Serena Locks In, Then Peaces Out
After an impressive performance in defeat at Wimbledon, the superstar skipped out on her press conference.
WIMBLEDON, England — There were lots of questions swirling around how both Serena Williams and her opponent Maya Joint would perform in the most highly-anticipated first-round match at Wimbledon; in the end, both exceeded expectations.
Joint looked sharp from the beginning and rarely wobbled, looking much more like the player who won on the grass of WTA 250 Eastbourne last year than the player who more recently had lost 13 of her last 14 matches.
And Serena, who had no recent results to extrapolate from whatsoever, also impressed. As much as she had talked about having a different attitude and expectations this time, she had her game face on from the moment she walked out onto Centre Court, her headphones covering her ears as the most supportive Wimbledon crowd she’d ever had first greeted her.
Serena served very well and hit some great groundstrokes too, especially a few vintage return winners. But she also, at times, seemed stuck on trying to hit through Joint, who had no trouble absorbing her hardest shots down the middle. But her competitive fire and mettle was impressive: Serena staved off a match point in the second set tiebreak and then fired an ace at 122 mph as she forced a third set.
After going up an early break for 2-1 in that third set, the 44-year-old abruptly ran out of gas, ceding four straight games and full control of the match to the flame-haired Michigan-born-and-raised Australian, for whom this match can hopefully become a positive inflection point.
After Joint closed out the 6-3, 6-7(6), 6-3 win, Serena gave Joint a straight-armed handshake, but then smiled brightly as she waved to all sides of the Centre Court crowd on her way out of the tournament.
Serena isn’t done at Wimbledon this year, we assume: she’s still entered in the women’s doubles draw with Venus. But she was very much finished with her Tuesday night Wimbledon experience after the loss, skipping out on her mandatory post-match press conference.
The tournament sent out a statement that was attributed to Serena, but I’d be surprised if she said these words.
Unfortunately Serena Williams will not be able to undertake media this evening.
Please see below quotes from her:
“It was really great to be back at Wimbledon. I never expected to be here. The atmosphere was amazing. Walking out was amazing. I definitely relished it and missed it and enjoyed the moment more than anything.”
Serena should get fined for skipping this press conference, particularly because she’d been extended this invitation by the tournament, which also generously waited almost an entire week for her to make up her mind on the eighth and final wild card.
To read the rest, including a look ahead at where Serena goes from here, and the best matches to watch on Wednesday at Wimbledon, please subscribe to Bounces! -Ben
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