Wimbledon 2022: Serena takes it easy
Wimbledon shines in green and white. A few impressions from Friday from Church Road.
by Jens Huiber
last edit: Jun 24, 2022, 06:10 pm
By Jens Huiber from London
The inclined reporter, who is still very much aware of the two eventful weeks in Roland Garros, notices three things when checking in at Wimbledon: no advertising, no smokers (will that change with the spectators from Monday?), everything in white. Well, well, that's not entirely true with the advertising. On the center court, a trained eagle eye can discover a reference to the ball outfitter, the long-standing watch partner is immortalized on the scoreboard. But all this very unobtrusively. Green dominates on the walls. White on the courts.
And it doesn't matter who is romping around on the sacred lawns: players, coaches, physios - not even the sweatbands of Serena Williams ' hitting partner are not snow-white this afternoon. The US legend comes with the big squad, no fewer than five companions have Serena in tow. At the beginning of the session, the experimental arrangement looks like a sporty drill, instead Serena practices the forehand slice and the backhand lob on balls that are passed to her from the hand.
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So Serena is taking it easy, trying with and without thigh bandages, the latter seems to be the more comfortable solution, at least for this session. Admittedly, Serena denies the few points played quite impressively. So that could even be something with a deeper run in the tournament. The first task will be Harmony Tan, it could have been worse.
Swiatek injures his knee
Before Williams, Iga Swiatek enjoyed the privilege of training on Centre, the Pole did not participate in preparatory tournaments on grass. And causes a small moment of shock: Swiatek knocks the bat on his own right knee, falls to the ground, but is able to end the training session with a bleeding knee. And so there is a little bit of red in play.
And otherwise? Andrea Petkovic trains with Jule Niemeier, qualifier Maximilian Marterer is reasonably optimistic about the meeting with Aljaz Bedene on Monday, Carlos Alcaraz makes for a slight frown. While practicing with Diego Schwartzman on Court 12, the Spaniard taped his right hitting arm quite stably. Just like last summer when Alcaraz won the tournament in Umag.
The good mood doesn't detract from this, after each training session it seems to be mandatory to take a photo together for free use on social media. Alcaraz and Schwartzman meet this requirement, as does Garbi Muguruza later on Court 1. The grass on this second-largest court, like that on Center Court, is used for the first time before the tournament starts. He's still green.
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