Serena Williams ‘can’t run properly’ reveals coach Patrick Mouratoglou
Patrick Mouratoglou has revealed that Serena Williams is still having difficulty running and it was too much of a risk to play US Open.
The 39-year-old was forced to withdraw from Tokyo Olympics after retiring from her opening round clash at Wimbledon following a slip.
The 23-time Major champion announced on Wednesday that she had withdrawn from US Open as she is still recovering from a torn hamstring.
Mouratoglou has revealed that Serena is recovering but US Open came too soon.
âItâs obviously a disappointment but this time, itâs not like a door slammed shut,â he said. âWe were in a process to try to heal an injury. We knew we were late; we made everything possible. Day after day, we knew we had less chances.
âTen days ago, the MRI showed that the injury (a torn hamstring) was still present. She couldnât move. Where you are twenty days before a major event and you didnât even run for six weeks and you can only play statically, you know itâs a bad start.
âWe decided to make a final checkpoint a week before the event. The point was about moving without any pain. If this condition wouldnât happen, it means that you know you canât even practice. The withdrawal is the result of a process. We canât say that the evolution of the process is bad; itâs just that itâs longer than expected.â
The Frenchman also revealed that Williams had tried to run recently, but was in pain and they knew from that point her tournament chances were over.
âAfter some weeks of this regime, she could use the racket with no leg movement at all, for two weeks. Then, last week, she played in very small perimeters â but she couldnât avoid pain. We were far from regular tennis movements. Today she canât run properly and she feels something after all. Pain means danger, and pain means that you canât play as you should. But the point is that playing â just playing â is a risk.â
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