USA TODAY International Edition
Serena escapes scare at Wimbledon
Unseeded Kaja Juvan didn’t make it easy as injuries nag Williams
WIMBLEDON, England – Serena Williams walked into her news conference at Wimbledon holding her phone, a cold bottle of water and a statistics sheet that reinforced what was clear from watching her third-round singles victory Saturday:
She is as close to being back to her best as she’s been in a while.
Williams, hampered for much of this season by injuries or illness, took a step forward against 18th-seeded Julia Goerges, a powerful hitter in her own right who lost to the American in last year’s semifinals at the All England Club. Williams hit serves at up to 120 mph, put in a tournament-best 71% of her first serves, never faced so much as one break point and won 6-3, 6-4.
“It’s been an arduous year for me,” said Williams, who had competed only 12 times in 2019 until last week, mostly because of a bothersome left knee that finally is pain-free. “So every match, I’m hoping to improve tons.”
Maybe it was a good thing she played twice Saturday, then.
About 4½ hours after getting past Goerges at No. 1 Court, Williams headed out to Centre Court for her much-ballyhooed debut as Andy Murray’s teammate in mixed doubles. Other than one slip near the net when she lost her footing in the first set – she was fine and laughed it off – Williams looked good during the 6-4, 6-1 win against Andreas Mies and Alexa Guarachi.
“Andy and I both love the competition. I know we both want to do well,” Williams said. “We’re not here just for show.”
She rarely is.
If Williams is going to win an eighth singles championship at Wimbledon and a record-tying 24th Grand Slam tournament singles title overall, she will want more performances like the one she gave against Goerges.
Action resumes Monday with all fourth-round men’s and women’s singles matches. Williams, who is seeded 11th, will face No. 30 Carla Suarez Navarro.