French Open 2020: What now for Serena Williams after injury? Will she ever win Grand Slam No 24?
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Updated 30/09/2020 at 18:09 GMT
After withdrawing from Roland Garros due to injury, what's next for Serena Williams? And will she ever win Grand Slam No 24 and equal Margaret Court’s record? Williams has suggested she won't play again in 2020 after pulling out of her match against Tsvetana Pironkova and her next opportunity to win a Grand Slam will be the Australian Open, which starts on January 18.
Serena Williams
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No 24. It’s still hanging there, waiting to be claimed by Serena Williams. But will she ever equal – or surpass - Margaret Court’s Grand Slam record?
While the debate over whether Williams needs to win No 24 to cement her place as the greatest of all time will rage on, it’s looking more and more unlikely she won't do it. Following her withdrawal from Roland Garros, she will have to wait at least another four months to have the opportunity to win another Grand Slam at the Australian Open - if it goes ahead as planned, and if Williams decides to compete.
The 39-year-old injured her Achilles during her US Open semi-final defeat to Victoria Azarenka in New York and, speaking after withdrawing from her second-round match at Roland Garros, it sounds like she will not play again in 2020.
“I think I need four to six weeks of sitting and doing nothing and at least just two weeks of sitting down," she said. "After the two weeks I've been told I need to do a little training. I don’t know if I’ll be able to play another tournament this year.”
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At the moment the Australian Open is scheduled to start on January 18, with players likely to be put in a ‘bubble’ as they have been at the US Open and French Open this year. Whether there will be fans remains to be seen; it could be that there will be limited numbers allowed in and perhaps none from overseas.
But players will also have to adhere to Australia’s quarantine protocols, which could require them to isolate for a week or two weeks.
So how will Williams plan her schedule?
In a season that could again be disrupted due to Covid-19 – and considering she is in her 40th year - she will surely have a well-planned approach. Whether that includes the Australian Open may depend on how well she recovers from her current injury.
She has won seven of her 23 Grand Slam titles in Melbourne, with her last victory coming in 2017. She missed the tournament in 2018 and has made the quarter-finals and third round in her last two appearances.
There’s also the postponed Olympics to consider in 2021. The tennis event is set to begin in Tokyo on July 24, just two weeks after the end of Wimbledon. Williams has won four gold medals—one in singles and three in doubles – and, speaking earlier this year, her sister Venus made it clear that she would love to compete at the Olympics again.
“(If) I'm blessed enough to play again, that would be an amazing opportunity. In a perfect world, (Serena and I) will be there," she said. "(We’ve) had a lot of success in doubles. That's been a real highlight in my career.”
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Of course, that was before Covid-19 hit and the Olympics were postponed until 2021, by which time Venus will be 41.
One thing does seem clear; Serena isn’t planning to quit anytime soon.
“I love playing tennis," she said after withdrawing from Roland Garros. "I love competing. It’s my job and I’m pretty good at it still. I’m so close to some things and I feel like I’m almost there.”
But is she close to No 24?
In New York she made the semi-finals having already come through three three-set matches in a row. Prior to that she was beaten in the second round of the Western & Southern Open and the quarter-finals of the Top Seed Open. She reached the finals of Wimbledon and the US Open in 2018 and 2019 but was beaten in straight sets in all four matches and hasn't won a major since the Australian Open in 2017.
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Williams may be the greatest of all time – and Eurosport’s Mats Wilander called her “the greatest competitor on a tennis court ever” after her first-round win at Roland Garros - but it’s fair to question whether she is the greatest now. Her recent results would not suggest so.
Speaking at the US Open, Wilander said that “Serena is most probably losing a little bit of ground to the field every time a Grand Slam comes around”. That certainly doesn’t bode well for her chances in 2021, even though nobody has yet stepped up to replace her as the dominant figure at the top of the rankings.
If Williams is to win another Slam, where will it be? Probably not in Paris, where she has only won three times.
“It was a major challenge for Serena to do well at Roland-Garros,” says two-time French Open finalist Alex Corretja. “Probably the toughest for her to win overall. You have to take your hat off to her though for being here, it’s amazing. She is trying to win another major, she put the effort in to go back on clay knowing the conditions were going to difficult for her, heavy balls are probably the worst, especially on clay.
“Still, she went to Paris, she tried, but unfortunately she could not make it. I really hope that she gets the chance next year, a full year, to see how far she can go because I still feel she has the fuel in the tank.”
Fuel in the tank maybe, but does Williams still have the quality to win No 24? Only time will tell.
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