Serena breezes into third round
WIMBLEDON, England – Serena Williams found out she has been etched into a new distinction at Wimbledon during a news conference after her second-round win Wednesday.
Williams, who needed 66 minutes to send Bulgarian qualifier Viktoriya Tomova packing 6-1, 6-4, is now featured in the list of “Lady Champions — Marriages” in the hefty 2018 edition of the Wimbledon Compendium. Every women’s champion, past or present, in singles, doubles and mixed doubles, is recorded on the list.
Indeed, Williams’ marital status is even a factor on court. When she now plays at Wimbledon, the umpire of her matches refers to her as Mrs. Williams.
The Compendium entry for Williams, like for all the women, offers detailed information, such as she married Alexis Kerry Ohanian on 16 November 2017 in New Orleans, Louisiana, USA. Actually, the book misspells Louisiana as Louisianna, but what’s an extra letter.
Former champion Chris Evert actually has all three of her ex-husbands — John Lloyd, Andy Mill and Greg Norman — mentioned.
When told that players with more than one spouse have all their marriages recorded, Williams said with a laugh, “Hopefully it will be just one.”
Asked if she finds it weird that the Compendium provides such information but just for the women, she added, “I don’t know; I literally never thought about it. It’s definitely interesting. Yeah, I never knew they had that. It will be in- teresting to know why it’s not for both sexes.”
Despite the fun of talking marriage, Williams is here to play — and talk — tennis. In that regard, she said she was pleased with the progress of her play from the first round to the second round.
“I think I just played better,” Williams said. “I served a little more consistent. Still want to work on getting my first serves in more. Overall it’s definitely a little bit better than the first round.”
Williams, on the comeback trail after the birth of her first child in September, is trying to be mindful of not putting pressure on herself, which she believes was a factor in her match against Arantxa Rus on Monday.
“That’s what happened the first round. I wanted it so much. It was stressful,” she said. “My balance is just taking deep breaths, just calming down.”
There are two matches finished and five more ahead if Williams is to win an eighth career Wimbledon title and 24th Grand Slam tournament trophy, which would tie Australian Margaret Court’s record of majors won.
But it’s important to take it one match at a time for Williams, who next plays Kristina Mladenovic of France, who defeated Tatjana Maria, another mother on tour, 6-2, 6-2.
“I haven’t played her in a while,” Williams said. “She had a really good year last year. I have to come out there and do the best that I can do.”