American tennis star Serena Williams, who was recently blessed with a baby girl, is upbeat to make a return to tennis in time to defend her title at the Australian Open in January, but her coach Patrick Mouratoglou has cleared that there would be no rush from his part.
Last month, Serena had revealed that she has set herself the most ‘outrageous’ goal of making a comeback at the Australian Open in January, something which will push her Grand Slam total to an all-time record-tying 24 titles.
A week after giving birth to her first child in West Palm Beach in Florida, her coach informed that she is still sticking up with the same plan.
“I’m incredibly happy for her. When she called me to tell me she was pregnant, in the same sentence she said: ‘I am pregnant, but… I’m not finished with tennis and I want you to wait for me,” the WTA website quoted Mouratoglou as saying.
“She says she still has things to achieve in tennis. She is both a tennis player and a mother, and she has to deal with both of them. She wants to be able to win Slams otherwise she will stop,” he further said.
However, the coach insisted that he had told Serena that if she would not be ready to play the Australian Open, there would be no pressure from his side.
“She told me a few months ago that her goal was to play the Australian Open. I told her: ‘Listen, if you are ready, you will play it. If you are not ready, no problem. No pressure. As soon as we feel she is ready to compete, she will. If that is Australia, that’s great. If it’s a bit later, that’s fine,” Mouratoglou added.
Describing Serena as a ‘champion’, Mouratoglou admitted that returning to the top of the game would be difficult for the former world number one, but not impossible.
“Because she is a champion, it is very difficult when you are used to being at the top of the game to accept being more average with all the respect I have for the players. That is the great challenge for the next months, year and maybe years. We will see,” he said.
“For Serena, anything is possible. I cannot put any kind of limit on her. Any time I’ve thought she won’t make it, she did. Which I don’t do any more,” the coach concluded.
Serena’ baby girl arrived on September 1 at St. Mary’s Medical Center in West Palm Beach, Florida, weighing in at 6 lbs., 13 oz.
