Wimbledon isn’t child’s play for new mum Serena

LONDON, July 3 — Serena Williams admits she is still adjusting to the unique challenge of chasing an eighth Wimbledon title while making time for her baby daughter. Williams is back at Wimbledon for the first time since giving birth to Alexis Olympia in September and the former world number m88 one is having to get used to the increased demands on her time.

Few female players have succeeded at Grand Slam level after becoming mothers — only Kim Clijsters did it recently at the US Open in 2009, while Margaret Court and Evonne Goolagong Cawley also won majors after giving birth. The joys of being a mum haven’t dulled Serena’s fierce competitive instincts and, aiming to add to her haul of 23 major titles, she started her latest Wimbledon m88 game campaign with a 7-5, 6-3 win over Holland’s Arantxa Rus yesterday.

But the 36-year-old conceded it isn’t easy to come to terms with spending time away from her daughter to focus on tennis. “It’s hard. I realised at Roland Garros, if the days were long, I was playing singles and doubles there, that was hard because I felt guilty,” she said. “I was like, I haven’t seen Olympia, like what am I doing. If it’s the shorter days, now that I’m not playing doubles in this event, I have the day off, I think that will help.

“She definitely notices when I’m away. I’m there every day of her life. So she does get super excited when I come back in. You guys are making me miss her. “I really don’t like being away from her. I also think it’s healthy in a way for me to do what I need to do, be that working mom, then go back home and be the mom.” Having endured complications from her daughter’s birth, Serena was m88 sportsbook playing only her second Grand Slam this year.

She won her first three matches at the French Open before pulling out due to a pectoral injury. Since a 2014 third round loss to Alize Cornet, Serena has now won 15 successive matches at Wimbledon — she took the title in 2015 and 2016 before missing last year’s tournament due to her pregnancy. Twenty years after making her Wimbledon debut, there were a few signs of rust against Rus and Serena was pleased to get her first Wimbledon match as a mother out of the way.