Former world No.1 Kim Clijsters believes it is up to Serena Williams if she returns back to the top of the women’s game and nobody else.
Williams, 36, is playing in only her fourth WTA tournament at Wimbledon since giving birth. On Monday the 25th seed will be bidding for a place in the last eight when she takes on Russia’s Evgeniya Rodina. Rodina, who is experiencing her best-ever run at a grand slam, knocked out 10th seed Madison Keys in the previous round.
“Every single match I play, whether I’m coming back from a baby or surgery, it doesn’t matter, these young ladies, they bring a game that I’ve never seen before.” Williams said following her third round win.
“It’s interesting because I don’t even scout as much because when I watch them play, it’s a totally different game than when they play me. That’s what makes me great: I always play everyone at their greatest, so I have to be greater.”
Few can dispute Williams claims to greatness given her resume. So far in her career, she has won 72 WTA titles, including 23 in the grand slams, and has spent a total of 319 weeks as world No.1. Although she now finds herself in a different stage in her life as she manages motherhood with life on the tour. Only a handful of players knows the difficulties of what the American is experiencing. Including Clijsters, who won three of her four grand slam titles after giving birth to her first child.
“Serena knows what she has to do to get back to her best level. Nobody else knows. Not even (her coach) Patrick (Mouratoglou),” Clijsters told Reuters news agency.
“Patrick knows what she has to do to be the best tennis player, her fitness coach knows what she needs to do to get back into the shape she was in before she had her baby.
“But only Serena knows all the details. The mental side of things, nobody can get into your head. That’s only her. She’s so strong to do all those things but it takes time.”
Williams has been credited for inspiring many of her younger rivals with her dominance on the tour within recent years. So will there be a growing trend of more players in the future taking time away from the tour to start a family?
Weighing in on the debate, Clijsters has stated that every case is different. For her, she stepped away from the sport at the age of 26 before returning. 10 years younger than what Williams did.
“If I had listened to a lot of people, they were telling me it was too soon. But to me it felt right. Like it felt right to me to come back.” She said.
“There is not one situation that is (the) same for all the players. If there is a player who is 26 and (they) have a very strong motherly instinct… it’s going to be hard to be fully dedicated to your sport.
“I felt guilty for a while after coming back… because I wanted to do this for myself and it felt selfish in a way. But it was okay to be selfish. (Being) selfish often looks like a negative thing but it’s not in a lot of ways.”
Williams will take on Rodina in what will be the second match on Centre Court on Monday.
