Leading 4-0 against Edina Gallovits-Hall in the first round of the Australian Open, Serena Williams fell while chasing a ball and twisted her right ankle. Her already heavily taped ankle was treated and re-taped multiple times from then on, but the outcome of the match does not suggest Williams was in any disadvantage as she scored a 6-0 6-0 victory. Actually, in the second set her opponent won just six points.
After the match, the 31-year-old ensured us that, despite the pain and swelling, nothing can stop her from pushing herself to win her third straight Grand Slam title:
I mean, unless something fatal happens to me, there’s no way I’m not going to be competing. I’m alive. My heart’s beating. I’ll be fine.
More fuel for the mythologisers, sheesh. But I do hope she doesn’t get over-confident and really bugger her ankle up completely, that would be silly.
A reporter ask serena after the injury scare: “you will play the doubles competition or u prefer to rest ur ankle??” …Serena answer: “I am here to play not to give excuses!!! i will be playing all my matches despite the pain”… WHAT A CHAMPION
Unfortunate and might be the only hope for all the others! I’m sure it won’t affect her in the next few rounds, but may become a factor in the latter stages.
Disappointed to see Pavlyuchenkova go out today to Tsurenko. Hopefully she can build on her performance in Brisbane and have a solid 2013. Kudos to Date-Krumm too with the most shocking scoreline of the day over Petrova!