After almost three months away from the spotlight Serena Williams is tuning up her game ahead of her return to the Tour in Rome later this week.
The 23-time Grand Slam champion hasn’t played a Tour match since her semi-final loss to Naomi Osaka at the Australian Open. It was during that same time where once again questions started to rise over the future of the 39-year-old and when she may decide to step away from the sport permanently.
However, retirement appears to be the last thing on Williams’ mind as she switches her focus to the European clay. She hasn’t played on the surface since last year’s French Open where she was forced to withdraw after winning her opening match due to injury. Despite her lack of match play in recent time, the American insists that she is ready for the challenge.
“I trained for the past two-and-a-half weeks at (coach) Patrick’s (Mouratoglou) academy, and then training a lot on the clay in the United States with team members,” Williams told reporters on Monday. “We had an intense several weeks of training,very intense.”
Unlike some of her peers, Williams is at times hesitant to post updates on her social media accounts about her training routines. Something that baffles some considering she has a following of more than 13 million on Instagram and 10 million on Twitter. However, the former world No.1 has her own personal reason for not doing so.
“I really try not to get too involved in what people say about me because I feel like it can make you nuts” she said.
“Whether it’s good or bad. I don’t really try to think too much of myself in that way at all. I think that’s one thing I’m really good at is just to not really even engage so much.’
“I don’t show what I do. I don’t always show my cards but I feel like for the most part I just never ever pay attention (to what is being said), which is good.”
A three-time French Open champion, this week Williams is seeking her first WTA trophy on the clay since 2016 when she triumphed in Rome. Overall, 13 out of her 73 WTA titles have been won on the surface.
Olympics in doubt
Whilst her schedule for the coming months yet to be outlined, Williams admits that she is unsure about whether she will participate in the Tokyo Olympic Games which has been delayed by a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. International Athletes attending have been told that they are not allowed to bring their family members.
That ruling could prove to be a deal breaker for Williams who will have to travel to the event without her three-year-old daughter.
“I haven’t really thought much about that,” she said on playing the Olympics. “That’s a really good question. I haven’t spent 24 hours without her, so that kind of answers the question itself. We’re best friends.
“I have really been taking it one day at a time to a fault, and I definitely need to figure out my next moves.”
Williams is one of the most decorated tennis players in Olympic history with three gold medals from doubles and one from singles won between 2000-2016.
Seeded eighth in Rome, Williams will start her campaign against either Nadia Podoroska or Laura Siegemund.
