“Tough to Have a First Match on Clay”: Serena Williams Reflects on Italian Open 2021 Exit

The script was for Serena Williams to mark her career’s 1000th match in Rome with a win. But it didn’t turn out that way. The 23-time Grand Slam champion crashed out of the Italian Open after losing her opening encounter in straight sets to unheralded Argentine Nadia Podoroska on Wednesday.

While the romantics or those obsessed with milestones would be disappointed that Serena’s milestone match ended in a chastening defeat, the outcome, though shocking, wasn’t entirely on unexpected lines.

The 39-year-old was playing her first match on Tour, and that too, on clay, since her agonizing semi-final loss to eventual champion Naomi Osaka at this year’s Australian Open.

Though the champion fought hard and there was, in fact, a point in the second set when she broke back and was in with a chance to take the match to a decider, she struggled to find her feet on clay and it proved decisive in the end.

Serena Williams conceded it was tough to make her comeback on clay

Speaking to reporters after the match, Serena conceded and said that it was “tough” to play her comeback match on dirt.

The four-time Rome champion added that while it was encouraging that she managed to stay in the contest despite coming off an extended break from tennis, she was way off her best.

“It’s tough to have a first match on clay. So it was definitely kind of good to go the distance and to try to be out there. But clearly, I can do legions better,” Serena said.

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The three-time French Open champion added that she needs a few more matches to find her groove ahead of Roland-Garros.

Serena says she’ll figure out a way to play a few more matches

Serena said that she would sit down with her coach Patrick Mouratoglou and other members of her contingent and try to find a way to get a few more games into her legs before the action shifts to Paris.

“I just gotta get there. Maybe I do need a few more matches. So I’m gonna try to figure that out with my team and my coach and see what we’d like to do,” the seven-time Wimbledon champion said.

Serena added that though she has been training for months, “it’s different” coming into a match, especially on clay, and making that “last adjustment.”