Had the Australian Open been played in its usual late January window, Serena Williams didn’t think she would have reached this point: a semifinal with Naomi Osaka, their first major meeting since that unforgettable 2018 U.S. Open final.
Had the Australian Open been played in January, Williams didn’t think she would have played a single match in Melbourne.
“I couldn’t practice because of my Achilles,” Williams said on Feb. 1, her first press conference since Sept. 30, when she withdrew before her French Open second-round match, saying she was “struggling to walk.” “I needed every time.