PETE ZIEBRON in CINCINNATI
Serena Williams announces her withdrawal at the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati Pete Ziebron Images
Serena Williams opened play at the Western & Southern Open on Tuesday against Lucie Hradeca of the Czech Republic. The match proceed according to plan for Williams as she raced to a 6-3 5-2 lead and she fully expected to close the match with authority. However, Hradecka had other ideas.
Serena served for the match at 5-2 and was broken convincingly as Hradecka started to connect on her shots and Williams "stood there like the house by the side of the road and watch them go by." So many times in her career, Serena would hit laser shots that her opponents were not able to touch and now it appeared that Williams was wearing a pair of cinder blocks on her feet.
Hradecka held serve with an impressive repertoire of shots and Williams again toed the line to serve for the match at 5-4. Once again, Hradecka hit scorching forehands that Williams was not able to reach.
Sitting court side for the match, I could tell that Serena appeared to be in a bit of pain as she grimaced and her eyes even appeared to well up at times. Other members of the media alongside me in the photo pit were in agreement that Serena was either: slightly injured, bored, tired or generally disinterested in the match. As a result, Hrdecka again broke Williams to stay alive in the match and then proceeded to win her service game to take a 6-5 lead in the 2nd set!
Now Serena needed to hold serve to take the set to a tiebreaker. Serving at deuce, Williams hit a forehand that clipped the top of the net and fell safely on Hradecka's side of the court to give Williams the Advantage. Williams won the next point and it was on to the tiebreaker which she would win 7-5.
Following the match, I asked Serena what she missed most about being away from the game for one year and also if her game was 100% where she wanted it to be at this point. Serena answered with the following:
"You know, I just missed kind of winning. I love to win. I love being out there. You know, I think that kind of just motivates me..... I just I don't know. I just always want to keep improving everything in my game. I want to get to a point where I am doing better than I was before Wimbledon 2010. If I get it that point, I think I'll be pretty happy."
Yesterday, Serena was scheduled to play Samantha Stosur, in a rematch of their Final in Toronto which Serena won last Sunday. However, approximately 90 minutes before she was to take the court, Serena scheduled a press conference to announce that she was withdrawing from the tournament, citing a foot injury.
Following a question asking Serena if the injury was related to the foot injury she sustained in Germany last year, I asked her if she felt pain at any point in the match against Hradecka. Serena's reply:
"I felt it a little bit and I thought, you know, because I felt it before and I thought, Okay, this is normal But I don't think this is a good time for me to take a big chance. I just don't think that would be smart."
Next, I asked Williams if she would have continued to play a 3rd set if she lost the 2nd set:
"I would have continued to play, yeah. I definitely would have continued to play. Always."
Now Serena will have nearly a week and a half to get ready for the US Open. Here is her game plan in her own words:
"I have more opportunity to rest up and get 200% healthy, which could be a very dangerous thing."
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