At the time, she called herself “Super Serena” and posted a picture of herself dressed like Superwoman. In hindsight, tennis star Serena Williams thinks it wasn’t the best idea to chase after a man who appeared to be stealing her cell phone.
“Sometimes, athletes just react,” the No. 1-ranked player said on Monday as she started her bid for a seventh Australian Open title with a 6-4, 7-5 win over Italy’s Camila Giorgi.
Williams hadn’t completed a competitive match since losing in the US Open semifinals, a defeat that ended her bid to win all four Grand Slams in the same season. The last player to do it was Steffi Graf in 1988.
The extended break raised questions about Williams’ form and meant she hadn’t elaborated much publicly on the cell phone incident, which happened in November while she dined with a friend at a San Francisco restaurant.
She wrote about it in a Facebook post at the time, saying she had noticed a man lurking near her table before he grabbed the cell phone and left.
Surveillance footage showed Williams quickly leaving the restaurant and appearing to confront the man on the sidewalk.
Williams wrote that she asked the man if he had accidentally taken the wrong phone, and he gave it back. She signed the post, “Super Serena” and the tale quickly made headlines.
“I didn’t think it would be such a big story,” Williams said on Monday. “I didn’t know it would be everywhere, every blog, every TV channel and every radio station. People were calling me. My dad was worried. I just had no idea it would blow up like that.”
Asked if she would do it again, Williams said, “Oh, God, no. I reacted and I didn’t think.”
Now, her focus has returned to tennis and the 21-time Grand Slam winner says she’s fit despite her time off and a recent injury.
“I haven’t played in a long time, but I have been playing for 30 years so — I try to focus on that,” said Williams, who withdrew from the Hopman Cup earlier this month after playing just one set because of inflammation in her left knee.
Williams said she didn’t feel the knee problem at all during Monday’s match, dropping just one service game against No. 34-ranked Girorgi.
Williams was helped by 12 double-faults by the Italian player, including on break point in the 11th game of the second set to give Williams a 6-5 lead.
The 21-time major champion held her service at love in next game, including two aces and a service winner, to close out the match in 1 hour, 45 minutes.