Widely regarded as the favorite to win the French Open this year, Serena Williams was knocked-out in the first round by little-known French player Virginie Razzano. This was the first time ever Serena lost a Grand Slam in the first round, and it was especially shocking since she was 17-0 this season on clay.
While Razanno deserves tremendous credit for beating Serena, and this is undoubetly the biggest win of her career, this seems like another classic Serena breakdown. Serena is usually is able to pull it together, but it certainly did not happen this time.
It began in the second-set tiebreaker. Serena stopped play during a point where she thought the ball went long and began arguing with the Chair umpire. The same Chair umpire Serena clashed with during last year’s US Open final when Serena was penalized for yelling “Come on!” during a rally and ended up losing the match.
Serena lost the tiebreaker, burst into tears during the changeover between sets and began murmering to herself on the court. I have observed that when Serena starts talking to herself for motivation it usually results in a massive comeback, but it wasn’t so this time.
During the final set, Serena failed to convert on eight match points before succumbing to defeat. Let’s hope Serena can put this loss behind her and focus on the Olympics and Wimbledon ahead!
-K



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