McEnroe: Serena’s aura not what it was

 

Originally published on: 25/06/12 00:00

Although Serena Williams is one of the favourites to win Wimbledon it remains to be seen whether she has recovered from her shocking defeat at the French Open last month. Williams, who had never gone out in the first round in her 46 previous Grand Slam tournaments, fell in the first round at Roland Garros to Virginie Razzano, the world No 111.

“I still would be really surprised if she didn’t win three or four more [Grand Slams],” McEnroe said. “I think the thing for me, at least as I got older, is that you second-guess and are not quite as confident.

"Serena’s supreme confidence is part of why she wins so much. I still looked at her at 5-0 down in the third set [against Razzano] and thought she was going to win this. She had this look in her eye like she was going to win this. And as it went on, she got to 5-1, 5-2, 5-3 and then saved all these match points. Then she lost it somehow. It was a match that she normally wins. So those seeds of doubt start coming in more.”

McEnroe said it was “inevitable” that the aura surrounding Williams would become less of a factor. “Federer had an aura – has an aura –  but maybe it’s not the same as it was," he said. "Serena still has an aura. I bet you that at 5-3 [against Razzano] 95 percent of the players were saying: ‘She’s going to win that.’ So there’s still definitely an aura to her. It’s just not the same as it was.”

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