After losing to 19-year-old Bianca Andreescu during the U.S. Women’s final on Saturday, tennis superstar Serena Williams admitted at a press conference to reporters that she didn’t perform like herself.
Williams said she felt disappointed after the 6-3, 7-5 game and considered it to be her ‘worst match’, People reports.
“I love Bianca, I think she’s a great girl, but I think this is the worst match I’ve played all tournament,” Williams said. “And it’s hard to know that you could do better. It’s inexcusable for me to play at that level.”
In what is Williams’ second loss to Andreescu in less than a month after having to forfeit the 2019 Rogers Cup finals because of back spasms, Williams reflected on her performance saying that she could have done things “a little bit better.”
“I could have just been more Serena today,” the veteran tennis player said. “I honestly don’t think Serena showed up and I have to figure out how to get her to show up.”
Williams has not had a major win since 2017 when she won the Australian Open. When she won, she was pregnant with her daughter Alexis Olympia. Many expected that the U.S. Women’s final match on Saturday to be her first major win since returning from maternity leave.
“I can definitely say I’m not really happy, but I have to take it one moment at a time,” Williams told The Undefeated. “I honestly didn’t play my best. … It’s inexcusable for me to play at that level.”
Nonetheless, Williams is not going to let this defeat stop her from climbing her way back to the top. Considered by many to be one of the greatest athletes of our time, she intends on making a bold comeback.
“I’m so close, so close, so close and yet so far away,” Williams said “I don’t know what to say, I guess I gotta keep going if I wanna be a professional tennis player. I gotta keep fighting through it.”
