Four Grand Slams into her comeback as a parent and the blows are accumulating for Serena Williams.
They have come in various shapes and forms but are adding up as that record-equalling 24th major title remains elusive. And with each setback she takes, the likelihood increases that landing another big one might be tantalisingly beyond her grasp.
That has to be the conclusion after an exit from the Australian Open which was a reminder that spirit, as well as the body, can be frayed by the ageing process.
Four Grand Slams into comeback as parent and blows are accumulating for Serena Williams
At Roland Garros she got injured and at Wimbledon she was outplayed in the final by Angelique Kerber. Within the confines of Flushing Meadows she was not only soundly beaten at that same stage, by Naomi Osaka, she lost control in the process.
There was a meltdown of a different sort in her Australian Open quarter-final, one of historic proportions, Williams losing six consecutive games from 5-1 up to lose 7-5 in the decider to Karolina Pliskova. To her credit, Williams was relatively sanguine on this occasion and immediately played down suggestions that a nasty ankle turn on the first of her four match points had anything to do with the result.
As ever, the tournament is less dramatic for her absence, especially as the defeat ruled out a rematch against Osaka.
Williams remains the sport’s most compelling soap opera, from her quest to win another Slam as a mother to outfits which defiantly spell out: ‘This is my body and I am very comfortable with it.’ You suspect one reason she is falling short, if only marginally, may well be tied up with something rather more prosaic.
The 37-year-old American simply does not play enough tournaments and matches and while a sparing schedule may have worked for her when she was at her physical peak, that may no longer be the case.
This was only her eighth main WTA Tour event since she returned early last year and her first since the US Open in the early part of September. Pliskova, by comparison, had already played and won the Brisbane International this season before getting four more matches under her belt prior to Wednesday’s shock.
Williams lost six consecutive games from 5-1 up to lose 7-5 in decider to Karolina Pliskova
When asked about this area, Williams contradicted herself in double quick time, even by the standards of someone who often comes out with diametrically opposite things in the same press conference.
First she insisted that she had not even discussed her future schedule with coach Patrick Mouratoglou, saying: ‘We’re kind of just going with the flow.’ Responding to the next question she admitted that she might, after all, know where she was playing and that her next appearance would likely be at Indian Wells in March.
Closing out matches is a habit that forms. Yet it was nonetheless extraordinary that she was unable to do so, however well the Czech responded when faced with a seemingly hopeless situation.
This was an enormous collapse by anyone’s standards, the kind once associated with the late Jana Novotna, and unique for Williams since she became a great champion. At this same stage of the Australian Open 18 years ago she lost from 4-1 up in the decider against Martina Hingis. At Wimbledon 2013 she led Germany’s Sabine Lisicki 3-0 before being overhauled.
It is possible to think that the experience of the US Open, and the opprobrium which accompanied it, may have had an effect. Williams is prone to getting highly animated when she is trying to dredge every last effort out of herself but there was an absence of that as she succumbed meekly from missing three match points at 5-4.
Pliskova celebrates following her victory over Williams in quarter-final match on Wednesday
She hinted at this later, and at her relative lack of matchplay, saying: ‘It’s little things like I used to do, always do. I need matches to know that, “OK, this is when you go psycho, when you have match point”. It’s a good learning experience to know the next time that I have match point, like, “OK, just go bananas on it”.’
The problem with this kind of result is that it is of a type that damages her aura and makes her look more human and fallible. Away from the court her public sharing of the highs and lows of motherhood have never made her seem more like any normal person, but upon it she has retained a huge scare factor for other players.
And then there is simply age. There have been times this fortnight when her movement has been made to look flat and cumbersome, such as in the first set by Pliskova. There was no suggestion that she would give up her pursuit of top honours, even though any informed observer knows that her 23 Grand Slam singles titles are already worth way more than the 24 won by Margaret Court, who played in a far less international era.
‘The big picture for me is always winning,’ said Williams. ‘I’m not going to sit here and lie about that. It hasn’t happened yet, but I feel like it’s going to happen. Just keep taking it one match at a time, just keep soldiering on, I guess.’
