Serena Williams returning after 'very intense' training

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Serena Williams returns the ball during a training session at the Italian Open tennis tournament, in Rome, Monday, May 10, 2021. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

ROME ā€“ Forget all that speculation about Serena Williams considering retirement after her emotional hand-to-heart gesture upon her Australian Open exit three months ago.

While Williams has not played since losing to Naomi Osaka in the Melbourne semifinals in February, she has been practicing ā€œvery intenselyā€ on clay courts and is ready to ā€œstart freshā€ in her pursuit of Margaret Courtā€™s record of 24 Grand Slam titles.

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Preparing to return at this weekā€™s Italian Open to gear up for Roland Garros later this month, Williams on Monday detailed her recent training regimen.

There was a block of time on clay courts back home in the United States followed by 2Ā½ weeks on the red dirt at the French academy run by her coach, Patrick Mouratoglou.

ā€œSo we had an intense several weeks of training ā€” very intense,ā€ Williams said. ā€œI feel good. ... Iā€™m going to have some good matches here hopefully, and then I will be at another Grand Slam, which always makes me excited. So I think either way Iā€™ll be ready.ā€

The 39-year-old Williams, who only needs one more Grand Slam title to match Court's record, added that her fans shouldnā€™t read too much into the lack of tennis information she shares on social media.

ā€œI donā€™t do a lot of sport content, so I do feel like people are wondering if Iā€™m playing, and I have to say I always am, you just donā€™t see it,ā€ she said. ā€œI donā€™t show what I do. I donā€™t always show my cards.ā€

Williams, a four-time champion in Rome, will face either French Open semifinalist Nadia Podoroska or German qualifier Laura Siegemund in her opening match at the Foro Italico. Sheā€™s in the same quarter of the draw as Osaka and has a first-round bye.

ā€œItā€™s good to start fresh but itā€™s also hard to start fresh,ā€ Williams said.

Williams was also asked if she will play at the Tokyo Olympics if coronavirus protocols mean she canā€™t bring her 3-year-old daughter into Japan.

ā€œI havenā€™t spent 24 hours without her, so that kind of answers the question itself,ā€ Williams said. ā€œWeā€™re best friends.

ā€œI havenā€™t really thought much about Tokyo, because it was supposed to be last year and now itā€™s this year, and then there is this pandemic and there is so much to think about,ā€ she added. ā€œThen there is the Grand Slams. Itā€™s just a lot. So I have really been taking it one day at a time to a fault, and I definitely need to figure out my next moves.ā€

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More AP Tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

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Andrew Dampf on Twitter: www.twitter.com/AndrewDampf


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