Serena Williams lost 12 consecutive games in a listless performance in the first round in San Jose on Tuesday, turning in one of her worst career performances in a 6-1, 6-0 loss to Jo Konta.
The numbers told a gruesome story for the 23-time grand slam champion: She put 37 percent of first serves in play, won barely a quarter of second serve points and took just 11 points off the Briton’s serve all match.
It marked the first time in Williams’ illustrious pro career that the longtime world No. 1 won fewer than two games.
“She obviously was not playing her best level,” Konta said on-court. “I really just tried to play the match on my terms and do what I can out here, try and almost put aside the incredible champion she is and play the player on the day.”
It worked from the start. Despite losing the opening game, Konta, No. 48 in the world, muted Williams from nearly the first point, hitting powerful groundstrokes to all corners of the court and converting all three break points she earned in the opening set. The latter two were particularly powerful — one a backhand, the latter on an open-court forehand — that the American had no answer for.
Not once did Williams display her trademark fire. She virtually never fist pumped and offered none of her trademark “come on” outbursts. Most shockingly, when that emotion did appear early in the second set, it made no difference in the scoreline. She reached just one game point in that frame, in the first game, but Konta fought it off and powered another groundstroke into an unreturnable spot.
“I had to stay very much on every single point because (she) can turn it around at any point,” Konta, the tournament champion in 2016, said. “I’m very happy to come through in the end.”
The American crowd tried on every instance to bring Williams into the match, but she looked listless and defeated in the final game. She double faulted twice, bringing her to seven in the match, and whacked a limp forehand into the net on Konta’s first match point.
Barely a minute after, Williams walked off the court with her coach, Patrick Mouratoglou, away for the week and her sister Venus Williams sitting in her player box stunned, just as everyone else in the packed stadium.
