By Chris Oddo | Monday May 14, 2018
Serena Williams has been working her way into form at Patrick Mouratoglou's academy in Nice, and her longtime coach promises that she'll be ready for Roland Garros.
Photo Source: FFT
No match play? No problem. Serena Williams’ coach Patrick Mouratoglou says that the 23-time major champion will be ready to play at Roland Garros—and she expects to win.
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"Serena will play the French Open to win it,” Mouratoglou told Mark Hodgkinson of WTATennis.com. “Can she do it? Serena can achieve anything - after being her coach for six years, I'm even more sure of that statement.”
There was speculation that Williams may miss Roland Garros after she pulled out of Madrid and then Rome, but Mouratoglou put the kibosh on rumors, saying that Williams has been training hat his academy in Nice and improving every day.
"After her pregnancy, Serena had to rebuild her body,” he said. “When she arrived at the Mouratoglou Tennis Academy, around April 30, we realized that she was not ready yet. The time she lost after the delivery with all the medical issues she had to go through, was missing.
"That is the reason why we decided to skip Madrid and Rome as she needed five weeks to be perfectly ready. Then we worked with my team in order to prepare a program for her to get back in her best shape including nutrition, fitness and, of course, tennis. So far, things are going very well. She is working extremely hard, she is improving in all the areas fast. I am very satisfied and confident that she will be ready for Roland Garros."
Williams has played just four matches since giving birth to her daughter Alexis Olympia last year, going 2-2 in March at Indian Wells and Miami. The three-time Roland Garros champion has reached the final on three of her last four appearances in Paris and owns a 60-12 lifetime record at the event.