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Serena Williams says she will be spending the next six weeks in "solitude," as the tennis world goes on hiatus amid the coronavirus pandemic.

In the Instagram post, Williams is seen applying makeup, writing that's how she will spend part of her time while adding, "stay safe everyone. This is serious."

"Spending the next 6 weeks in solitude," she wrote. "Being a wife. Being a mom. Cooking. Cleaning. Spring cleaning. Face mask. Makeup tutorials. I'll let you know how it goes.... stay safe everyone. This is serious."

Williams' planned isolation lines up with the six-week hiatuses announced by the Association of Tennis Professionals and International Tennis Federation on Thursday.

The Women's Tennis Association has canceled events through April 12, with WTA chairman and CEO Steve Simon saying further decisions on the European clay-court season would be made in the next week.

Revisit Serena Williams's much-anticipated comeback from maternity leave against Zarina Diyas in the first round of the 2018 BNP Paribas Open.
Welcome to Sunshine Stories, where wtatennis.com will take a look back at some of the most memorable matches from the North American spring over the past five years. Continuing our countdown from the 2018 edition of the BNP Paribas Open is 23-time Grand Slam champion Serena Williams's comeback tilt against Zarina Diyas in the first round.

Indian Wells Rewind:
2015: Simona Halep d. Jelena Jankovic, final
2016: Victoria Azarenka d. Karolina Pliskova, semifinal
2017: Elena Vesnina d. Venus Williams, quarterfinal

HOW THEY GOT THERE: Anticipation was sky-high for the long-awaited return to action of Serena Williams as she embarked on arguably her most ambitious comeback yet. At the age of 36, the legendary champion was attempting to come back following maternity leave, six months after having daughter Olympia and 14 months since playing her last official match - a defeat of sister Venus in the 2017 Australian Open final to seal her 23rd Grand Slam title - and with it, the Open Era record for major trophies.

In 2020, mothers returning to professional tennis are, happily, no longer rare one-offs - in last month's Abierto GNP Seguros in Monterrey, they comprised nearly one-sixth of the entire main draw - but even now, few attempt it when closer to 40 than 30, nor with Williams's sky-high ambition of pursuing the all-time major tally. Moreover, the American had endured a difficult childbirth, revealing a month before Indian Wells that, following an emergency C-section, she had almost died after a slew of medical complications.

Williams's return, originally planned for the Australian swing in January, had already been delayed by three months, and she had set foot on court just twice since giving birth, losing 6-2, 3-6, [10-5] to Jelena Ostapenko in an Abu Dhabi exhibition at the end of December and, partnering Venus, falling 6-2, 6-3 to Lesley Pattinama Kerkhove and Demi Schuurs in a dead Fed Cup doubles rubber in February. The postponement and consequent question marks, though, had only heightened the suspense for a narrative that promised to be riveting.
Amidst the buzz, World No.53 Zarina Diyas was seeking to show that she was more than just Williams's foil. The Kazakh was writing a comeback story of her own, and one that also deserved applause. Having hit a career high of World No.31 in 2015, reaching the second week of Wimbledon twice, a wrist injury sidelined Diyas for eight months between June 2016 and February 2017. Her ranking would sink outside the Top 200, and when she returned it was initially at the lowest level of the ITF Pro Circuit.

But slowly, Diyas had got her groove back in 2017, with strong ITF performances leading up to the emotional reward of her maiden WTA title in Tokyo as a qualifier in September. Firmly ensconced in the Top 100 once more, the 24-year-old had started 2018 strongly with a quarterfinal showing in Shenzhen - though following that had reversed course slightly, suffering three-set losses to Sorana Cirstea in the first round of the Australian Open and Monica Niculescu in the second round of Taipei City before falling to Lesia Tsurenko in Dubai qualifying.
WHAT HAPPENED: Williams hit the ground running with her serve, one of the greatest weapons in the history of the women's game: she would capture 70% of her first serve points and 77% behind her second delivery for a series of impregnable holds, during which she did not face a break point. But Diyas was also serving well, as well as displaying her customary tenacity in the hope of sealing a famous scalp, and fended off the first five break points she faced as the first 10 games of the match went with serve.

Match report: Serena triumphs against Diyas in Indian Wells comeback

But in some ways, the Kazakh's game proved ideal as a first test for Williams. Diyas's counterpunching and ability to stick in rallies would test the champion's groundstrokes - as well as resulting in some excellent extended points - but the consistent rhythm she gave Williams also allowed the American to gradually play herself in. Shaking off her earlier missed opportunities, Williams finally broke for 6-5 with a backhand down the line too hot for Diyas to handle, then closed the opening act out on her third set point as her opponent found the net with a forehand.

