The American tennis legend made an appearance at Roland Garros to support her sister Venus. Serena’s coach explained that Williams is most likely to stage a comeback in 2018.
PARIS – Yesterday at Roland Garros we finally had the opportunity to admire the real No. 1 player in the world. We are not talking about Angelique Kerber, who is technically still No. 1 according to the WTA rankings despite a terrible first-round exit on day one. Nor are we talking about the French Open defending champion Garbine Muguruza, who is ranked No. 5 and barely escaped a shocking second-round defeat against Annette Kontaveit of Estonia after losing the first set and being down 3-1 in the second. No. 6 ranked Dominika Cibulkova couldn’t avoid elimination and was sent home by the first Arab-Muslim player in history to reach the third round at Roland Garros – Ons Jabeur of Tunisia. Another upset was the defeat of two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova, who was eliminated by Bethanie Mattek Sands of the United States. Kvitova is still trying to recuperate her form after tendons in her left hand suffered severe damage during a home invasion last December.
The real-world No. 1 is still the one and only Serena Williams, who yesterday made an appearance in the stands to support her sister Venus despite being almost six months pregnant. Venus played an excellent match against Kurumi Nara of Japan and easily defeated her in the second round.
Patrick Mouratoglou – Serena’s coach and former boyfriend – was asked about Williams’ possibility to come back to professional tennis after her pregnancy. In 2018 Serena will be almost 37 years old.
“I think there is 99% chance that Serena will come back. She truly is one of a kind. She is eager to come back and continue to chase tennis history,” Patrick explained.
The two favorites in the men’s tournament, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic both won their matches with ease. It would be a major surprise if the two didn’t end up clashing in a blockbuster semi-final.
(Article translation provided by T&L Global – Translation & Language Solutions – www.t-lglobal.com )
