Serena William moves along with her game in Australia without the support of her fans in the stadium
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Williams qualified to the fourth round on Friday by defeating Anastasia Potapova with two set points and mastered uncertain strokes. Their score is 7-6 (5) and 6-2.
There will be no audiences except Serena Williams who is supposed to be a part of the weekend action at the Australian Open.
Due to the surprising and unpredictable spread of Covid-19 in the Melbourne hotel, audience permission is denied by the government. Rules of not allowing the fan to enter the tournament will be implemented for five days starting from Saturday although an unpredictable and interesting match amused an unexceptional crowd in Rod Laver Arena. No other tournament in the year had allowed this huge crowd except the grand slam tournament.
William came to know about the prohibition of the audience after her match.
She told ESPN that it’s saddening to know that there will be no audience for five days. But she needs to continue anyhow. In 2017, at the Australian Open, Williams who is 39 years old gained victory in her 23rd game. She is looking forward to trying the record of Margaret court of 24 grand slam championships.
She was stamped out in the third round at Melbourne last year and continued to lose till Potapova who is 19 years of age became discouraged. Potapova was smashed when she double-faulted five times in spite of holding two set points. Nevertheless, the score stood at 5-4.
Potapova carried out a compelling mistake on the closing three points which was another grave opportunity she wasted for the tiebreaker. Before the exhausted Potapova went wrong on the forehand and ended the game, Williams took the chance to play an eye-catching defence by expanding a 21 shot rally.
Williams had the game on her side and enjoyed it till the end and entertained the audiences as she followed a drop shot at the net, withdrew to rescue the pitch, and watched Potapova hit high up into the net.
Williams said with a smile on her face that she may not have been playing her best today but she still owns the wheels. According to her the only thing that kept her in the match that was her playing defence.
In spite of performing 31 unseen mistakes and missing serve thrice, William came out as the champion eventually.
She accepted that it was a strange day for her because sometimes some matches are meant to get through them. They are supposed to be forgotten and moving on. In the past, she admitted to being hard on herself for which she found it difficult to move on. But she is eventually learning to do so.
She is preparing herself for the next match to play with Aryna Sabalenka. She was qualified for the 16th round of grand slam tournament and won over American Ann li with the score of 6-3,6-1.
Sabalenka was proven as the best when in the US open of 2018, she achieved the fourth-round berth. She is the only woman yet to reach the major quarterfinals among the other 16 candidates.
Sabalenka said in one of her interviews that she indeed wants to play exceptionally in the grand slams and reach beyond her limits. She is trying to expose her playing talents in the big stadium and display her best.
