Home

Tennis

Former Coach Snubs Serena Williams to Vouch for an Australian WTA Player Over a Prestigious Year-End Accolade

Published 11/23/2022, 1:53 PM EST

Follow Us

Serena Williams retired in 2022, but she did it by making sure that she had improved her performance in 2022. This led to her nomination for the WTA Comeback of the Year award in 2022. However, her coach and friend, Rennae Stubbs, does not think that American legend deserves it. She feels that another competitor, Daria Saville, is the most eligible player for the award.

Moreover, she also considered another competitor, Donna Vekic, who she feels has improved her performance significantly.

ADVERTISEMENT

Article continues below this ad

Serena Williams’ former coach Rennae Stubbs vouches for Daria Seville over the American tennis legend

The American tennis star Serena Williams made a comeback in the grass-court season in 2022. Before that, she last played at Wimbledon in 2021. There she suffered a hamstring injury and was off the court for some time. The WTA Comeback Player of the Year award is given to the player who made a significant impact after a long break. Along with Serena Williams, Daria Saville, Donna Vekic, and Tatjana Maria are also nominated for the award.

via Reuters

Williams’ coach during her final run at the US Open 2022, Rennae Stubbs, however, vouched for Daria Saville. Saville had an Achilles tendon surgery in 2021, due to which she did not take part in the tournaments. But this time, she came back stronger than ever and secured a rank in the Top 100 after 2019 for the first time.

Trending

Get instantly notified of the hottest Tennis stories via Google! Click on Follow Us and Tap the Blue Star.

Follow Us

She improved her ranking by performing astoundingly well at the Citi Open, where she reached the semi-finals. Moreover, she also reached the quarter-finals at the Miami Open, and finals at the Granby National Bank Open Championships.

She stated, “no, should be Daria…..Love Donna and she had a great come back but Dasha deserves this one.” Furthermore, when a fan vouched for Vekic, she replied, “Dasha had a Achilles and a#foot surgeries. She’s has so many surgery’s in the last 3 years and what she didn’t his year was INCREDIBLE!”

ADVERTISEMENT

Article continues below this ad

Williams’ run on the WTA Tour in 2022

Serena Williams made her comeback by teaming up with the incumbent world no.2 Ons Jabeur in the doubles category at the Eastbourne International. After that, Williams suffered an unfortunate first-round loss at Wimbledon during her return to singles. After similar results in the Canadian and Cincinnati Open, she announced her retirement.

The US Open was to be her last tournament, and that significantly raised the expectations of fans. Despite going into the tournament after a poor run of form, Serena looked at her best in her first two matches. The 23-time Grand Slam champion outplayed the then world no.2 Anett Kontaveit in the second round. Although her run ended in the very next round, her performance did capture the hearts of the entire sporting world.

ADVERTISEMENT

Article continues below this ad

WATCH THIS STORY: Serena Williams once revealed her dislike for money but made a huge exception for her daughter Olympia

Do you think Serena Williams deserves to win the WTA Comeback of the Year Award? Please let us know in the comments below.

SHARE THIS ARTICLE :

Written by:

Shivali Sharma

1,438Articles

One take at a time

Shivali Sharma is a tennis author at EssentiallySports. She has pursued her Master's in history from Himachal University, but her love for the game has driven her to write about tennis. Shivali is a huge fan of Naomi Osaka and admires Osaka not only for her on-court performances, but also for her off-court actions.
Show More>

Edited by:

Tony Thomas