Australian Open 2020: Serena Williams dance moves; Naomi Osaka v Coco Gauff
Serena Williams stormed into the third round at the Australian Open on Wednesday, but it was vision of her off-season dance routine with Coco Gauff that stole the show.
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Dance routines, the splits. Oh, and winning through to the third round of the Australian Open.
All in a day’s work for 23-time slam winner Serena Williams.
The American upstaged Tamara Zidansek 6-2 6-3 on Wednesday night, but it was vision of her off-season dance routine at a training camp that earned the biggest cheers.
Williams joined compatriot Coco Gauff and the likes of Mike Tyson and DJ Bob Sinclar at the camp, which culminated in the choreographed moves to close out the week.
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Serena Williams' MUST-WATCH interview...
— Wide World of Sports (@wwos) January 22, 2020
This is amazing. 😂😂😂
Watch: @Channel9
Stream: https://t.co/9KFbGEjtHh#9WWOS #AusOpen pic.twitter.com/lWtlocVKt4
“Whenever I see Coco, we still do our routine, it’s so funny,” said Williams, who is seen dropping to the splits at the end of the vision that was shown at Rod Laver Arena.
“We had two days to learn it, and then we had to perform it.
“We had training for tennis and Boca Raton (in Florida) and he (coach Patrick Mouratoglou) brought a lot of people from his academy. It was really great.
“We wanted to bring fun to it – dance, tennis, boxing, all kinds of stuff and it was really a blast.”
Williams said Zidansek was a “real good fighter”, forcing Williams to grind out seven break points before she was rewarded in the second set.
“I was up 40-0 on both her serves, so it was a bit frustrating,” Williams said.
“I knew I had to play better – I couldn’t keep making unforced errors like that. I knew I had to just step up … I know I have a great forehand, I know I have a great backhand, I just had to rely on that more and not doubt myself.”
OSAKA MAKING A RACQUET AHEAD COCO CLASH
Defending Australian Open champion Naomi Osaka admits she has to find a way to curb her on-court frustrations after an outburst she described as “childish”.
The two-time Grand Slam champion lost her cool before refocusing to claim a 6-2 6-4 second-round win against China’s Zheng Saisai on Margaret Court Arena.
But it wasn’t before a second-set blow-up that saw the No.3 seed take out her frustrations on her equipment.
After having her service game broken early in the second set, the Japanese star tossed her racquet and the ball before kicking her racquet along the ground.
This time, the angry outburst worked to fire up the 2019 Australian Open champion, who pushed on to book herself a third round berth in which she will take on American young gun Coco Gauff.
It is a repeat of the US Open last year, where Japan’s Osaka - a relative veteran at age 22 - defeated the fast-rising Gauff in straight sets.
On that occasion, Osaka consoled a tearful Gauff with a hug after a crushing 6-3, 6-0 victory in just 65 minutes.
The American may not be 16 until March, but does not expect to shrink again in the limelight.
“I think I’ll be less nervous this time. I think US Open I was nervous,” said Gauff, playing only her third Grand Slam.
“It was my first time on Arthur Ashe.
“We’re both familiar with each other’s games. She plays really aggressive. This time coming in I’m going to be more aggressive.”
Osaka admitted her frustrations had got the better of her and she needed to find a way to temper her temper.
“I definitely got very frustrated in the second set, and it’s something that I knew would happen, but I didn’t know the scale, like, what she would do to make me frustrated,” Osaka said.
“So I think that I just really have to focus on knowing that I’m going to have really tough matches and I have to find a way to, like, go around it and just be consistently level-headed.
“I mean, my racquet just magically flew out of my hand. I couldn’t control it. Sorry, Yonex.
“That’s how I dealt with my frustration. It was a bit childish. I just want to play one match without throwing my racquet or kicking it. That’s all I want.”
Returning to Melbourne Park as the defending champion, Osaka said she did not feel any different as the titleholder but admitted she had to get used to having a target on her back.
THE WOZ’S FAREWELL TOUR ROLLS ON
The farewell tour of former world number one Caroline Wozniacki lives to fight another day.
Set to call time on her tennis career after this year’s Australian Open, the Danish star looked to be in danger of making an early exit from her Grand Slam swan song at Melbourne Park.
Down 1-5 and on the ropes in the opening set of her second-round clash against Ukranian No.23 seed Dayana Yastremska on Margaret Court Arena, Wozniacki showed the fight that made her a Grand Slam champion to claw back and win the match 7-5 7-5.
While she was trying to figure out an answer to her opponent’s charge, Wozniacki admitted she was also just trying to slow down the clock – in case it was her last time on court.
“I was just trying to think of it as the tennis, and then I started thinking about it as the time out there,” the 2018 Australian Open champion said.
“I was, like, ‘Well, this is going really quick. Let’s try and slow it down a little bit and get a little extra time out here’.
Wozniacki, who is now ranked No.36 in the world, announced in December last year she would retire after this year’s Australian Open, saying she had “accomplished everything” she had wanted on the tennis court.
Asked what her emotions were like knowing she had limited matches left in her career, Wozniacki hoped she still could still make a deep run at Melbourne Park.
“Well, hopefully it’s still going to be a lot of matches,” Wozniacki said.
“It feels great. The crowd is really supporting me out there and standing behind me and it’s amazing.
“It’s a tournament where I have always had crowd support, so it just feels even more special because it’s even more now. I feel just lucky to be out there and, you know, still playing on a high level.”
Wozniacki will meet Tunisia’s Ons Jabeur in the third round.