Serena Williams has been in professional tennis for over 25 years. Therefore, the 23-time Grand Slam champion has faced all sorts of difficulties the sport has to offer. She is a seasoned player like Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, and Novak Djokovic. However, every athlete’s coping mechanism varies from others.
The same goes for Williams and the big three. Recently, while speaking to the press, she jokingly pointed out how her way of bringing herself back into the game differs from Novak Djokovic.
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Serena Williams’ way of rebooting
The 21-time Grand Slam champion Djokovic earlier opened up about his way of re-centering his focus during ongoing matches. He spoke about splashing water on his face and giving himself a talking-to out loud in his bathroom breaks. When asked if she did something like that during her latest match, Williams said, “Yeah, no, I just got lighter.”
“Use your imagination (smiling). But it wasn’t number two, so…” The former world number one fought tooth and nail on Wednesday to advance to the third round in the last Grand Slam of her career. After taking down the Montenegrin tennis professional Danka Kovinić in straight sets in her opening match, she met the second seed of the tournament, Anett Kontaveit.
Kontaveit, the number two ranked WTA player, after giving a tough fight in the first set 6 (4)-7, revived herself in the second set 6-2. Though in the third she again lost her grip and Serena Williams was in no mood to let go. She threw the Estonian out of the tournament by sealing the match with a 6-2 win in the last set.
Williams’ next opponent
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The six-time US Open champion will square off against the Croatian-Australian tennis professional Ajla Tomljanović for a spot in the last 16 of the US Open. Tomljanović, who made up to the quarterfinals of the WTA 1000 event in Cincinnati, might pose a threat to Williams’ run.
Williams was knocked out of both the Toronto and Cincinnati Masters in the initial rounds. Though as Serena Williams outclassed the world number two seed recently, and has been playing surprisingly well, she seems to have things under control and could make a run for Grand Slam number 24.
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They will lock horns on Friday, September 2. Who, according to you, will come out victorious from the clash? Let us know in the comments section below.