Rising from a young phenom to a record-breaking champion, Serena Williams’ success story has been an inspiration to all of us. She grew up in Compton, where she and her elder sister Venus Williams learned to play tennis on gritty public courts under the strict supervision of her father Richard Williams. Right from a very young age, they were “brainwashed” to become number one. Challenges were plenty, but both these sisters overcame all those hurdles with a broad smile on their faces. As we all know, when the going gets tough, the tough get going! According to Serena’s lines, “I just never give, I fight to the end.” However, recently her former coach, Patrick Mouratoglou, recalled an instance when the tennis star had intended to bring an end to her career. But why?

Serena Williams officially retired from the sport in September 2022, but while making this announcement, she revealed how badly she hated the word “retirement.” Instead, she chose to “evolve” away from the sport. “I have never liked the word retirement. It doesn’t feel like a modern word to me.” But what really pushed her to think of bringing an end to her career in 2012? This season was pretty interesting for Serena, and while speaking on this just a few weeks ago, in an interview, Mouratoglou highlighted the champion mentality of Serena Williams.

The Frenchman said, “We started together in 2012. She didn’t win a Grand Slam for 2 years when we started, and she lost in the first round of the Roland Garros, and then she called me, and then we started the next tournament in Wimbledon. And she won Wimbledon in singles and doubles, and then she won the Olympics three weeks later. Gold medal in singles and doubles! Then we go to the US Open, she wins the US Open, and at the end of the season, she wins the Masters, and she comes back to number one.” After finishing the year with seven WTA singles titles and two Grand Slam triumphs, Williams expressed her sadness over missing out on the chance of winning Roland Garros for ten long years and asked Mouratoglou to make a plan for her.

Interestingly, a year later, she won the French Open title, and after winning that, Mouratoglou revealed that Williams was like, “Now we have to win Wimbledon.” So that’s how deeply engrossed she was in winning. Recalling some of the moments from 2012 during an interview on Tennis Channel, Patrick Mouratoglou shed light on his disciple’s difficult times. “She lost in the first round of Roland Garros, but also two years without winning a Grand Slam, which is a lot for Serena. She told me, ‘I just want to win one more and potentially end my career.’ Because she was not playing great for two years. I mean, not to her standards. Let’s say it like this.“

However, he further mentioned that “It was a short-term thing at the time, but because she won Wimbledon and right after two gold medals, singles and doubles at the Olympics. And then again at the US Open, and then at the WTA championship at the end of the season. And then she completely forgot about potentially retiring. And then it was a lot about motivation. After she won several more, we talked about the records of Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova, and the goal was to beat this one. And then, of course, after Steffi Graf.“

With this, he yet again highlighted how she always had a “big goal” in her mind that always kept motivating and helped her go one step further before stopping her journey. Together in their ten-year partnership, Patrick Mouratoglou helped Serena Williams clinch ten more Grand Slam titles in her career. He has seen her highs and lows, and according to Mouratoglou, Novak Djokovic is currently facing a similar situation, which Williams faced in the early phases of the 2012 season. What did he say about this, though?

Patrick Mouratoglou explains Novak Djokovic’s recent struggles by drawing parallels with Serena Williams

Novak Djokovic has been struggling to win titles over the last twelve months. This year, his win-loss record is 10-6, and this is something that the tennis world is not used to with the 24-time Grand Slam champion. What could be the reason behind his struggles? In March this year, he stated that although he wants to “keep going” at times, he feels “unmotivated” and “less inspired” to travel and play. Then a month later, he was heard saying, “If I’m not motivated, I’m not here. I don’t play anymore. I put the racket to rest.“

What can be the real issue behind this? Serena Williams‘ ex-coach Rennae Stubbs recently expressed her concern with the Serb after seeing his early exit from the Madrid Open. Seeing his straight-set defeat to the number 44, Matteo Arnaldi, Stubbs claimed Djokovic has “hit a wall” and then raised a question mark, saying, “How do you get that confidence back? You have to win, and I worry the motivation is gone.“

Recently, Serena Williams’ other former coach, Patrick Mouratoglou, drew a similarity between his struggles with Williams in the early phases of the 2012 season. He said, “We see it with Novak now. That’s his big struggle. It’s not about his tennis, it’s just about him being…it’s very obvious when he plays matches and probably when he practices. Yeah, what’s his goal now that he found out how to win more Slams than how two big rivals, who were Roger [Federer] and Rafa [Nadal]? That’s the challenge.”

Amid all of these, Novak Djokovic has pulled out his name from the Italian Open. Do you think the three-time champion (2016,2021,2023) can make a strong comeback at the French Open?