In the docu-series In The Arena: Serena Williams, the former tennis legend revealed what was the hardest defeat to stomach of her entire career
Serena Williams has written tennis history, in a profound way. I’ve always said it: as far as I’m concerned, she is the GOAT of women’s tennis, the greatest tennis player ever, teh Queen. A lethal mix of power, technique, mental ferocity.
But even the former American superstar has had dark moments in her career. More than one, to tell the truth, but perhaps there is one in particular that she has never overcome. A trauma so strong that her psychotherapist advised her not to talk about it anymore, as revealed in her docu-series In The Arena: Serena Williams.
It is the semifinal of the 2015 US Open; the unpredictable defeat against Roberta Vinci, who she led to the first historic all-Italian final in a Major. Serena was racing to complete the Grand Slam that year after winning the Australian Open, Roland Garros and Wimbledon. And New York seemed like the perfect chance to write history, in front of her crowd.
In the semifinals against an outsider, with a possible final against another outsider. Vinci gave Serena a priceless tennis lesson that day (priceless also for the ticket holders for the final…), sending the nervous system of the legendary American into a tailspin. Serena who, at least until the first set, seemed launched like a charging lioness towards history and the record she deserved.
That was the biggest sporting trauma suffered by the American who, in a passage of In The Arena: Serena Williams, said:
“I don’t think I’ve gotten over that loss at the US Open. I was so angry, so sad and so disappointed in myself. There was no one with 21 Slams at the time, but it wasn’t enough for me. It doesn’t end like in the movies. And, no matter how much I feel it could and should. No matter what I could do differently, it wasn’t my story. Winning is so glamorous and everyone thinks it’s so great when you win. It is, it really is. But, the more you win, the harder it becomes to lose,” she said.
We also recall that in one of the most significant passages of In the Arena, Serena also talked about the death of her sister Yetunde, revealing what the hardest part was.
“I think the hardest part was telling the kids. I just remember that one time we were in an apartment and we played a game of one. We’ve become so close over the last six months. We’ve been able to spend so much time together and it’s been a time I’ll never forget. Going to Australia, I was in a really bad place emotionally. I was dealing with a lot of things and I wasn’t dealing with them well. I just remember being in Australia and playing and playing and trying not to think about Yetunde, but you can’t not think about her because she’s always on your mind,” she said.
The American also talked about how difficult her career has been and how much prejudice she’s had to face.
“It just makes you a girl with a butt and a small waist. The consensus was that I was a big fat cow. They were used to seeing women who didn’t have bodies, and I was a black woman with a body, and that doesn’t make you bad, or that doesn’t make you good,” she explained.
Recently the American, in an interview with ET, explained that she has always lived in the spotlight and that only now is she trying to understand who she really is away from the court.
“I was so intense on the court, wanting to be perfect all the time, which obviously isn’t possible. If I could go back, I would tell myself to take a deep breath and relax more. I think that would have helped me a lot. The journey has been incredible, but I was so young when I started playing tennis on the big tour and became a professional. I don’t know if that changed me or shaped me as a person,” said Serena.
“Now I’m trying to figure out who I am off the camera. I’ve been in the spotlight 24/7 for 27 years. It’s different now, but it’s time to figure out how that has affected me. Most people only see the Grand Slam wins, the finals, but they don’t see the training and everything behind it. All that intensity that I’ve always put on the court is now directed at my daughters,” she added.
