“I was really suffering” After a tough loss, Serena Williams analyses her match while revealing her plans for the future
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Serena Williams
Former World No. 1 Serena Williams returned to singles action for the first time in a year when she stepped onto the Center Court for the 2022 Wimbledon Championships going against World No. 115 Harmony Tan. After a long battle of 3 hours and 11 minutes, Tan won the match 7-5, 1-6, 7-6(7) knocking the 7-time Wimbledon champion out of the tournament and giving Serena her 2nd loss in the first round of Wimbledon in her 21st first-round match at the Grand Slam.
At the start, the match looked to be balanced given Serena’s long absence and Harmony’s no experience of playing in Wimbledon. Harmony went 2-0 up in the first set before Serena took the charge winning 4 games on the trot. Harmony ended the streak and after a couple of splits, the French player took home the first set. Serena steamrolled her in the second losing just one game to force a decider as she was 5-0 up at one point in the second set.
“I gave it all” Serena Williams on her loss to Harmony Tan
The third set was a back and forth battle and in the tiebreaker, Williams was 0-4 down but she rallied back quickly to extend the tiebreaker. But it was all she could do as the rustiness of a year-long absence caught up to her and Tan won on her debut at the Grand Slam.
“It was really tough. I had some chances to win that first set but it didn’t work out. It was totally different for me. It was definitely a very long battle and fight. It’s definitely better than last year, that’s a start. We’re in the summer now, right at the swing of it. Like I said coming into this, I’m just planning for right now, seeing how I feel and just going from there. (On her next match) That’s a question I can’t answer. I don’t know. Who knows where I will pop up? I think physically I did pretty good. In the last couple of points, I was really suffering there.
“I feel like in just those key points, winning some of those points, is always something mentally that you have to have, that you kind of need. I did pretty good on maybe one or two of them, but obviously not enough. If you are playing week in week out or every three or four weeks, there will be more match toughness. But with that being said, I felt like I played pretty OK on some of them, not all of them, but some key moments. If I was playing matches, I wouldn’t miss or lose those points.”
“I’m not summing it up but if I were to say I think I have been pretty solid on grass. Maybe not today but I have been solid. Obviously not (this being the last memory at Wimbledon). You know me. Definitely not. Today I gave all I could do, today, maybe tomorrow or a week later, maybe more, but today it was all I could do and at some point, you have to be a little okay with that, that’s all I can do, I can’t change the time or anything so that’s all I could do on this particular day,” said Serena in her press conference.
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Sarthak Shitole
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