Serena Williamsās coach, Mouratoglou said that āeverything is openā in terms of the legendās decision to compete again.
In a recent interview with ESPNās Chris McKendry during the U.S. Open, Serenaās 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 yearās 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 ānothing is decidedā in the interview, he did admit that he believes Serena will come to a decision about future competing sometime post-U.S. Open.
ā[Serena is going through] stages where she needs to digest the fact she didnāt play here,ā Mouratoglou told ESPN, via tennisnow.com. āAnd then itās gonna be time to think about the future and what she wants to do.
āNothing is decided. Everything is open. I donāt know if sheās done or if she wants to do one more year or two more years or whatever. I have no idea. So, weāre gonna probably after the tournament sit down and talk about it.ā
The six-time U.S. Open winner has been chasing Margaret Courtās 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.
āWhen it comes to Serena, I think there have been some traumas in the last years ā maybe she feels like she cannot express herself anymore and I donāt think itās good for her,ā Mouratoglou told Eurosport. āI think she is good when she is herself. I donāt feel like she is authorizing herself to be herself in several moments in big finals and I think this hurt her.ā
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 Serenaās retirement seems to be another blow to the star power missing from tennis.