Serena Williams is the latest comeback that seems to be on hold
The promised comebacks of 2018 are getting off to a delayed start, first with Novak Djokovic pulling out of now two AO warm-up events, Andy Murray losing in his first match in Abu Dhabi, and now Serena Williams losing to Jelena Ostapenko at the same tournament. All of this doesn’t bode well for the tennis stars to headline the 2018 Australian Open.
First off, Serena Williams just had a baby less than four months ago. Expecting her to bounce back and dominate once again was probably a long shot. Sure, we’re talking Serena, who tends to defy anyone’s expectations. But even a legend like Ms. Williams is only human after all. Playing in the exhibition tournament at Mubadala for the first time, she lost to one of the new tennis darlings on the WTA tour, Jelena Ostapenko — the reigning French Open champ — in a three-setter, managing to get the second one off the Latvian, 2-6, 6-3, 5-10.
“I don’t think I am going to rate my performance,” Williams said afterward, understandably. “I have plenty of comebacks, from injuries, from surgeries, but I’ve never had a comeback after actually giving birth to a human being. So, in my eyes, I feel it was a wonderful, wonderful match for me.”
Anyone expecting the American to return back to competitive tennis guns blazing, poised to collect her 24th grand slam title and overtake Margaret Court’s overall grand slam record right away is being unrealistic. She surpassed Stefi Graf’s Open Era record last year by achieving her 23rd title at the Australian Open — while pregnant — but Court’s record is the one left to surpass, one which the 36-year-old is likely to do. But it will happen over time, once she’s found her rhythm some more after giving birth just last fall.
Williams admitted that the first match was “super hard” and that getting back into competitive shape is going to take some time.
Plus, she’s still got a newborn at home, who is very distracting! Baby Olympia was not in attendance.
“Motherhood is phenomenal. I was a little worried out there and I looked at my camp and I was like ‘Is Olympia OK?’, said Williams after her match. “But it’s really good.”
She’s also happy to be back at work.
“I’m excited, it’s good to be back on the court. This was such a good time for me,” said Williams in her on-court interview.
Once she gets going, we know that the Serena’s will and drive will present itself at some point this year.
But in the meantime, the 23-time grand slam champ’s return to the Australian Open looks questionable. Her schedule includes a speaking engagement at the same time as the first slam of the year, increasing speculation that she will not appear there.
“I don’t know if I am totally ready to come back on the Tour yet,” Williams admitted. “I know that, when I come back, I definitely want to be competing for championships. I am taking it one day at a time. I am going to assess everything with Patrick [Mouratoglou, her coach] and my team.”
Andy Murray still struggling but forging ahead
Andy Murray also missed competing. He had first scheduled his comeback at the same Mubadala exhibition, canceled, and then decided to participate after all as Djokovic’s replacement once he pulled out.
The Scot also lost in his first time out since he took the last half of this year off to allow his hip to heal from injury. In Murray’s case, he didn’t even get a set on his opponent, Spain’s Roberto Bautista Agut, losing 6-2 to the world No. 20. The same limp that plagued him at Wimbledon is still there, and his play still appears slow and sluggish at times.
Even though he and Williams may not be 100 percent fit yet, they are both eager to get back to the sport they love and were happy with the opportunity to compete again. They also know that it will take time and experience to build back up to more competitive form.
“When you haven’t competed for a long time it takes time to get back up to that pace. I started to feel a bit better at the end,” Murray, 30, told Eurosport in Abu Dhabi.
“I’ll need to keep improving, for sure. It was good fun. I’ve missed it.”
A professional like the two-time gold medalist knows that nothing prepares you for the major competitions like actual competition experience.
“It was good fun. I have missed it and hopefully I can come back again,” said Murray after his Mubadala match loss.
The former world No. 1 is proceeding with his plans to participate in the Australian Open warm-up tournament, Brisbane International. He has already arrived in Australia. However, he’s also been given a first round bye to allow more recovery time. He faces either world No. 47, American Ryan Harrison, or No. 52 Leonardo Mayer. Only time will tell how his hip is recovering at each competition.
“I felt better as it went along – obviously a bit slow at the start,” Murray said in his on-court interview.
It is a hopeful sign that he still plans to participate at Brisbane, a tournament he’s won twice.
Djokovic in possible crisis
While Williams and Murray may be getting an A for effort, signs for Novak Djokovic are even more alarming, putting any hopes of returning to his most successful grand slam tournament a virtual impossibility. The 12-time grand slam champ has not withdrawn from the Australian Open yet, but with his latest withdrawal from Qatar — another warm-up to the first grand slam of the year — has put any hope of him returning to the AO virtually on hold. This latest news comes shortly behind his pull-out from Mubadala. Both tournaments would have provided needed practice prior to the slam Down Under.
“Unfortunately, the situation with the elbow has not changed for the better since yesterday,” he said in a statement on his website.
“I still feel the pain. Therefore, I will have to withdraw from the ATP tournament in Doha.”
It is clear that the 30-year-old Serb is still suffering a physical crisis and there is no indication when he will be fully fit to return back to competition.
The year of comebacks has hit a major setback with these three tennis stars still suffering slow recovery times. The Australian Open begins January 15, 2018.