep) and two against rivals who were not even born when she raised the first big of her, Bianca Andreescu and Osaka herself. Two in 2018. Two in 2019. None since. "VERY, VERY EASY ERRORS" All of that was seething under Williams' skin when she went to a press conference after the loss to Osaka. Nervous? "No, she wouldn't say she was nervous." And what has been the difference then? "The mistakes. Too many mistakes." Up to 10 with the right in the first set and no winner with a hit that she has given so much. What has been the key? "Too many mistakes, easy mistakes. Very, very easy mistakes." In case it was not clear. Polite questions until a journalist changed the ball for height. "It was emotional when you left with a standing ovation and put your hand on your heart. What's going on in your head?" "I don't know. The Australian crowd is amazing. It was nice." "There are people wondering if this was goodbye." And there the first nervous laugh, the first broken word. "I don't know. And if I was fired, I wouldn't tell anyone," Williams said, looking down and running his hand across the table. Break ball. CIRCULATION PROBLEMS And while Serena was looking up, narrowing her eyes, stuck on that question, and looking for the bottle of water on the ground, another journalist went online. "With how well you played to get here, why do you think you made so many mistakes? A bad day?" And there something broke inside. Williams swallowed, lowered her head and when she raised it again she could only say a "I don't know" broken through tears. Even that flashy uniform that she has released at this Australian Open speaks of the difficulties she has had in recent years. It was not a mere tribute to Florence Griffith, but a compression suit - she already wore a similar one at Roland Garros 2018, her first big return - to treat the circulation problems that she has suffered since in 2017 she gave birth in a very complicated delivery. According to her confessed months later, she suffered a pulmonary embolism that could cost her her life. "YOU NOTE IT ON THE SHOULDERS" Serena Williams fights against much more than history, although that, Novak Djokovic knows well, also weighs. The Serbian will play this Sunday's final against Daniil Medvedev or Stefanos Tsitsipas in search of an 18th Grand Slam title that will bring him closer to Roger Federer and Rafa Nadal. "It is a lot of weight and a lot of pressure. And it doesn't matter what experience you have, you feel it on your shoulders. I can understand what she's going through. But she is a great champion who inspires many athletes, men and women from all over the world. world, and what he is doing at his age is extraordinary, "confessed the Serbian, who referred to as one of the great athletes in history. Whether or not she wins that elusive 24th Grand Slam, though she will exhaust all her bullets to do so.
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