Serena Williams is returning to singles action for the first time in 12 months at Wimbledon. However, her definition of a good tournament has not changed, as a reporter at her press conference discovered.
Williams's last appearance at SW19 ended in sad scenes. After slipping on the grass on center court during her opening round against Aliaksandra Sasnovich, she retired from the match and was subsequently sidelined for almost a year.
The 23-time Grand Slam champion made her long-awaited return to the sport by playing doubles alongside Ons Jabeur at the Eastbourne International. The pair reached the semifinals, but Jabeur had to withdraw with an injury at that stage.
This year's Wimbledon Championships will be the 40-year-old's first singles appearance since her retirement in London last year. Therefore, many fans do not consider Williams one of the favorites at the event this year.
Expectations being lower among some led to one journalist asking Williams what would represent a good tournament for her at the 2022 Wimbledon Championships. However, the journalist quickly discovered that the seven-time Wimbledon champion's mentality had not changed.
"You know the answer to that. Come on now!"
Willaims's response was delivered with a smirk and led to laughter among other journalists in the room. There was no animosity in her tone during the light-hearted moment.
However, it still demonstrates Williams's champion mindset. Having said that, she did acknowledge there was more to her life at the age of 40 than playing tournaments, including helping to run her venture company.
"A part of me feels like that is a little bit more of my life now than tournaments. When you do have a venture company, you do have to go all in. It definitely takes literally all my extra time. And it's fun. I'm currently out of office for the next few weeks, so if you email me, you'll get the nice 'out of office' reply. Everyone knows that I'll be back in a few weeks."