Usually before a Slam, I put a disclaimer on Twitter and apologize for all of the tennis tweets. I forgot to do that before the Australian Open, mostly because with the time difference, it’s difficult for me to watch most matches live. So… I’m sorry about all of the tennis tweets, especially last night as I freaked out. I stayed up for Serena Williams’ third-round match, a match which started just before 9 pm, in what I hoped would be a simple victory against China’s Wang Qiang, because they played at the US Open last year and Serena rolled through Wang in less than an hour. Uh… that didn’t happen in Australia.
First off, a few words about Serena’s trip Down Under. A few weeks ago, she won her first title since giving birth to Olympia – it was a small title in Auckland and Serena still struggled with self-doubt in the final. But she finally got over that hump (the Losing In Finals hump) and came into Melbourne with a lot of confidence and (we believed) a renewed level of fitness. Her first-round was a breeze. She struggled a bit in her second round but won it easily without playing her best. She, uh, did not play well against Wang. Her serve was a mess, she was making all kinds of unforced errors and on and on. On the other side, Wang played OUT OF HER MIND. It’s been a while since I’ve seen someone play that well against Serena, honestly, and with so much consistency, pushing Serena throughout a nearly three-hour encounter. Wang was 100% the better player. She out-GOAT’d the GOAT. Props to Wang – it was one of the best performances I’ve ever seen, truly.
So, the good news is that Serena Williams isn’t going to lose in another Slam final. The bad news is that she hasn’t lost this early in the Australian Open since 2006. The bad news is… no #24, for now. These press conferences get harder and harder to watch.
Here’s Wang’s on-court interview. She’s adorable and I hope she goes far, honestly. I hope she’s the next Li Na.
Hours after Serena’s loss, AO defending champion Naomi Osaka crumbled in a straight-sets defeat to Coco Gauff, the 15-year-old phenom who is being heralded as the next big thing. I’ve said before… I’m uncomfortable with the hype machine around Gauff – she’s way too young for all of this – but it’s only going to get bigger now that she took down the 2019 AO champion and former world #1 Osaka.
PS… I really hated Serena’s Nike kit for Australia. Why did Nike give Maria Sharapova such a beautiful hot pink dress and then they gave Serena this horrid ruffled mess? And why didn’t she have her hair in a business bun?!
Photos courtesy of Getty, Backgrid.
Coco has taken down 2 Champions and we’re only in the 3rd round! 🎉💕👍😂😘 Love her!
Serena should be extremely proud of herself. Children who were born during her dominance and who got inspired by her are themselves now competing against one another at grand slams (Coco vs Naomi)…..and Serena’s still there…..and not even the underdog…. She should be really proud.
I love everything you wrote!! Thank you – very uplifting!
Here in Aus we are ALL about Ash Barty!!! Incredible player, has indigenous heritage, has come into this AO as the favourite and world #1, is humble and awesome despite being incredible (a nice change from some of our young male players) and just donated all of her winnings from the Brisbane International to the victims of the bushfires. We are so proud of her! We hope she could potentially be the next gen Serena. That is, if anyone is capable of stepping into those enormous shoes – it may be that Serena was a once in a lifetime athlete and no one will dominate like she has again for a long time…
Definitely agree with your comments. It was something about Ashs’ demeanors early on that made her one of my favorite tennis players.
I hate to say it but sometimes you have to know when your time is up. She by far is the most decorated tennis player ever and will always be remembered as such. Her love of the sport is a great reminder of her passion for it.
She just won a tournament recently and played doubles plus played in a exhibition. That is a lot of tennis to play in a short span along with the air condition in Australia right now. Also it wasn’t as if she lost in a blow out it was a hard fought 3 sets. It is too early in the season to make any judgement as to what she needs to do regarding her career.
Nope, not when she’s made a slam final four times in the past two years since her comeback. As a fan I will say she’s running out of time and needs to buckle down if she’s serious about getting to 24 (and beyond). I’ve seen some of fans blame Patrick and everyone else but her. At the end of the day it’s all Serena and she needs to have a wake up call. I hope this loss was that “wake up!” for her, but we’ll see.
But you know who REALLY needs to call it a day? Sharapova. Her third 1st round slam loss in a row and she’s not looking any better. Ironically her stubbornness to try to “clear her name” is only proving how much meldonium helped her game. Her fans and sympathetic tennis commentators like to claim her current struggles are purely age/injury related. I say BS.
I wonder what’s next for her. GOAT though.
I’m not happy Osaka lost, Coco is just so precarious and I’m scared for her. It’s just like Russian (not only) figure skaters – being 17 means retirement because you don’t jump quads anymore..
Unfortunately at this point, Serena is here to break my heart and more importantly-how in the HELL does she focus with her whipping around? I am a CPA and can’t prepare a basic tax return unless my hair is in a bun. And that requires ZERO physical exertion.
I don’t know if you are interested in male tennis gossip, but Schwartzman said in an interview that after their ATP cup match, he has cut Medvedev of his life! Apparently they trained together a few times and used to hang out, but he did not like Daniil’s behaviour.
I was surprised because Diego is not a guy that critiques other players publicly, so it must have stung.
Serena is heavily involved in choosing all her Nike gear. She loves stuff like horrible ruffles.
I thought Serena’s post- match comments were inappropriate and disrespectful to her opponent. Coco is terrific.
You guys, I’m A movie nerd and just read that there’s a film being made called King Richard Starring Will Smith playing Serena and Venus‘s dad… 🤔
It’s about how great he is and an origin story and how he pushed them and he’s behind their success… Wow, could this be more tonedeaf and coming at a worst time? Who thought that would be a good idea and when it reaches public consumption, best believe people are going to call out how it’s not about the two sisters, it’s about the dad getting credit. Ridiculous