Tennis-Serena ready to return for clay swing after intense training
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[May 10, 2021]
(Reuters) - Serena Williams will
this week play her first match since her Australian Open semi-final
exit in February but the American does not feel unprepared for the
WTA 1000 event having had enough practice before arriving in Rome.
The 39-year-old said she felt "pretty fresh" ahead of the claycourt
swing as she prepares for the French Open, which starts at the end
of May.
"I trained for the past two-and-a-half weeks at Patrick's (coach
Mouratoglou's) academy, and then training a lot on the clay in the
United States with team members," she told reporters in Rome on
Monday.
"So we had an intense, several weeks of training, very intense.
"I feel good. I'm in Rome. I'm going to have some good matches here
hopefully, and then I will be at another Grand Slam which always
makes me excited."
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Roland Garros has been the least rewarding of the four majors for
Williams, who won the last of her 23 Grand Slam titles at the
Australian Open in 2017 before giving birth to her daughter.
She will probably fancy her chances more on the grasscourts of
Wimbledon, which will return with a raft of changes due to the
COVID-19 pandemic this year after being cancelled last year for the
first time since World War II.
Players at this year's Wimbledon can have a maximum of three in
their entourage and will have to stay in designated hotels, rather
than the plush private housing around the All England Club that top
competitors prefer.
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![](../images/051021pics/tennis%20serena_small.jpg)
Serena Williams of the U.S. in action
during her semi final match against Japan's Naomi Osaka
REUTERS/Kelly Defina/File Photo
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"I feel like it will be a good
experience still," said Williams, who has won the women's singles
title at Wimbledon seven times. "We have been through this all last
year, having actually sometimes some tournaments a maximum of two.
"So thank goodness that I have experienced it before so I can kind
of be ready for it.
"It's definitely going to be different staying in the city. It's
going to be really nice, for one, but then it will be, like, 'Oh, I
have to leave an hour in advance instead of five minutes."
(Reporting by Sudipto Ganguly in Mumbai; editing by Ken Ferris)
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