Serena Williams hasn’t graced her presence on the tour since the US Open. The world No.1 was on route to claiming her fourth consecutive Grand Slam title to become the first woman to win all four titles within one year since Steffi Graf in 1988. Two matches from an historic win, Williams dream run was ended with a shock semifinal loss to Roberta Vinci in the US Open. It was only the third time she lost in 56 matches this year, but the loss has brought her confidence down to a year-low.
During an interview with Melissa Isaacson on espn.com, Williams coach Patrick Mouratoglou, spoke about her current state of mind. He recalled Williams mindset during August where she lost in Toronto to Belinda Bencic. The day after the loss she returned back to the court because ‘she wanted to win the US Open’. In contrast, Mouratoglou has cast doubts about her current level of motivation and raised uncertainty about her continuation of this season.
“After this year and the three Grand Slams [she won in 2015], the question is how high her motivation is to play those tournaments. I don’t think she should play if the motivation is not really high.” He said.
During 2015 Williams has claimed titles at the Australian Open, WTA Miami, French Open, Wimbledon and WTA Cincinnati. Despite the impressive run of titles this year, which reaffirmed her position as the world No.1, Mouratoglou said that Williams still considers this year as a disappointment.
“Because she lost [the semifinal] match, she says to me her season is not good,” he said.
The 45-year-old Frenchman said that he likes this mindset of Williams because ‘champions have high expectations’.
At the age of 34, Williams is nearing the end of her career. When she won her first premier title at the 1999 Indian Wells Masters, world No.14 Bencic was 2-years-old. Nevertheless, her coach still believes that she has a lot of time left on the tour.
“She just won four Grand Slams in a row and got to the semifinals of a fifth. It’s not the time to doubt whether age will affect her. She has a lot of time left.” He concluded.
According to her website, Williams is set to return to action at the China Open in October. She has won the tournament once before which was in 2013 when she defeated Jelena Jankovic in the final.
