*On Saturday, Serena Williams will try to win a third French Open title at Roland Garros and her 20th career Grand Slam singles trophy…all while dealing with “some kind of flu.”
The top-seeded Williams chose to skip practice and a pre-final news conference on Friday so she could rest up at her Paris apartment and get checked out by a physician.
“It’s just a matter of resting and keeping hydrated — there’s not much else I can do,” Williams said. “I need time, and obviously don’t have a lot of it. … I just have to hope that tomorrow I will be feeling a lot better and able to give my best on court.”
As previously reported, she was lethargic en route to beating No. 23 Timea Bacsinszky in Thursday’s semifinal 4-6, 6-3, 6-0. Afterward, Williams said, “I just kind of collapsed.”
Serena’s final against Lucie Safarova will begin no earlier than 3 p.m. local time Saturday (9 a.m. EST/6 a.m. PST) and there’s a chance it could be delayed because it follows the continuation of the men’s semifinal between Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray. That match was called for rain at 3-all in the fourth set, with Djokovic ahead two sets to one.
If Williams can bounce back enough Saturday, she’d be an overwhelming favorite, in part because she is 8-0 against Safarova. Also, the 13th-seeded Safarova has never been this far at a major tournament in singles.
Below, Serena’s nasty coughing fit during a changeover, right before winning 10 straight games to launch her comeback victory.
And here is Serena Williams being sick and half-throwing up, tho it goes into the towel pic.twitter.com/pKgq9jiamW
— Andrew Jerell Jones (@sluggahjells) June 4, 2015
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