Serena Williams probably won’t be back on court says former coach
Patrick Mouratoglou doesn’t expect Serena Williams to mount a serious comeback although he admits that he would love to see her compete at her best level again.
Mouratoglou helped mastermind the incredible latter portion of her Grand Slam winning career after joining her team in 2012.
He says that Serena Williams playing at her best is something that every tennis fan really wants to see.
“Do I want to see her play? I want to see her play again,” he told Eurosport.
“Yes, yes, if she enjoys herself on the court. For that, she has to feel strong. If she doesn’t feel strong, she won’t enjoy herself.
“I want to see her play good tennis. If she can play good tennis, of course, I want to see her play. Everyone wants to see her play!”
The coach who is now working closely with Holger Rune, who graduated from his Academy, believes that Serena Williams will only return to playing the game if she can give it her absolute all.
He feels that Williams will be kept far too busy away from the court to ever seriously contemplate a proper return.
“I think to be exceptional at something, and God knows she’s been exceptional, you have to be a little bit obsessive about it.
“You have to be 100% focused on the activity, otherwise even for tennis geniuses, it’s complicated.”
While Serena Williams may be disappointed with how her return to tennis from the birth of her daughter, Mouratoglou feels that the last legs of her stellar career will soon be forgotten.
“I think if she’s happy at the end of her career, that’s all that matters because nobody will remember the end of her career.
“You remember it now because it’s fresh, but everyone will remember what a champion she was, all the Grand Slams she won, the things she brought to tennis and how she made history. The end of her career is an anecdote.”
Williams won her last Grand Slam in 2017 while pregnant with her daughter.
She would play four more Grand Slam finals though, coming back to the sport only to lose the championship matches at 2018 and 2019 editions of both Wimbledon and the US Open.
Her 2017 Australian Open triumph came as she beat her sister Venus in a Major final for the eight time in ten meetings at that stage of Grand Slam.
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