16th January, 2013
Serena Williams despite picking up an injury during a game with Romania’s Edina Gallovits-Hall at the ongoing Australian Open Tennis Championship, she spoke to the official website of the tourney that she would like to play through injury with a view to win the ladies’ title.
The fact you came in with no crutches on is a good start for us. How is the leg?
I haven’t had enough time to assess it yet. Saw the doctor again. We’re just going to see how it is in a few hours from now.
So Thursday is too early to call, whether you can play Thursday?
Oh, I’ll be out there. 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.
When you went over, did it remind you of Brisbane last year?
Absolutely. It reminded me a lot of Brisbane. I thought, Oh, not again. But, you know, I’ve had such a good year that I don’t think it’s anything negative. I just think that I was definitely a little bit in shock and I was thinking, I hope it’s not as serious, because it was really serious last year.
Is there any pain or swelling there now?
Obviously there’s pain. Obviously there’s swelling. So it’s going to be really important to see how things unfold.
When you were down on the court for a while, how much of that was it actually hurting and how much was the memory rushing back to you?
It was definitely a lot of pain. Also a little bit of the memory, as well. So it was definitely a little bit of both.
But also at the same time trying to gather myself together and trying to make sure that I can continue.
What do you think it says about how well you’ve been playing lately that you have this happen to you in the middle of a match and you still win 6 Love, 6 Love in less than an hour?
I don’t know. At that point I think I really started to focused. For me, when I was injured, I just thought, just relax. Have nothing to lose at that point, so I just started swinging freely.
I don’t know if it says I’m a good player, I’m an average player. I don’t go by that. I just feel like I was just out there to swing and do what I could.
You’ve seen some pretty serious injuries before. Is there something that switches on in your head, I’m injured, this is what I’m going to do?
Absolutely. I’ve been injured before. I’ve played this tournament with so many injuries and was able to come off pretty on top. So for me it’s just another page and a great story to tell the grandkids one day.
When you were on the ground lying there, do you have to tell yourself, Do not panic?
Absolutely. I think I was really, really close to panicking because a very similar thing happened to me last year, almost on the same side, the same shot.
So I almost panicked, and I thought, I can’t do that. I just have to really remain calm and think things through.
Have the medical people indicated whether you’ll need a scan or an x ray?
That’s definitely optional. I’m going to play it by ear. I would love to see how things go, and then I’m going to decide what to do next at that stage.
Do you wrap your own ankle? Seems like you knew pretty much exactly what you wanted?
No. I do a lot for practice, I have for a lot of exhibitions, sometimes for doubles. I’m a renowned ankle taper (smiling). I know exactly what to do. I’ve been taping my ankles for my whole career, so I hope I know how to do it.
Are you still going to play doubles with Venus?
Yeah, absolutely. Again, unless something fatal happens to me, I hope not. I’m going to be on the doubles court, too. I’m not here to make excuses; I’m here to play.
How did it actually happen? Did your foot slip on the court or it just rolled?
I don’t know. I don’t know. I have no idea. I just remember it going over, but I don’t remember how. I have to see if it’s on the film. But I don’t know if they even got it on TV.
Would you rather not know what the exact damage is and just play with the pain for the rest of the tournament?
Honestly, yeah, really, because I would really rather not know. I know one year I won this tournament and had two bone bruises in both knees. I had no idea. I just knew I was in pain.
I think sometimes what you don’t know cannot hurt you.
How do you get to the point where you say to yourself, Oh, it’s perfectly okay for me to run out wide on my forehand; I’m not going to worry about rolling the ankle?
You know, I have a day. I have a day to work on it. At this point it’s not a lot of time. But I’m not 18 years old where I want to sit this one out or I don’t have to run to the forehand.
I feel like with my experience, I feel like I’ve gone through a lot, and that I just have to mentally adapt. I’ve been able to mentally adapt to a lot of things.
You know, I think it will be a good challenge and almost a good game for me to mentally adapt to this.