{"id":726117,"date":"2026-06-25T23:58:10","date_gmt":"2026-06-25T23:58:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/726117\/"},"modified":"2026-06-25T23:58:10","modified_gmt":"2026-06-25T23:58:10","slug":"serena-williams-daughters-see-how-hard-shes-working-for-wimbledon-return","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/726117\/","title":{"rendered":"Serena Williams’ daughters see how hard she’s working for Wimbledon return"},"content":{"rendered":"

Serena Williams<\/a> keeps on commenting half-jokingly about how \u201cit\u2019s summer\u201d and \u201cthe kids aren\u2019t in school\u201d as the reasoning for her tennis comeback<\/a> at age 44.<\/p>\n

Turns out family might really be the biggest factor behind Williams\u2019 decision to return to the pro game<\/a> after nearly four years away.<\/p>\n

Her two daughters, eight-year-old Olympia and Adira, who is almost three, have been with her every step of the way as she played two doubles warmup matches before accepting wild card invitations to both the singles and doubles (with older sister Venus) competitions at Wimbledon<\/a>, which starts Monday.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust finished a mean game of duck duck goose,\u201d Williams said on X<\/a> shortly after her singles wild card was announced last weekend.<\/p>\n

A big hint about Williams\u2019 return came when she posted a video of a training session last month with Adira on court helping with a resistance band.<\/p>\n

\u201cRumor has it\u2026I got a new trainer,\u201d Williams said in her Instagram caption<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Christopher Eubanks, a recently retired pro turned Tennis Channel commentator, saw up close how Williams interacted with her family at her first tournament back at Queen\u2019s Club<\/a>, where he performed an on-court interview with the American great and doubles partner Victoria Mboko.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s no changes to her legacy that will come as a result of this return. I don\u2019t see anyone changing their mind about where Serena Williams stands all-time,\u201d Eubanks told The Associated Press on Thursday of the 23-time Grand Slam singles champion.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is about more than just records. At this point, it\u2019s more about family,\u201d said Eubanks, who will be working for ESPN at Wimbledon. \u201cNot just playing in front of her daughters, but having her daughters sit there and watch her train every day and have to wake up and put in the long, hard yards and doing fitness and doing treatment. For her daughters to have to watch her be super disciplined, that has to be just as much of a factor.\u201d<\/p>\n

When Williams last played in singles at the 2022 U.S. Open, Olympia had just turned five and Adira wasn\u2019t even born yet.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey will forever know (Williams) as, \u2018Oh, you know, mommy is the GOAT of tennis,\u2019\u201d Eubanks said, using the acronym for \u201cgreatest of all time.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBut then if they have memories of being able to actually watch her go through that training, to me, that feels like what this is about more than anything else,\u201d Eubanks added.<\/p>\n

He seems to be on to something, because the daughters did not seem overly enthusiastic about her match at Queen\u2019s.<\/p>\n

\u201cAdira wanted to go to the toy store, and Olympia wanted to know what was for dinner,\u201d Williams said.<\/p>\n

Court-side seat<\/p>\n

Eubanks had a court-side seat for Williams\u2019 match with Mboko and felt like her ball striking was \u201cas good as it\u2019s ever looked.\u201d<\/p>\n

He was also \u201creally impressed with her serve.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of times that can be a very difficult thing to get back after having an extended time off and her serve looked great,\u201d Eubanks said. \u201cShe had one serve up near 120 mph. And the purity with which the ball comes off of her strings off the ground on both the forehand and the backhand side looks as dialed in as I\u2019ve seen.\u201d<\/p>\n

Decelerating difficulties<\/p>\n

The biggest challenge for Williams in singles will likely be her fitness and movement, which on grass is more nuanced than on other surfaces.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe hardest part for me I always felt was the decelerating and the stopping because you have to take extra steps in order to come to a stop,\u201d said Eubanks, who reached the Wimbledon quarterfinals in 2023 and a career-high ranking of No. 29 that year.<\/p>\n

Williams won the last of her seven Wimbledon singles titles a decade ago<\/p>\n

\u201cWhereas on a hard court you can kind of plant your foot, you can slide, you can decelerate a lot easier,\u201d Eubanks said. \u201cBut on the grass it takes a lot more steps and a lot more pounding on the body before you can change direction. So that\u2019s going to be the biggest thing to watch: Her ability to decelerate and stop out of the corners in order to change direction.\u201d<\/p>\n

Williams might come forward to the net more and attempt to end points more quickly than she used to \u2014 kind of how Novak Djokovic has used his volleying skills more in recent years.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat would be,\u201d Eubanks said, \u201cwhat I would expect to see.\u201d<\/p>\n

Richard Williams<\/p>\n

Eubanks is only 30 and the Williams sisters were role models for him as a kid.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey were always kind of the guiding light,\u201d he said. \u201cThey\u2019ve been a huge influence on me personally.\u201d<\/p>\n

Before last month\u2019s French Open, Eubanks was invited to a dinner for Black players hosted by Naomi Osaka and Taylor Townsend<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Coco Gauff<\/a>, retiring Frenchman Gael Monfils<\/a> and doubles specialist Asia Muhammad also attended.<\/p>\n

The Williams sisters and their father, Richard Williams, were a big conversation topic.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverybody in that room, at some point their parents were heavily involved in their tennis,\u201d Eubanks said. \u201cOur parents all mentioned Richard Williams and the Williams sisters and how they did it and everyone kind of bonding over, \u2018Man, Richard Williams, his name went all over the world.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

AP tennis: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/tennis<\/a><\/p>\n