Williams – ‘I needed to find me, know who I am’
Williams shows champion mentality as other women’s seeds fall by the wayside
Even a 23-time Grand Slam champion needs to remind herself now and then how to play winning tennis.
Serena Williams employed verbal motivation to help her recover from a 4-1 deficit in the second set of a 6-4, 6-4 victory over fellow American Danielle Collins in the third round of the French Open yesterday.
Yelling, ‘‘C’mon,’’ and, ‘‘Move your feet,’’ Williams started dominating again with big serves and crushed returns that the 50thranked Collins had no answer for.
‘‘That felt really good for me,’’ Williams said. ‘‘Things were not going my way. It’s not like she gave me those games. I had to earn it and turn it around. That was really positive for me going into the next match.
‘‘I needed to find me, know who I am. Nobody is Serena out here. It’s me. It’s pretty cool.’’
When it was done, Williams and Collins shared a friendly embrace at the net.
‘‘She’s the greatest player of all time,’’ Collins said. ‘‘It was pretty surreal today to go out there and be playing against somebody I remember watching at age 9 and 10.’’
Stefanos Tsitsipas advanced with his 36th match victory of the year, the most on the men’s tour, and he eliminated the last American in the men’s draw. Seeded fifth, Tsitsipas rallied past No. 31 John Isner in a night match, 5-7, 6-3, 7-6 (3), 6-1.
US men went 0-4 yesterday, including big-serving Reilly Opelka’s loss in straight sets to second-seeded Daniil Medvedev.
Still chasing a record-tying 24th Grand Slam singles title, the 39-year-old Williams next faces 21st-seeded Elena Rybakina, who defeated Elena Vesnina 6-1, 6-4 to reach the fourth round for the first time at a major.
Aside from Williams, top women’s players continue to exit Roland Garros.
The latest to go home was third-seeded Aryna Sabalenka, who was upset by Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-4, 2-6, 6-0.
Sabalenka had been the highest remaining seed after topranked Ash Barty retired from her second-round match due to an injury on Friday. Second-seeded Naomi Osaka withdrew after the first round, saying she is taking a break from competition for mental health reasons.
Pavlyuchenkova’s next opponent will be Victoria Azarenka, who beat 23rd-seeded Madison Keys 6-2, 6-2 in 70 minutes.
Early in the afternoon, play was interrupted briefly by rain
For action and reaction from last night’s French Open go to stuff.co.nz
on all courts besides the main stadium — where the roof was closed. Federico Delbonis said the interruption helped him calm down after stress started to get hold of him toward the end of the second set of his match with Fabio Fognini.
Delbonis eventually prevailed 6-4, 6-1, 6-3.
Fognini required treatment from a trainer after bloodying his hand by punching his racket strings in frustration multiple times early in the second set.
Alejandro Davidovich Fokina upset 15th-seeded Casper Ruud 7-6 (3), 2-6, 7-6 (6), 0-6, 7-5 in 4 hours, 35 minutes.
Kei Nishikori followed up two consecutive five-setters with a one-set victory, reaching the second week in Paris for the seventh time after qualifier Henri Laaksonen retired with a thigh injury while trailing 7-5.
flames of big interest in F1 and this, for me personally, but also as a business, is fantastic. I really hope that he will stay as the story is not finished.’’
If the seven-times world champion does retire, Domenicali is unfazed by the impact. He worked with Michael Schumacher at Ferrari and knows what happens when big names leave.
‘‘I remember when Michael retired and thinking, ‘Oh my God, what is going to happen?’ and you see what happened.
‘‘In terms of priorities of F1, we have great drivers that can shape the story of a great and successful Formula One so it will not be a problem [when Hamilton retires].’’ Hamilton has set up his own F1 diversity commission and F1 is racing as: ‘‘We race as one’’.