If solid service holds had been the story of the first set, that narrative flipped in the second, which was a good deal edgier - particularly during its middle passage of play, which saw five consecutive breaks of serve. Three times Williams pummeled returns and overheads to capture the Diyas serve; twice, Diyas clung on to the match by breaking back immediately. But as in the first set, Williams's instinct for knowing exactly when to step her game up came through. Leading 4-3, sharper focus delivered a love hold that exorcised the struggles that had immediately preceded it - and Williams wasted no time to press home her advantage, breaking yet again for the match and sealing a 7-5, 6-3 victory as a last-ditch Diyas forehand went into the tramlines.
WHAT THEY SAID: Williams was sanguine about easing herself back into competition afterwards. "I surprised myself with some of the errors," she said. "But right now, for this particular tournament, I'm really just trying to take it easy and not put too much stress or pressure or expectation on myself. And this is really one of the few times when I’ve been able to do that.

Mindful of all that she had gone through to get to this point, she also played down her own immediate expectations: "I went in knowing I'm not going to be where I want to be in the first few matches," Williams pointed out. "It takes time to get back."
WHAT IT MEANT: For Diyas, her solid performance was a springboard for a career-best fourth-round run in Miami the following fortnight, including a defeat of Svetlana Kuznetsova. However, her season was set back again when the Kazakh suffered a knee injury in Nottingham, forcing her to miss her beloved grass swing - and 2019 saw her needing to mount another comeback from outside the Top 100.

Williams, meanwhile, was able to score a Top 30 win in her first tournament back when she defeated No.29 seed Kiki Bertens 7-6(5), 7-5 in the second round - but that was followed by two straight losses, 6-3, 6-4 to sister Venus to end her desert campaign and then 6-3, 6-2 to newly crowned Indian Wells champion Naomi Osaka in the first round of Miami.

Following that result, Williams would not play again for over two months, withdrawing from Madrid and Rome due to needing more time to be "100 per cent ready to compete". In May, her coach, Patrick Mouratoglou, admitted that the former World No.1 "clearly came back too early", citing the complications surrounding Williams's childbirth as a factor. Williams would score a pair of quality wins on returning at Roland Garros, over Ashleigh Barty - champion the following year - and Julia Goerges, but it was at Wimbledon in July that her comeback hit its stride as she reached the first of four Grand Slam finals since returning from maternity leave. In light of her journey, that achievement in itself is astonishing - but Williams still remains hungry for a 24th major trophy.

Pandemia koronawirusa zbiera swoje straszne żniwo na całym świecie, również w Stanach Zjednoczonych. Do piątku (20 marca) w USA stwierdzono ponad 16 tys. przypadków zakażenia. Zmarło 216 osób.

Serena Williams przebywa na domowej kwarantannie i jak zdradziła swoim fanom w mediach społecznościowych... "jest na krawędzi wszystkiego". - Ta cała sytuacja doprowadza mnie do szału. Zaczynam wariować - przyznała gwiazda tenisa TikToku.

Sportsmenka dodała, że żyje w ciągłym stresie i traci już panowanie nad sobą. Kiedy tylko ktoś obok zakaszle albo kichnie, to wpada w szał. Ostatnio 38-latka wyładowała swoją złość na 2,5-letniej córeczce Alexis Olympii.

Pandemia koronawirusa zbiera swoje straszne żniwo na całym świecie, również w Stanach Zjednoczonych. Do piątku (20 marca) w USA stwierdzono ponad 16 tys. przypadków zakażenia. Zmarło 216 osób.

Serena Williams przebywa na domowej kwarantannie i jak zdradziła swoim fanom w mediach społecznościowych... "jest na krawędzi wszystkiego". - Ta cała sytuacja doprowadza mnie do szału. Zaczynam wariować - przyznała gwiazda tenisa TikToku.

Sportsmenka dodała, że żyje w ciągłym stresie i traci już panowanie nad sobą. Kiedy tylko ktoś obok zakaszle albo kichnie, to wpada w szał. Ostatnio 38-latka wyładowała swoją złość na 2,5-letniej córeczce Alexis Olympii.

With much of the 2020 season likely lost, Williams has fewer chances to catch and pass Margaret Court

On April 1, the All England Club announced that Wimbledon would be canceled because of the global coronavirus pandemic. It’s the first time Wimbledon has been canceled since 1945, when the tournament was shuttered because of World War II. The Grand Slam tournament is scheduled to come back June 28, 2021. It’s the first time Wimbledon has been canceled in peacetime.

In an Instagram post from March 13, Williams had already announced that she was spending the next six weeks “in solitude.”

