After losing the first set, Serena Williams cruises to beat Vitalia Diatchenko.
PARIS — This was one mistake too far for Serena Williams.
Sure, the bad backhand put her behind only 15-30 at the outset of the second set of her opening match at Roland Garros on Monday. What made the miscue so bothersome? She’d already dropped the first set against 83rd-ranked Vitalia Diatchenko – and Williams’ unforced error total already was at 15 on a windy evening.
So she reacted by throwing her head back and letting out a scream. Then she stepped to the baseline to serve and stomped her right foot. And simple as that, Williams righted herself: She won 11 of the next 13 points, and 12 of 13 games the rest of the way, to come back for a disappointing-to-dominant 2-6,6-1,6-0 victory at the French Open.
“I just was so frustrated at that point, because I have been training well. The past week and a half has been really good, and, God, it was, like, ‘This isn’t the Serena I have been practicing with – or that I see every day,” Williams said afterward. “I just let out this roar, and here I am. Yeah, so maybe that helped.”
She arrived on court with a black-and-white jacket bearing words such as “champion,” “queen,” “goddess” and “mother” in French.
“Those are things that mean a lot to me and reminders for me – and for everyone that wants to wear it,” Williams explained. “Just remind everyone that they can be champions and are queens.”
A reporter told Williams those four words are “a lot to carry,” to which the 37-year-old American replied: “It is a lot to carry, but so is being Serena Williams.”
She made her return to Grand Slam competition in Paris a year ago after missing five majors because of the birth of her first child.
