“There’s a little left in me,” Serena Williams admits to almost giving up in the middle of her exhausting second-round US Open match
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Serena Williams
Serena Williams is having the time of her life at the Arthur Ashe stadium. She secured a place in the third round of the US Open after stunningly defeating World No. 2 Anett Kontaveit in three sets, 7-6(4), 2-6, 6-2. She looked exhausted after the first set tiebreak but managed to get her game together towards the start of the third set. The crowd supported Williams as they cheered on Kontaveit’s unforced errors.
But it must have been electrifying for Williams to have the whole stadium on what possibly could’ve been her last match. The former World No. 1 will go up against Australian Ajla Tomljanović in the third-round fixture. Just this month Williams announced her retirement which is most likely to happen after the conclusion of her home tournament.
I better give my best effort because this could be it: Serena Williams on improving her form in the second set
After the draining first-set tiebreak, Kontaveit won six of eight games in the second set and maintained a higher second serve win percentage. When asked about the change of pace before the deciding set, Williams said, “I don’t have anything to prove. I don’t have anything to win. I have absolutely nothing to lose. Honestly, after I lost the second set, I said, ‘My goodness, I better give my best effort because this could be it.”
“Honestly, I never get to play like this since ’98 really. Literally, I’ve had an X on my back since ’99. It’s kind of fun. I really enjoy just coming out and enjoying it. It’s been a long time since I’ve been able to do that,” said Williams.
She further added, “The last couple matches here in New York it’s really come together. There’s still a little left in me. We’ll see.” The 6 time US Open champion has also talked about how she deals with the pressure that came with her retirement announcement.
She commented, “I’ve kept my head super low throughout this whole process, ever since the news came out three weeks ago. I’m really good at putting myself in a bubble. That’s kind of what I’ve been doing. Sometimes I’ll hear a snippet of this, a snippet of that. But for me, in order to get through it, because it’s not easy, but to just get through the emotions and everything that I’m feeling, I just had to just kind of just go in and just be sort of alone and just off all kinds of media, social media and stuff. Yeah, I’m just trying to deal with that.”
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Urvi Shrivastava
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