Insider Takeaway: Serena 'can only go up' after encouraging injury update
PARIS, France - Reflecting on Serena Williams' positive return to Grand Slam tennis, which ended with an unfortunate injury withdrawal, but provided clear signs that the 23-time major champion is roaring back.
1. Serena has received encouraging news on her injury.
After withdrawing ahead of her fourth-round showdown with Maria Sharapova at the French Open on Monday, Serena revealed she had suffered a right pectoral injury during her third-round match against Julia Goerges on Saturday. Unsure how bad the injury might be, Serena took to the doubles court the next day with sister Venus, and looked noticeably hampered in her service motion, losing 6-4, 6-7(4), 6-0 to the team of Klepac/Martinez Sanchez.
"I really felt like I needed to [play the doubles match] because I'm never going to know how I feel under match play if I didn't have that match.
"Plus I wanted to try different tapings and different strappings and lots of different stuff to see what's helping and what can help and what I could try in my singles match. And I'm not serving that often; I'm serving once every four games. So I thought it was a perfect opportunity for me to kind of see how I would be and how I would go in that."
The injury has put Serena's grass-court season in jeopardy, but the 7-time Wimbledon champion has received some encouraging news already.
"So today's been interesting already," Serena Williams said in a video posted to her Instagram story on Tuesday. "I just finished one exam with one doctor and the news is actually super exciting so I'm really happy about that. I'm having an MRI soon but I wanted to keep you guys totally updated.
"Thanks for the support and the love and understanding. It's been incredibly frustrating, but also I'm excited because I think I've been playing really, really well and I can only go up. And I'm looking so forward to going up. Hopefully, you guys will be there to continue to cheer me on."
2. Serena's French Open campaign showed she's well on her way back to Slam-winning form.
No one knew quite what to expect from Serena in Paris. She was playing her first major since stepping off the tour to start a family, and she was playing in just her third tournament of the year and first clay-court event since the 2016 French Open.
On every metric, Serena impressed on the court. She won three matches against three talented players, all of whom forced her to play very different game-styles. Her opener against Kristyna Pliskova was an arhythmic ace-fest, and it saw the 23-time major champion's vaunted serve look like it had never left. She fired 13 aces and topped out at 116mph on her first serve, beating Pliskova at her own game 7-6(4), 6-4.
Against Ashleigh Barty in the second round, Serena overcame an erratic start to the match by showing her grit and heart. Down a set and a break to the young Aussie, Serena seemingly willed herself to level-up, bashing and roaring her way to a 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 comeback. It was Serena's first fitness test of the tournament - and her first three-set match since January 2017 - and she found a way to get the better of Barty from the baseline, winning a majority of the rallies that went over 9+ shots.
Then, against No.11 Julia Goerges, Serena looked absolutely clinical. She was broken just once and her return was dialed in, as she won 63% on second serve returns. In dismantling the German, Serena fired 20 winners to just 12 unforced errors to win 6-3, 6-4. It was her most impressive display since her comeback, and one that certainly had people tipping her to go deep into the second week.
3. Against the current WTA depth of field, 7 for 7 remains a tough task.
What Serena proved in Paris is that even in these early stages of her comeback, she can beat the tour's best on any given day. If she had been able to hold her form against Goerges for the remainder of the tournament, she very well may have been the second-week favorite for the title, an astounding tag given just how much she's had to overcome after pregnancy.
Yet it's one thing to have the ability to beat anyone in the field on any given day. It's another thing to be able to win seven matches against, arguably, the deepest field the WTA has seen. Serena will be the first to tell you that there are no more easy early round matches these days, with players from 1-50 perfectly capable of beating anyone.
Playing singles and doubles may have been too big of an ask of Serena in her first major back, and it certainly tested her physicality and recovery abilities. It served as a good litmus test for how quickly she's been able to regain her form while also highlighting why patience may be Serena's biggest test yet on a tennis court.
