“Unwanted Blessing”: Serena Williams Delighted With Australian Open 2021 Delay

Published 02/01/2021, 6:21 AM EST

Twenty-three time Grand Slam winner Serena Williams is one of the most successful players in the modern era. The consistency maintained in her performances over these years is extraordinary. Along with her 23 Majors in singles, Serena has won 14 Majors in doubles and two Majors in the mixed doubles category too.

In the previous season, Serena withdrew from the French Open before her second-round match. The American star injured her Achilles and ended her season soon after. She recently made an interesting revelation, stating that the delay in the current season’s Australian Open gave her the time needed to recover from the injury.

Serena Williams: ‘Needed the time as I couldn’t practice due to the Achilles’

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The 39-year-old stated, “So whew, that was an unwanted blessing, but it was much needed for me. I definitely took that time to recover and to just do the best that I can and now it’s a lot better.” She further added, “It was great for me because I needed the time because I couldn’t practice because of my Achilles. I needed every time – I don’t think I would have been here if it was during the regular season.”

The COVID-19 global pandemic disrupted the tennis calendar, due to which there has been a delay with this season’s Australian Open. Williams felt that this was a blessing, or else there would’ve been a possibility of her missing this year’s event in Melbourne.

At the moment Serena is in Australia, playing at the WTA 500 Yarra Valley Classic event. She won her opening round match against Australia’s Daria Gavrilova, and she will face Tsvetana Pironkova in her next round.

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Serena says she might not have been able to play AO if it hadn’t been delayed, due to her achilles. "So whew, that was an unwanted blessing, but it was much needed for me. I definitely took that time to recover and to just do the best that I can and now it's a lot better.” pic.twitter.com/8J8QNE7NU7
— WTA Insider (@WTA_insider) February 1, 2021

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After this tournament, she will look to add to her 23 Grand Slam titles tally. Serena is one short of equaling Australian legend Margaret Court’s record of 24 Grand Slam titles. Williams won her last Major at the 2017 Australian Open.

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Rohan Kollare is a tennis author for EssentiallySports. Rohan has a post-graduate diploma in Sports Management and a trophy cabinet adorned with accolades won in district and state-level tennis competitions. He has previously worked in Content Operations for Disney’s Hotstar for over a year, covering tennis and Formula One.

“Unwanted Blessing”: Serena Williams Delighted With Australian Open 2021 Delay

Serena Williams: ‘Needed the time as I couldn’t practice due to the Achilles’

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