Has the great Serena Williams ‘lost her intimidation factor’ asks renowned analyst

Serena Williams has crashed out of Wimbledon in the first round having been beaten by a world ranked 114, 24 year old from France and now the questions are being asked if she’s still got the weapons that helped her rule the world of tennis for so long

Serena Williams lost an enthralling and emotional three set battle on a covered Centre Court at Wimbledon on Tuesday evening in a match that in her pomp she would surely have prevailed, and Eurosport commentator Mats Wilander thinks he knows one of the key reasons why.

“The intimidation factor I don’t think is there anymore. It used to be, but I don’t think these younger players are that intimidated anymore by her because they haven’t seen her win as much.

“I think maybe Serena needs a few more matches. It looked like when it got close in the end the confidence was maybe not there. I’m not saying that she got nervous necessarily, but if you haven’t played more matches, you can’t really trust yourself. She hit a couple of drop shots on very big points and she must probably think ‘what did I do that for?’

“In the end, [Harmony] Tan had a very good game to play against Serena Williams because she has good hands and she made Serena move, but Serena looked really good. She just maybe lacked a bit in confidence.”

Watch the Wimbledon men’s and women’s finals live on discovery+ and Eurosport

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