Serena Williams’ prolific night on the court Wednesday at the 2022 U.S. Opeওn may have⭕ included a momentum-changing bathroom break.
When speaking to the press after her second-round victory against Estonia’s Anett Kontaveit, a reporter asked the 23-time Grand Slam champion if she did something in particular between sets, referencing how Nov🍸ak Djokovic pumps himself up by sp🍸lashing himself with water during breaks.
Williams’ response of, “I just got lighter… use your imagination,” elicited laughter from the room, and she even got a chuckle herself over follow-up remarks.
“But it wasn’t No. 2, so,” she continued with a smile.
Williams topped Kontaveit, 7-6 (7-4), 2-6, 6-2, in front of🥃 a star-studded crowd at Arthur Ashe S🉐tadium, where she also punched her ticket to a third-round match Friday against Australia’s Ajla Tomljanović.
“The experience was really good. You can only have this experience once in a lifetime, for sure,” said Williams. “I’ve been practicing really well, but it hasn’t been coming together in matches. But now it’s kind of coming together, I guess. I mean, I had to bring it together [Wednesday]. It worked out.”
This year’s U.S. Open is expected to be Williams’ last. The 40-year-old athlete Shortly after her first-round win Monday against Danka Kovinic, Williams likened her future to an “evolution.”
“I called it an evolution,” she said. “I have my VC company, Serena Ventures, we invest in a lot of people. I really want to spend more time at home and work on my spiritual life. It’s like Serena 2.0. It’s still gonna be crazy and intense.”
Williams has been m💖arried to Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian since 2017. They share a 5-year-old daughter, Alexis Olympia.