The US Open is still scheduled to start on Aug. 24 and the French Open is slated to begin Sept. 20. But the Wimbledon news invites questions about how long the window will be open for Williams to notch her 24th Grand Slam title, the one that would allow her to tie Margaret Court’s record for singles titles.

The road back to the top has not been easy for Williams since she gave birth to her daughter, Alexis Olympia Ohanian Jr., in 2017. As Williams pursued her goal of winning more Grand Slams since her return from maternity leave, she’s faced a new generation of athletes who are younger than she is — often by 10 years or more — and who play tennis with the same level of power and athleticism that have become her trademark. The kids are getting more difficult to topple. Since winning the Australian Open in 2017, Williams has reached four Grand Slam finals but lost them all. Last year, she lost convincingly in the Wimbledon final to Simona Halep, 6-2, 6-2.

Williams is still a world-class athlete, as evidenced by her performance at the 2019 US Open, where she marched through opponent after opponent. It should have been a golden opportunity for her, but in the finals, Williams lost her serve, her game fell apart and she fell to 19-year-old Bianca Andreescu in straight sets, 6-3, 7-5.

So what now? The tennis world will lie fallow, at least temporarily. It’s especially confounding to think about, given that Williams generally plays her best when she’s got more matches under her belt. If Williams plays Wimbledon next year, she will be 39. When the All England Club announced the news of the cancellation, Williams tweeted simply, “I’m Shooked.”

Perhaps the time off will give Williams a chance to address what seems to be her biggest demon when it’s come to Grand Slams lately: her own brain. When not beset by injury, Williams’ conditioning and fitness have been top-notch. That’s what made her loss to Andreescu difficult to watch — she just didn’t look like herself. She wasn’t playing “catsuit tennis.” Admittedly, when Halep defeated Williams in the Wimbledon final, she did so by playing near-perfect tennis. But Williams hasn’t quite been the same since she lost to Naomi Osaka in the now-notorious final of the 2018 US Open. It’s not just that she’s chasing Court’s record. A Grand Slam win, post-2018, would also serve as a definitive marker that she’s fully recovered from one of the — if not the — most painful losses of her career.

After a surprise third-round exit in the Australian Open earlier this year — Williams lost to Wang Qiang in three sets — her coach, Patrick Mouratoglou, acknowledged that a shift in strategy was needed. “We have to accept the fact that it is not working,” he said. It was even weirder because Williams entered the tournament with momentum, having just won the ASB Classic. It was her first title since winning the 2017 Australian Open.

“Her level is good enough, but we have to understand what is going on and why she is not able to win one. There is a big difference between reaching a final and winning one,” Mouratoglou told BBC Sport after Williams’ third-round defeat in Melbourne, Australia. “She believes she can make it and I believe it too. She’s not that far, but we have to change a few things.”

Now a deadly virus has rocked the entire world and tennis, too. Is a change still gon’ come, as Sam Cooke would say? And if so, what will it be?

Facebook Gaming zorganizuje w niedzielę wirtualny turniej, w którym wystąpią największe gwiazdy światowego tenisa. Swój udział potwierdziły siostry Serena i Venus Williams, Maria Szarapowa i Naomi Osaka.


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W organizację imprezy o nazwie Stay At Home Slam włączyła się agencja menedżerska IMG. Zaproszone gwiazdy będą rywalizować w grę komputerową Mario Tennis Aces, a ich postawę będzie komentował legendarny John McEnroe. Turniej będzie można obejrzeć na żywo na Facebooku.
Zasady gry będą proste. Tenisiści zostali dobrani w pary wraz z gwiazdami ze świata mody, muzyki czy sportu. Każdy duet już na inaugurację będzie mógł przeznaczyć 25 tys. dolarów na wybrany cel charytatywny związany z walką z pandemią koronawirusa. Dodatkowo triumfatorzy turnieju przekażą aż milion dolarów.

Przypomnijmy, że z powodu rozprzestrzeniającej się po świecie choroby COVID-19 wszelkie międzynarodowe rozgrywki tenisowe są zwieszone co najmniej do 13 lipca. W ciągu najbliższych tygodni zapadną decyzje odnośnie zawodów, które latem miały się odbyć na kortach twardych w USA.


Pary zgłoszone do Stay At Home Slam (gra Mario Tennis Aces):
1) Serena Williams i Gigi Hadid
2) Naomi Osaka i Hailey Bieber
3) Venus Williams i DeAndre Hopkins
4) Maria Szarapowa i Karlie Kloss
5) Kei Nishikori i Steve Aoki
6) Madison Keys i Seal
7) Taylor Fritz i Addison Rae
Kevin Anderson i Ryan Tannehill