The San Jose crowd certainly didn’t see that coming. 23-time Grand Slam champion Serena Williams suffered a heavy defeat in the first round of the Mubadala Silicon Valley Classic in San Jose, California, losing 6-1, 6-0 to Great Britain’s Johanna Konta.
Serena Williams worst career loss
The match in which Williams won the first game and then lost the next twelve lasted only 53 minutes.
“I know I can play a zillion times better…”
It was Serena Williams’ first on-court appearance since the straight sets loss to Angelique Kerber in the Wimbledon final. She commended her opponent for taking the game to her:
“I think she played well in the second set,”
“I think I wasn’t sharp at all in the first set, and then she got confident and clearly ran away with it.”
At the same time, she realized this was far from her best performance:
“I don’t have time to be shocked about a loss that clearly wasn’t at my best right now,”
Williams showed glimpses of herself a few times, but she followed them all up with unforced errors, either in the net or wide off the white lines.
The 48th ranked Johanna Konta, who won her first WTA title two years ago at Stanford, took full advantage of Williams’ bad day, cruising through the first set and then making sure she piled on the pressure in the second in order to prevent any chance of a potential comeback. Konta was full of praise for Williams despite the American’s poor display.
“It’s an absolute privilege to be on the same court as Serena,”
“After all she’s achieved, it’s so humbling just to come up against her. She obviously wasn’t playing her best level — nowhere near — so I tried to play the match on my terms and just do what I can out here, put aside what an incredible champion she is, and just play the player on the day.”
What’s next for Johanna Konta and Serena Williams?
Next, Konta will face 68th ranked Sofia Kenin from the United States in the second round of the Mubadala Silicon Valley Classic, while Serena Williams is off to Montreal, where she received a wild card to participate in the Rogers Cup.
This was Williams’ fifth tournament following the birth of her daughter Alexis Olympia. She is still trying to recover from a difficult pregnancy and find consistency on the court. The younger Williams sister is chasing Grand Slam title No.24 which would tie her with Margaret Court for most all-time titles.