Former world No.1 Serena Williams has criticised her own performance after crashing out of the Western and Southern Open on Tuesday.
Williams, who was the highest seed to make it to the third round of the draw, fell 5-7, 7-6(5), 6-1, Greece’s Maria Sakkari despite at one stage being in a prime position to seal victory. During the second set Williams won three games in a row before serving for the match at 5-4. However, she failed to serve it out which allowed her rival to eventually level. Things continued to fall apart from Williams in the decider as she also struggled with cramps during what ended up being a bitter outcome for the American.
“It’s hard to play the way I have been playing and to stay positive. And to play nine hours in a week is too much. I don’t usually play like that. It’s all new for me,” said Williams who has won three out of five matches over the past two weeks.
The latest loss saw the world No.9 hit a costly 58 unforced errors compared to only 25 winners. Sakkari’s tally was also far from perfect with her hitting 27 and 43. Williams says she has ‘no excuses’ for her latest result. She has now played five matches in a row that has gone to three sets with four of those being against players outside of the top 50.
“It was tough, but, I mean, I literally should have won that match. There was no excuse,” she stated. “It was hard, but I had so many opportunities to win, and I have to figure that one out, like how to start winning those matches again. There are really no excuses, to be honest.”
Comparing the situation to ‘dating a guy that you know sucks,’ the 39-year-old admits she was mentally affected by the cramping. A confidence blow ahead of next week’s US Open where Williams is one of the favourites as she seeks to win a record-equalling 24th major title. She hasn’t won a Grand Slam since the 2017 Australian Open.
“I started cramping, but I mean, I shouldn’t have been in that situation. I don’t think that helps mentally when it’s like you know the match is over and you have won the match, and now your legs were already tired and now they are even more tired, and now it’s even more tired,” she explained.
“I put myself in a bad situation. You know, it’s like dating a guy that you know sucks. That’s literally what I keep doing out here. It’s like I have got to get rid of this guy. It just makes no sense. It’s frustrating.”
Over the coming days Williams says her focus will be on learning ‘how to win big points again.’
In this year’s Western and Southern Open draw only two of the top eight seeds have made it to the quarter-finals – second seed Naomi Osaka and Eighth seed Johanna Konta.
Sakkari will play Konta next.
