Serena Williams licked her blood after her opening victory at the French Open. After a convincing 7:6 (7:4), 6:4 victory over Kristyna Pliskova, the American talks about the fun she has found again on the tennis court and the ultimate goal before her career ends.
It is a strange sight to see deep in the substructure of the world rankings. The name of the best player in the modern era of this sport can be found on rank 451 of the tennis pitches – between the Frenchwoman Elixane Lechemia and the Russian Nika Kukhtschuk a certain Serena Williams appears.
She won 23 Grand Slam titles in her memorably brilliant career, she was the number one on the planet for 319 weeks, she achieved (almost) everything you could wish for or dream of.
But at 36 years of age, the dizzying hum still does not stop: since she married last year and became a mother – her daughter Alexis Olympia was born on September 1, 2017 – Williams has a new goal, a new mission feverishly in front of her eyes.
After pregnancy and childbirth, she wants to win big tournaments and maybe even claim the eternal record of Grand Slam titles for herself – 24 major victories have to be surpassed, the best performance held by the Australian Margaret Court-Smith.
At the French Open, the younger of the two sisters from the Williams tennis dynasty has now returned to the big tennis stage. On Tuesday evening, after a hard fight and some trials and tribulations, she won 7:6 and 6:4 against the Czech Karolina Pliskova. It was the first game after exactly 486 days off, after winning the Australian Open 2017.
She had already won that title as an expectant mother, she left Melbourne as the world’s number one at that time. “I’ve got my sights set high again. I want to play at the top, otherwise I won’t have any fun,” says the 36-year-old.
It is rather unlikely that Williams will already play a leading role in this championship, as sand is not the surface on which she feels most comfortable, not even in full competition hardness. She is also not seeded, so she has to compete with first-class competitors early in Paris.
But some already consider them among the favourites at the traditional highlight of the season in Wimbledon – perhaps also because none have been found in the long absence of the industry leaders, who have filled their previously decisive role with self-confidence and consistency at a high level.
Rather, the opposite has been the case: Women’s tennis did not have any outstanding, outstanding personalities, often enough the majors were a real lottery game with many capers. In Paris last year, too, the inexperienced Latvian Yelena Ostapenko triumphed out of the blue.
Even more adventurous was the US Open, where Sloana Stephens, who in August 2017 had still been number 934 on the hit list, won. Stephens himself summed up the headstands like this: “Wow, how crazy is that?”
While William’s mother rejoiced and became a mother, the world rankings lead changed back and forth again, five different players moved to the top. And were repressed again, Angelique Kerber was one of them.
Now the question arises whether Williams can once again take a dominant position, whether she can once again steal the show from the permanently unconvincing front women like Karolina Pliskova, Garbine Muguruza, Simona Halep or also friend Carroline Wozniacki.
“The start here in Paris was quite all right. I take it game by game, don’t look too far ahead. I want to find my rhythm again,” said Williams after the difficult victory against Karolina Pliskova’s twin sister. She will face even more resistance in round two against number 17 seeded Australian Ashleigh Barty.
Also against Barty the outfit of Williams should attract at least as much attention as the duel itself. On Tuesday, the American marched onto the Centre Court in a skintight black catsuit. The reactions in the vastness of the virtual world were – no wonder – divided. Some thought it was the “superheroine dress” Williams was entitled to.
Some found the presentation daring for the lush body shapes of the master player. But who knows Williams well, and former star player Chris Evert certainly belongs to this group of people, who suspected that the Dreß was also a statement. “That’s just the way it is when you come back from pregnancy. That’s just honest. And I guess Serena didn’t want to cover anything up,” Evert said.
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