Williams discusses mystery virus after victory
Venus Williams says she had some kind of mysterious virus that sapped her of energy. Williams, who played her first match since Wimbledon in a 6-4, 6-3 victory over Russia's Vesna Dolonts at the U.S. Open, wouldn't identify exactly what it was.
"It was just energy sucking and I just couldn't play pro tennis," she said. "It was disappointing, because I had huge plans for this summer, of course, to improve my ranking. To miss out on all those points was definitely devastating. Just to miss so much time off tour was just disheartening. But I'm just really excited to be back."
Williams added that she just returned to practice full time last week, and until then just hit balls standing still, for the most part.
"I was able to stay on the court only because my anxiety was high if I didn't play," she said. "I was able to hit balls, but it wasn't like a real practice. In fact, my mind wasn't there. Let me try to make it to X number of times. I had to get ready fast. I couldn't do a lot, but I stayed on the court. I would bargain with say, and myself Okay, you'll be happy when your serve is great. So I had a basket of serves. I would be like, Okay, this is going to pay off for you, and so it has."
"It was just energy sucking and I just couldn't play pro tennis," she said. "It was disappointing, because I had huge plans for this summer, of course, to improve my ranking. To miss out on all those points was definitely devastating. Just to miss so much time off tour was just disheartening. But I'm just really excited to be back."
Williams added that she just returned to practice full time last week, and until then just hit balls standing still, for the most part.
"I was able to stay on the court only because my anxiety was high if I didn't play," she said. "I was able to hit balls, but it wasn't like a real practice. In fact, my mind wasn't there. Let me try to make it to X number of times. I had to get ready fast. I couldn't do a lot, but I stayed on the court. I would bargain with say, and myself Okay, you'll be happy when your serve is great. So I had a basket of serves. I would be like, Okay, this is going to pay off for you, and so it has."
