Serena Williams not concerned about high profile dropouts from the US Open

Multiple Grand Slam winner, Serena Williams‘ commitment lies with playing in the US Open later this month with eyes also set on the clay-court season in Europe despite high profile players raising concerns and dropping out.

She announced she would be partaking in the forthcoming grand slam event in New York during the summer, however, a host of top names have pulled out of the tournament since then due to fears over Covid-19.

Related: More superstars pull out of US Grand Slam tournament

Rafael Nadal won’t be defending his title and joins women’s number one Ashleigh Barty as the latest highest-profile withdrawals, but Williams says she will still play and then make the trip to Europe for the French Open the following week.

The tennis superstar recently had a sat down with Sky Sports where she talked about her upcoming game, her health, building a tennis court and social distancing amidst the coronavirus pandemic.

Here is the excerpts of the interview session as reported on Sky Sports.

“I see myself doing it all if it happens,” she said ahead of her appearance at the Lexington Open in Kentucky next week.

“But I am not planning for the future, as tournaments got cancelled I was just like, ‘Let me just work on today and see what happens‘.”

On the coronavirus pandemic and impact on her health, she says:

“I have been a little bit of a recluse. I started social distancing in early March. I don’t have full lung capacity so I’m not sure what would happen to me. I am sure I would be OK but I don’t want to find out.

“I have like 50 masks that I travel with, I don’t ever want to be without one.

“With health concerns, I am super careful with what I have been doing and everyone in the Serena bubble is really protected.

“It is cool to play tennis, but this is my life and my health, so I have been a little bit neurotic but that is how I have to be right now.”

Apparently, Serena Williams built her own tennis court and gym during the lockdown and stayed away from her coaches and physios.

Here is what she said about it and social distancing while leaving in Florida: “Tennis is naturally a social distanced sport. It was easy for me to walk on my side of the court and my hitter to walk on the other side of the court.

“Florida was a really bad place to be so we were extreme with our social distancing. It was a completely different experience, but that is the only real learning curve.

“I had to make a gym and my husband made a court for me. I guess that is different! We built a tennis court and gym, it is super cool.

“The gym is not quite done. The tennis court is fun, I go there and it is my own sanctuary. It’s like, ‘Why haven’t I done this 20 years ago?’.

“It is really cool. It is fun, I’m like, ‘It’s the US Open surface, come and hit with me’. I have been trying to get people to come.

“It was really nice and it is cool because it got me out of the house. I drove there so I had a little separation, it has not been all physical, physical.

“The gym is fun, I am still working on equipment, slow and steady. This is a new normal, I don’t know when I will go to a gym again, I don’t want to risk it for my health.”

Visit Sky Sports website for the full chat with Serena Williams.