{"id":744547,"date":"2026-07-05T12:22:09","date_gmt":"2026-07-05T12:22:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/744547\/"},"modified":"2026-07-05T12:22:09","modified_gmt":"2026-07-05T12:22:09","slug":"wimbledon-2026-serena-williams-is-ronaldinho-like-but-can-she-win-grand-slam-matches","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/744547\/","title":{"rendered":"Wimbledon 2026: Serena Williams is ‘Ronaldinho-like’ – but can she win Grand Slam matches?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Serena Williams’ comeback at Wimbledon didn’t end the way she would have wanted, or the way many of us hoped it might. <\/p>\n

But for me, there were still plenty of positives to take away.<\/p>\n

If Serena decides to play the US Open next month, as I hope she will, then I think her first singles match since 2022 showed more than enough to suggest she can win matches on the WTA Tour and at Flushing Meadows over the coming weeks.<\/p>\n

Although she lost to Australia’s Maya Joint at Wimbledon – where she picked up a knee injury that denied her a doubles appearance<\/a> with her sister Venus – I actually thought she played well enough to leave us wondering if there’s more to the comeback.<\/p>\n

Watching Serena reminded me of seeing a legendary footballer like Ronaldinho. The movement might not be quite what it once was, but the talent and natural skill is unmistakable. <\/p>\n

Elite talent doesn’t simply disappear, and Serena’s timing and shot-making remain exceptional.<\/p>\n

She’s spoken openly about coming back to play for her family, but Serena is a fierce competitor.<\/p>\n

I can’t imagine she would keep playing simply for appearances if her body isn’t allowing her to compete or if the results aren’t there. That’s not how she’s built.<\/p>\n

I think the North American hard-court season is going to give a clearer indication of where she stands physically, just in terms of the conditions they play in. <\/p>\n

Events such as Washington or Cincinnati are incredibly hot and incredibly humid. The US Open can be the same as well. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Serena Williams’ comeback at Wimbledon didn’t end the way she would have wanted, or the way many of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":744548,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[72],"tags":[99,428],"class_list":["post-744547","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tennis","tag-sports","tag-tennis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/744547","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=744547"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/744547\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/744548"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=744547"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=744547"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=744547"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}