French Open 2019: Serena Williams struggles to 800th victory

AFP | It has been a frustrating year so far for Serena Williams, filled with old injuries that have resurfaced and new ones that have scuttled her chances. It has been a season where the opportunities to play actual tennis matches and finish the few she has started have been far too rare.

The 37-year-old American survived a first-set scare before defeating Russia’s Vitalia Diatchenko 2-6, 6-1, 6-0 to reach the 2nd round.

But as she struggled to impose herself on her 83rd-ranked opponent, it looked like her dazzling choice of costume for the occasion might come back to haunt her.

Williams, who is attempting to equal Margaret Court’s all-time record of 24 Grand Slam titles, racked up her 800th career main draw win with her victory in front of a half-full Court Philippe Chatrier.

After dropping the first set, she was in danger of suffering just the 2nd opening round defeat of her Grand Slam tournament career.

But normal service was quickly resumed as she racked up 12 of the last 13 games.

“You know, I have been dealing with a lot, and then I just got nervous out there and I stopped moving my feet.

“There were like concrete blocks on my feet. I was, like, ‘You gotta do something’.”

Williams, the 2002, 2013 and 2015 champion in Paris, will face either Japan’s Kurumi Nara for a place in the last 32.

Williams won her most recent major at the Australian Open in 2017 while pregnant.

She returned to Grand Slam tennis after giving birth to her daughter at Roland Garros in 2018, making the last 16 where she had been set to resume her bitter rivalry with Maria Sharapova.

An arm injury torpedoed that meeting and stalled her assault on a 4th title in Paris.

Defeat in the 2018 Wimbledon final and US Open championship match, followed her Paris heartbreak.

Her Australian Open campaign in January ended in a quarter-final loss to Karolina Pliskova despite having led 5-1 in the final set and holding 4 match points.

Since Melbourne, Williams had been unable to finish the 3 tournaments she had entered – retiring in the 3rd round of Indian Wells and withdrawing after winning a round in Miami, and after winning one round in Rome due to a right knee injury.