Former world No.1 Serena Williams has kick-started her preparations for the French Open with a training session at Roland Garros on Sunday.
Williams is set to play at the grand slam event without playing any previous matches on the clay this year. Saying in a statement that she was ‘not ready’ to play tournaments in Madrid and Rome. Since returning to the tour from giving birth, the 36-year-old has only participated in two events. Reaching the third round in Indian Wells followed by a first round exit in Miami during March.
Despite her lack of recent match play, her coach believes Williams can still be a contender in the upcoming tournament. Patrick Montagolou told wtatennis.com that Williams returned back to the tour too early, but was confident of her chances at the French major.
“Serena will play the French Open to win it,” Mouratoglou said. “Can she do it? Serena can achieve anything. After being her coach for six years, I’m even more sure of that statement.”
Montagolou confirmed that the 23-year-old grand slam champion has been undergoing an intense training block to help ‘rebuild her body.’ After giving birth, Williams was bed bound for six weeks following a series of health problems. First, doctors discovered that she had a pulmonary embolism (a blocked vessel in her lung). Following on from that, her stitching from the c-section opened back up. Then when doctors were repairing the stitching, it was later discovered that she also had a hematoma (swelling of clotted blood) in her abdomen.
“After her pregnancy, Serena had to rebuild her body,” Mouratoglou explained.
“The time she lost after the delivery with all the medical issues she had to go through, was missing.
“That is the reason why we decided to skip Madrid and Rome as she needed five weeks to be perfectly ready.”
Williams is yet to speak publicly about her intentions at the French Open, which she has won on three previous occasions. Earlier today the official Facebook account of the tournament uploaded a video of the American player practising.
Due to her lengthy absence from the tour, Williams is currently ranked 454th in the world. The French Open will get underway next Sunday.
