We just both gave it our all and we just had nothing to lose." "We knew it just 30 minutes before the match. "To play the two Williams sisters, it's amazing because we won the match," said Kerkhove, 26. The dead-rubber was supposed to be the feel-good, icing on the cake, but the Dutch players had other ideas. The Americans had enjoyed enormous support all weekend from the sold-out 5,200-capacity crowd in the mountainous city of Asheville, North Carolina, famous for its historic architecture, breweries and vibrant art scene. "Serena's gonna be joining her sister Venus!" she announced, to roars of approval before Williams appeared dressed in a white top, dark blue shorts topped off with a red headband. There had been speculation Serena may drop out of Sunday's doubles match, after she did not turn up for practice in the morning with the three other US players.īut team captain Kathy Rinaldi confirmed her participation after Venus won her singles match against Richel Hogenkamp to seal overall victory for the US. "This is literally my first time travelling with the baby and everything so I'm gonna try to do better." "I didn't manage my time well," she said. "Even though they didn't go in, it's just the start, I feel like that's a very good step in the right direction."Īnd she hinted she needed to juggle the demands of motherhood against her career better. "I didn't expect to have that much power on my serves," she said. On Sunday, she was happy with the power behind her shots even if her accuracy wasn't quite where it should be. Serena had previously said that her path back had been full of "ups and downs", crediting Venus with helping her regain her rhythm. The American star took time away from the sport to give birth to her daughter Alexis Olympia and get married, to Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian.īoth were in attendance over the weekend, seated just behind the players' box. It was Serena's first competitive match since winning her 23rd major at the 2017 Australian Open.
So I feel like that I'm on the right track." "I honestly feel better than I thought I was gonna feel, I feel like I didn't expect to play you know like that for me.
I've been training and it was just exciting to be out there," she said. "It felt really good to be back the court. But she was determined to put on a brave face after the loss took some of the shine off the Americans' otherwise decisive 3-1 win that booked their place in the next round against France in April.
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