Tennis

Serena Williams shares emotional video as she reveals her anxiety over coronavirus

Published

5 years ago

March 19, 2020

The 23-time Grand Slam champion opened up about her struggles amid the coronavirus outbreak.

Serena Williams has spoken out about her feelings of anxiety and being angry at her daughter as she deals with the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.

The global outbreak has led to the deaths of over 9,000 people around the world.

In the United States, there has been a continuing rise in the number of positive cases as the government braces itself for the possibility of the crisis lasting 18 months.

Within tennis, coronavirus has led to the cancellation of tennis on the ATP and WTA Tours.

There is hope tennis will resume in June but until then the likes of Williams are forced to wait.

Williams’ last match was in February when she represented her country in the Fed Cup.

In the meantime, Williams has spent much of her time at home with her family and daughter Alexis Olympia.

And in a candid video shared on Tiktok, Williams revealed the effect coronavirus is having on her.

“It started out with me feeling like ‘oh it can’t really affect me’,” she said.

“And then suddenly Indian Wells was cancelled and I was like ‘oh ok that’s weird but I have a little time off and I’m going to enjoy that time off’.

“One cancellation led to another and another and then all this anxiety that I’m feeling.

“Now I’ve been social distancing for a really long time, like two weeks, and now everything little thing makes me crazy.

“And by anxiety I mean I’m just on edge every time anyone sneezes around me or coughs. It’s crazy.

“I don’t hang out with anyone so when I say anyone I mean, my daughter.

“She coughed, I got angry and gave her a side-eye. I gave her that ‘angry Serena’ and then I got sad.

“I was like ‘is she ok? Is there something wrong with my daughter? Is there anything I can do?’ I just don’t know what to do, so instead of being relaxed and I’m really under a ton of stress.

“I never expected to be relaxed but it is what it is. We’ll get through this, we have to and I just wanted to update you on what I was doing.”