Tennis legend Kim Clijsters has claimed that the returning legend Serena Williams will take on Wimbledon with the intent of making a serious impact rather than just treating the Slam as a nostalgic family vacation. Clijsters believes that the locker room should stay on high alert, as the 44-year-old legend has already displayed great skills since her return and could put up a tough fight against the young draws.
Clijsters recently hosted the tennis reporter Blair Henley on her show, the “Love All Podcast,” where the pair spoke about a wide range of things and spent the latter part of the show analyzing Serena Williams’ chances at the upcoming Wimbledon. While touching base on Williams’ on-court abilities, the four-time Grand Slam champion, Clijsters, explained that Williams’ approach is anything but ceremonial.
“She’s taking it on as if she’s there to go and cause damage. She’s not there just to be a part of it and enjoy taking her family to Wimbledon and try to play a match, she’s taking it on with an approach of causing damage,” (39:40).
She then spoke about her excitement of getting to see Williams back in action and was positive that the crowd would surely relish her return:
“I can’t wait for her to get fired up and get excited about playing and hit incredible shots, so it’ll be really interesting and fun to watch and the crowds gonna really love it.”
Serena Williams first accepted a doubles wildcard for Wimbledon to partner with her sister, Venus Williams, and a few days later, was also handed the singles wildcard for the main draw.
Kim Clijsters’ Honest Assessment of Serena Williams’ Game Play
During the same episode of her podcast, Clijsters offered her balanced perspective on Serena Williams’ gameplay. She believes that Williams might not display the skills as she used to during her prime, but she still possesses the required abilities, especially her serve, which could give her opponents a hard time.
“I don’t think we can expect her to play tennis with her eyes closed and everything is going to fall into place. I don’t think we can expect the Serena that we once saw. But I think that with the type of tennis that she is capable of playing on grass, rallies are shorter, she has a great serve, and she has a great return, so the first two shots of the rally, she’s so good at seeing the ball,” (37:55).
She continued:
“Things that I would worry about more was, how is her reaction? Like, how is her eyesight like that? you can train and you can get fit and everything, but it’s those kind of things are will start to slow down as well And how fast will we be able to or how quickly we’ll be be able to notice a difference compared to a few years ago.”
Clijsters also praised Williams’ recent grass-court wins, and it remains to be seen if the returning legend could bring back her signature gameplay into the biggest Grand slam of the year.
Read more:
Venus Williams Reveals Why She Had No Advice For Serena Williams After Learning About Her Comeback
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