Serena Williams is still not sure whether she will play the Tokyo Olympics. The reasons are the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions and the fact that Grand Slams are making her schedule busy enough.
Chatting with the media at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia in Rome, Williams revealed that the Olympics were probably the last thing on her mind:
I haven’t really thought much about Tokyo, because it was supposed to be last year and now it’s this year, and then there is this pandemic and there is so much to think about.
Then there are the Grand Slams. It’s just a lot. So I have really been taking it one day at a time to a fault, and I definitely need to figure out my next moves.
Moreover, Williams doesn’t want to go to Japan if she can’t bring her daughter Olympia with her:
I haven’t spent 24 hours without her, so that kind of answers the question itself.
The 39-year-old Williams has won one Olympic gold medal in singles and three in doubles.
The news about Williams’ uncertainty about the Olympic Games comes at the same time as Naomi Osaka expressed concern whether the event should even take place because of the rising COVID-19 numbers in the Japanese capital.
The 23-time major champion Williams was spotted practicing in Rome on Monday, preparing for her first tournament since the 2021 Australian Open, where she lost in the semifinals to eventual champion Naomi Osaka. The American has a first-round bye this week and faces the winner of the match between 2020 Roland Garros quarterfinalist Laura Siegemund and 2020 Roland Garros semifinalist Nadia Podoroska. (source: BBC, photo: Jimmie48)
