Happy birthday, one of those set phrases that are assumed every time your anniversary arrives. Birthday yes, nobody escapes that, but happy? Yesterday, September 26, 2021, it was the turn of Serena Williams blow out the candles, a total of 40 candles, the age at which 99% of professional tennis players already watch tennis on television. But not her, not yet. With reasonable doubts as to whether his physique will allow him to set foot on a tennis court again, several experts are beginning to position themselves on the other side, that of an imminent retirement that could well come this season. A thermometer that moves between reality and faith, as if it were a religious debate.
On the one hand we have reality, which shows us the Serena’s tendency to gradually disappear from the circuit. For example, from her 39th to her 40th birthday, Michigan has only competed in seven tournaments, playing 18 matches in them. He closed the 2020 course by retiring in the second round of Roland Garros, back in late September, to then resume the activity in 2021 with a semifinals in Yarra Valley, semifinals at the Australian Open, first round in Rome, second round in Parma, eighth final in Paris and first round at Wimbledon. The material is so scarce that we can hardly draw sporting conclusions; On the other hand, if we focus on the physical section, it can be read between the lines.
At 40, the body of the youngest of the Williamses is no longer ready for big tours. In fact, this statement could be preceded from the moment she became a mother (2017), where her calendar began to be shortened to the point of only playing the Grand Slam and some previous preparation event. No matter how much talent you have, no matter how superior your genes are, it is utopian to prevail on the circuit with such a short fuse, impossible in an era where talent is more distributed than ever within the women’s wardrobe. In the end, between losses and absences, Serena’s ranking has also ended up paying that toll, ranking this week at number 40 in the rankings. Interestingly, matching his age.
US Open
Did you know? Without Nadal, Federer or the Williams sisters, for the first time since 1996
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08/26/2021 AT 11:52
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Serena Williams-Rybakina: The last crown is still holding out
But in this round table there is also a place for those dreamers who still do not lose hope, a group where their own should position themselves. Serena Williams. As against as all mobiles may seem, we must not forget that we face the best tennis player of the present century, perhaps the most implacable of the modern era and, without a doubt, the most current. A woman who has 23 individual Grand Slam in her suitcase, ten of which were conquered once she was over thirty. Come on, the problem is not in the date of birth, but in the physical limitations that have been appearing and staying in their way. Reason pushes us to doubt a legend, despite having made mistakes so many times in the past.
And what about mental limitations? Those that led him to lose great finals to Angelique Kerber, Simona Halep, Naomi Osaka or Bianca Andreesu. Yes, all of them great rivals, but in Serena’s eyes we saw for the first time the weight of history, that last jump so high until it equaled 24 majors by Margaret Court. And it is that there has been no talk of anything else from 2018 onwards, of Williams and the happy record for which he had to continue training. Where was that of enjoying the journey? Of the affection of the people? From the experience of being an active mother? In the newspapers, the ink only asked for the record, the record, some even demanded it. As if everything harvested so far was not enough, as if not winning that cup would deprive him of being happy. A conviction that he did not know how to deal with being 100% physically and now, practically out of combat, it already seems an implausible goal.
“I don’t think it will stop until at least I win another Grand Slam”, Came to admit his coach, Patrick Mouratoglou. He said it after falling in the semifinals of the last Australian Open, taking advantage of the fact that his pupil had stayed just two steps from the goal. “That’s what he came back for, to win Grand Slams, so until he does, I doubt he will quit. Right now I don’t think withdrawal is being planned, not at this time. She has been dedicating her entire life to tennis, since she was a child, the day she retires she will feel that she is ending a stage that has lasted the 40 years of her life. I know it will be a very difficult decision to make ”, added the Frenchman, always so frank in his answers.
But those words that sounded so strong in February today sound more vulnerable in September. After a 2021 where Serena could only win 12 games, her landing in the quarantine again opens the debate about the real and the fictional. The dream that turns into a nightmare. The heroine who recovers her human condition. Looking at their situation, would it be folly to presage an imminent withdrawal? “I honestly don’t know, we didn’t talk about it,” Mouratoglou responded again a few weeks ago, when the news broke that Williams would no longer compete this year. “We had only focused on the US Open, which was the last goal of the season. Now we will have to digest this situation and then we will sit down to talk. Today, I am not sure of anything, in any sense ”.
How are we going to miss her! Serena Williams’ Top 10 at the US Open
The puzzle has more and more pieces and not all of them are in the hands of the native of Saginaw, a similar horizon that Roger Federer is also going through, a month older than the North American. To be completely honest, I think the healthiest thing to do would be to stop mentioning the damn 24 Grand Slam, because that’s how it will be remembered, as the title that was announced the most times without ever being won. If the sport were fair – which it is not always fair – all we hope is that Serena will have a majestic farewell, according to one of the best tennis players of all time. Winning or losing, that no longer matters, but on the track, where so many times she proved to be number one. Surely yesterday, she made the same wish.
US Open
Serena Williams, out of US Open due to injury
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08/25/2021 AT 11:24
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