Serena Williams announced – even before US government regulations – that she would observe a self-isolation period of at least 6 weeks to combat and limit the spread of Covid-19 as much as possible. Serena reached the No. 1 ranking for the first time on July 8, 2002.
On her sixth occasion, she held the ranking for 186 consecutive weeks, tying the record set by Steffi Graf. In total, she has been No. 1 for 319 weeks, which ranks third in the Open Era among female players behind Graf and Martina Navratilova.
Williams holds the most Grand Slam titles in singles, doubles, and mixed doubles combined among active players. Her 39 Grand Slam titles put her joint-third on the all-time list and second in the Open Era: 23 in singles, 14 in women’s doubles, and two in mixed doubles.
She is the most recent female player to have held all four Grand Slam singles titles simultaneously (2002–03 and 2014–15) and the third player to achieve this twice, after Rod Laver and Graf. She is also the most recent player to have won a Grand Slam title on each surface (hard, clay and grass) in one calendar year (2015).
Williams is in self-isolation with her husband, Reddit co-founder, Alexis Ohanian and their two-year-old daughter, Olympia during the public crisis. “How tired do I look right? It’s been incredibly long days, incredibly long hours, running two businesses and running a 2-year-old,” Williams said.
“I literally told her I can’t and she is like mommy run, run. I told her baby I really can’t. Then she started crying and I felt so bad then I started running and now I am tired,” she added. “Today I was so tired and she wanted me to turn in circles.
I got a little dizzy and I was about to throw up but I never throw up. I am already in bed, it’s like 9.30 but I have been in bed for an hour”.
Serena Williams jokingly claims she’s ‘never heard of’ pal Meghan Markle to avoid question
Serena Williams is not here to comment on her pal, Meghan Markle. The 38-year-old tennis pro appeared in a video chat with her older sister, Venus Williams, and supermodel Naomi Campbell on Monday, and was asked about the former royal.
“Are you happy that your girlfriend’s moved to America, Meghan Markle?” the 49-year-old model asked Serena.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Serena quipped as Naomi laughed. “Don’t know nothing about that.”
“I mean, they’re on the West Coast, but…” Naomi pressed.
“Never seen her, never heard of her, don’t know her,” Serena continued before starting to whistle.
Meghan and her husband, Prince Harry, recently relocated to Los Angeles with their 11-month-old son, Archie, and are in quarantine there after stepping down from their royal duties last month.
This certainly isn’t the first time Serena has shot down a question about her duchess pal. Back in January at the Australian Open, a reporter asked the athlete about the Duke and Duchess’ then-recently announced decision to step down as working members of the royal family.
“Yeah, I have absolutely no comments on anything with that. But good try. You tried. You did good,” Serena replied at the time.
For more from Harry and Meghan’s life in Los Angeles, watch the clip below: