Australian Open 2019: New York? I, like, won’t talk, says Serena Williams
Serena Williams bristles at the first mention of her shameful meltdown at the US Open.
Serena Williams, like, wipes Rod Laver Arena with the girl next door, charms everyone in a gushing on-court interview about babies and motherhood, talks freely about the progression from black dolls to Caucasian dolls for her daughter and then bristles at the first mention of her shameful meltdown at the US Open. Like, really bristles.
Her mentor, Patrick Mouratoglou, has admitted to being guilty of courtside coaching during her bitter loss to Naomi Osaka in New York City. Mouratoglou has claimed that virtually every coach does it and so it may as well be legalised. It’s a decent point and worthy of discussion.
When Williams is asked if she’s spoken to Mouratoglou about the series of unfortunate events at Flushing Meadows, the mere mention of the infamous defeat makes her back stiffen. She stares daggers. Like, real daggers.
“I, like, literally have no comment,” she says.
The message is clear. New York? I, like, won’t talk.
She’s annihilated her Florida neighbour Tatjana Maria 6-0 6-2 in her first match at Melbourne Park for two years. She’s worn a costume she’s named after herself. It’s not quite the striking ensemble that was her lavender tutu at the French Open, but it’s eye-catching nonetheless. She’s entered her press conference in a T-shirt that says “Until We All Win”.
“It’s a Serena-tard,” Williams says of her on-court clobber. “We design really far in advance at Nike. I knew that I’ve been working really, really hard in the off-season to be incredibly fit and incredibly ready. I took a year off. I’m still trying to get 12 months under my belt of playing.
“Nike always wants to make an incredibly strong, powerful statement for mums that are trying to get back and get fit. That was basically it for me.”
She says of her T-shirt: “I just think it means … until we can all win, not just have one person or one look or one style or one gender. It’s just across the board. Until we all win.”
Williams has played, like, authoritatively. The scoreboard has said it all. Complete mismatch. She says she’s brought her one-year-old-daughter, Olympia, a doll called Qai Qai.
“I wanted her to have a black doll,” Williams says. “Growing up, I didn’t have that many opportunities to have black dolls. And I was just thinking, like, I want her first doll to be black.
“And her heritage, obviously she’s mixed, she’s Caucasian and black, but I feel like that was her first doll and I said her second doll would be Caucasian. I definitely want to always teach her love and teach her that humans should always have love for each other, no matter what colour they are.”
Williams adds: “It’s definitely different to travel with a toddler as opposed to a baby, an infant. Infants are easier. Everyone said it’s easier. I didn’t quite understand. Olympia takes a lot more attention now, which is why I’m trying to get out of here.”
Williams won her 23rd major by beating her sister Venus at the 2017 Australian Open. She was pregnant at the time with Olympia. She jokes about walking onto RLA alone upon her return.
“I’m not pregnant,” she says. “That’s the biggest difference. I’m not pregnant.”
Two years, including a one-year hiatus to become a mother, is how long she’s waited to match Margaret Court’s all-time record of 24 majors. Failing to get there is another of her least favoured topics. “I’ve been going for the record for what seems like forever now,” she says. “It doesn’t feel any different.”
When it’s suggested her Open build-up has been low-key — like, really low-key — she says: “Spending a lot of time with my daughter, that’s the priority for me. I feel like literally every moment I get, I practice. And then I go home. It’s kind of what I do in Florida. I train and I go right home and I spend the rest of the day with my daughter.”
Two years ago at Indian Wells, Williams ranked herself between zero and Serena, and gave herself an S. It, like, makes sense after a while.
She said personal ratings were now a thing of the past as she cast an eye to her next super-diva clash against Canadian Eugenie Bouchard. “I’ve just kind of let that all go. I don’t want to give myself a ranking anymore. I think it gives me too much negative expectations. I always expect to reach the sky, and anything below it is not good enough for me. I don’t know. I just know that I’m going in the right direction. I feel like I’m in the right direction. We’ll see.”
Serena’s dominant performance came on a day when Australian women struggled at the tournament.
Sam Stosur’s lamentable record at Melbourne Park has continued with a first-round loss to rising Ukrainian star Dayana Yastremska, her fourth-straight defeat in the Australian Open’s opening round. Stosur, the only Australian woman to win a major since Evonne Goolagong Cawley in 1980, lost to the 18-year-old 7-5 6-2 in one hour and 18 minutes. The 34-year-old Queenslander’s latest defeat is typically disappointing, collapsing from an early break and a 4-1 lead to lose 12 of the next 15 games.
Daria Gavrilova made her earliest Australian Open exit in four years, bowing out to Slovenia’s Tamara Zidansek 7-5 6-3 in the first round. The world No 41, who reached the last 16 at Melbourne Park in 2016 and 2017, was out of sorts and made 38 unforced errors — including 23 on the forehand wing — in the one hour and 44 minute match. Earlier, fellow Australians Destanee Aiava and Ajla Tomljanovićalso lost their first-round matches.
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