Patrick Mouratoglou feels Serena Williams’ inability to ‘express herself’ has ‘hurt’ her Grand Slam charge

Tennis News
Serena Williams looking ahead

Pressure and the fact that she “cannot express herself anymore” have contributed to Serena Williams’ failure to add to her Grand Slam tally over the past few years, according to her coach Patrick Mouratoglou.

The tennis great has been stuck on 23 majors since collecting the 2017 Australian Open title. However, she has reached four Grand Slam finals since returning to competitive tennis following the birth of her daughter Alexis Olympia, losing in two US Open and two Wimbledon finals.

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Mouratoglou gave his thoughts to Eurosport on Williams’ failure to get over the final hurdle in recent years to reach the magical No 24.

“If I knew the secret, I would make it a lot easier for Serena. But playing for a 24th title like Serena has been is a new pressure altogether, it is one match for history,” he said. “Sometimes, it is one set for history. This is the highest pressure possible.

“Even though these guys are the best in the world to deal with pressure, sometimes it is too much, sometimes it catches you, sometimes you get too nervous or too angry because the emotion is too difficult to control.

“When it comes to Serena, I think there have been some traumas in the last years – maybe she feels like she cannot express herself anymore and I don’t think it’s good for her. I think she is good when she is herself. I don’t feel like she is authorising herself to be herself in several moments in big finals and I think this hurt her.”

Williams has not played competitive tennis since injurying herself in the first round at Wimbledon with the 40-year-old withdrawing from the US Open in order to give her body time to heal.

Patrick Mouratoglou Serena Williams

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