Resumption of table tennis activity in America .. Serena is the most prominent participant
Tennis activity officially returns to the United States from Monday, despite the multiplication of new cases of the new Corona virus in it, through the establishment of a tournament for Xington (Kentucky), the first official version of which is witnessing the participation of veteran Serena Williams.
Although the financial prizes for this tournament are not large (about 200 thousand dollars), they did not discourage some of the players from participating, especially since most of them want to restore the rhythm of the matches before the start of the US Open, one of the Grand Slam tournaments at the end of this month.
In addition to Serena, her older sister Venus, the Americans, Sloan Stephens and Coco Gove, and the Belarusian Victoria Azarnka, will also participate.
Yellow ball activity was suspended on March 8 due to the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, and the players did not play any matches except for the show.
"I lived the life of a lonely person. I started respecting social distancing at the beginning of March. I did not have much respiratory capacity and therefore I do not know what would have happened if I had contracted the Covid virus, and I do not want to know that explicitly," said Serena, the 38-year-old veteran with 23 big titles, referring to difficulties. In the breath she previously suffered.
"I often have about 50 masks in my possession. I pay a lot of attention to everything I do from the health point of view," she added, admitting that she was "tense" during this period.
Serena, the first steward in this tournament, revealed that her husband had built a special playground for her in the vicinity of the house in order to continue her training and said in this regard, "All the players have gone to rest, it will be interesting to know how we will play."
As for Azarnka, she said, "We can train whatever we like, but the real level appears during the matches."
"Of course, I miss competitive matches. I did not lose my love for tennis, but I lacked motivation at many times during this hiatus," she added.