Serena Williams says hamstring “better”; details “noise” of the moment
The American has not played since she tore her hamstring at Wimbledon earlier this summer
AI / Reuters / Panoramic
The good news for fans of Serena Williams is that she says her hamstring injury is “better”. The not so good news is that we don’t know when she will be back on the tennis court.
The 23-times Grand Slam champion has not played in competition since she tore her hamstring in the first round at Wimbledon earlier this summer and the American, who turned 40 in September, is running out of time if she’s to be fit for the new season.
In an interview on the Jimmy Kimmel Live on Thursday night, Williams, whose ranking has fallen to No 41, said she was on the mend.
“The hamstring is better,” Williams said, as she promoted the new film about the life of the Williams sisters, King Richard, on Thursday. “It took a long time. It took forever, but it’s much better now.”
Serena on Wimbledon injury: “I heard this noise”
Williams suffered her injury after just a few games of her first-round battle with Aliaksandra Sasnovich and knew right away that it was serious.
“I tore it at Wimbledon,” she said. “I was actually winning and I went for a shot and I heard this noise and I was like ‘oh no’. I felt it but I felt like OK, let me just keep trying, but it was bad and I was like, ‘oh man’. I love the grass, it’s something special walking out at Wimbledon, wearing all white and being on the green grass (but) it just wasn’t for me this year.”
On pulling out of US Open: “It was sad to miss that one”
Williams said she had worked hard to try to be fit for the US Open but was not able to play, pulling out on the eve of the event, with coach Patrick Mouratoglou detailing at the time that to have played it would have been to risk further injury.
Williams said she was doubly disappointed to miss the US Open.
“It was sad to miss that one,” she said. “It was really sad. I had the most awesome outfit too. I put in extra effort to try to make it but it didn’t work out.”
It remains to be seen if Williams will be back on court in time for the Australian Open in mid-January. When asked by Kimmel if she would be ready for the tournament, she said: “Yeah, I’m definitely…” only to stop when the audience cheered. She did not return to the subject at any time in the rest of the interview.
Williams needs one more Grand Slam title to equal the all-time record of 24 held by Margaret Court, a record she’s been chasing since she returned to the WTA Tour in 2018 following the birth of her daughter, Olympia.
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