Serena Williams’s coach, Mouratoglou said that ‘everything is open’ in terms of the legend’s decision to compete again.
In a recent interview with ESPN’s Chris McKendry during the U.S. Open, Serena’s long-time coach, Patrick Mouratoglou, indicated that the 39-year-old Serena Williams is coming close to making her crossroads decision.
The 23-time slam champion is dealing with a torn hamstring that forced her to tearfully retire from her first-round match at this year’s Wimbledon, and she opted to skip the warm-up events that lead up to the U.S. Open. Once she received the news that the injury was still serious, the tennis legend withdrew from the Flushing Meadows slam as well.
Even though Mouratoglou said “nothing is decided” in the interview, he did admit that he believes Serena will come to a decision about future competing sometime post-U.S. Open.
“[Serena is going through] stages where she needs to digest the fact she didn’t play here,” Mouratoglou told ESPN, via tennisnow.com. “And then it’s gonna be time to think about the future and what she wants to do.
“Nothing is decided. Everything is open. I don’t know if she’s done or if she wants to do one more year or two more years or whatever. I have no idea. So, we’re gonna probably after the tournament sit down and talk about it.”
"She has a big motivation within herself, otherwise she would have stopped a long time ago," coach Patrick Mouratoglou says of Serena Williams. pic.twitter.com/iGPClMXjbE
— USA TODAY Sports (@usatodaysports) September 1, 2021
The six-time U.S. Open winner has been chasing Margaret Court’s all-time tally of 24 slams for over four years, making four slam finals, but unable to convert any of them into titles. Her coach discussed the tremendous pressure this has been for the superstar.
"She has a big motivation within herself, otherwise she would have stopped a long time ago," coach Patrick Mouratoglou says of Serena Williams. pic.twitter.com/iGPClMXjbE
— USA TODAY Sports (@usatodaysports) September 1, 2021
“When it comes to Serena, I think there have been some traumas in the last years – maybe she feels like she cannot express herself anymore and I don’t think it’s good for her,” Mouratoglou told Eurosport. “I think she is good when she is herself. I don’t feel like she is authorizing herself to be herself in several moments in big finals and I think this hurt her.”
Combined with the disappointing news over Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Dominic Thiem, and now Naomi Osaka taking a break from the sport, the impending news over Serena’s retirement seems to be another blow to the star power missing from tennis.