Serena Williams Falls to Maria Sakkari After Serving for the Match at the Western & Southern Open

(August 25, 2020) Serena Williams was serving for the match in the second set against Greece’s Maria Sakkari, when she let the set slip away and was nowhere to be found in the deciding set, losing 5-7, 7-6 (5), 6-1 on Tuesday night in the round of 16.

“I don’t think that helps mentally, when you know the match is over and you won the match, and now your legs were already tried and now they’re even more tired,” Williams said to media. “I put myself in a bad situation. It’s like dating a guy that you know sucks.”

She let a 5-3 lead in the second set evaporate, along with a 4-1 lead in the tiebreak.

“I literally should have won that match. There was no excuse. So, I mean, yeah, it was hard, but I had so many opportunities to win, and I have to figure that one out, like how to start winning those matches again. There is really no excuses, to be honest.”

Since the tennis tour returned two weeks ago, Williams has been taken to three sets in all of her matches.

Next week the the US Open begins, as Williams goes in search of her 24th major title. She talked about what she has to do next week. “I’ve just got to start learning how to win big points. It was literally one point since January. One point I could have won so many more matches, literally. So if I could just focus on how to win that one point, that would be better.”