Serena: Still strugglinh with emotions
Tennis star says she wants other new moms to know it’s ‘totally normal.’
Serena Williams says she’s been struggling with postpartum emotions and wants other new moms to know they are “totally normal.”
Williams, the 23-time
Grand Slam champion and a Palm Beach Gardens resident, suffered the most lop
sided defeat of her career, a 6-1, 6-0 loss to Johanna
Konta in San Jose, California, on July 31. She then withdrew from this week’s
Rogers Cup in Montreal, citing personal reasons.
“L a st week was not easy for me. Not only was
I accepting some tough personal stuff, but I just was in a funk. Mostly, I felt like I was not a good mom,” Williams said in an Instagram post on Monday.
“I read several articles that said postpartum emotions can last up to 3 years if not dealt with. I like communication best.
‘I think people have to talk about it more because it’s almost like the fourth trimester, it’s part of the pregnancy.’ Serena Williams
Talking things through with my mom, my sisters, my friends let me know that my feelings are totally normal.”
The 36-year-old Williams was the runner-up at Wimbledon last month. That was just her fourth tournament since returning to the tour after having a baby in September and dealing with a health scare related to blood clots.
“It’s totally normal to feel like I’m not doing enough for my baby,” she added. “Although I have been with her every day of her life, I’m not around as much as I would like to be. Most of you moms deal with the same thing. Whether stay-at-home or working, finding that balance with kids is a true art. You are the true heroes.”
The post has received more than 390,000 likes and more than 8,000 comments.
In February, Williams revealed the trauma she suffered after giving birth to Olympia when doctors discovered an embolism following an emergency Caesarean section, which led to surgery and the further discovery of a large life-threatening hematoma in her abdomen, she wrote in an article for CNN.
Speaking of the psychological struggle she has faced, she revealed in Harper’s Bazaar UK in May that she once cried because she could not find her baby’s bottle. “Honestly, sometimes I think I still have to deal with it. I think people have to talk about it more because it’s almost like the fourth trimester, it’s part of the pregnancy,” she told the magazine.
But at a pre-Wimbledon press conference, she revealed that parenthood also had been a boost to her competitive instinct.
“I feel like it’s stronger because I’ve been through so much,” she said. “I put so much on the back burner. I feel like even more so, I’m even more competitive ... definitely surprises me a little.”