Williams has day to forget
SERENA Williams walked off the court offering waves to a supportive crowd that certainly did not expect to see the 23-time Grand Slam champion’s early exit.
In the most lopsided defeat of her career, Williams’s disappointing night ended in less than an hour as she lost her opening match of the WTA’s Silicon Valley Classic in San Jose yesterday to Johanna Konta 6-1, 6-0.
When the 52-minute match ended on Williams’s forehand into the net, she quickly grabbed her gear and headed off the court.
Williams had never won only one game in a match. She held serve to begin proceedings before Britain’s Konta reeled off the next 12.
The former world No.1 American won just two games at the 2014 WTA finals in Singapore, falling 6-0, 6-2 to Simona Halep.
“I know I can play a zillion times better so that kind of helps out, too. I have so many things on my mind I don’t have time to be shocked about a loss that clearly wasn’t at my best right now,” Williams said.
“When I was out there, was fighting. That’s the only thing I can say, I wasn’t just like giving it away and I was moving a lot better.
“So I’m just trying to take the positives out of it.”
While sixth-seeded Williams was encouraged by her court coverage, she hardly looked like herself.
She double-faulted seven times and landed drop shots in the net. She missed returns and sprayed her ground strokes long and wide.
Konta got on a roll with a quick first set and did not take a chance in letting Williams get back in it.
The Briton, who has been ranked as high as world No.4, closed the first game of the second with consecutive aces at about 160km/h.
“She obviously wasn’t playing her best level or nowhere near it and I really just tried to play the match on my terms,” Konta said.
The tournament is 36-yearold Williams’s fifth since giving birth to her daughter, Alexis Olympia, last September and her first tournament since her straight-set Wimbledon final loss to Angelique Kerber.
Big sister Venus is also playing in the event this week.