What is Tiger Woods’ role in Serena Williams’ comeback, Tennis star explains

Serena Williams waited for Tiger Woods‘ advice before she made her recent comeback from a year-long injury absence. On Wednesday night, when she played against No. 2 seed Anett Kontaveit at the US Open, Woods was spotted cheering for her. 

“He’s one of the reasons I’m here,” Williams said after beating Kontaveit 7-6 (4), 2-6, 6-2 to reach the third round at Flushing Meadows in what could be the last tournament of her career. “One of the main reasons I’m still playing.”

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Three weeks ago, 23-time Grand Slam champion Williams, in an essay in Vogue magazine, announced that she is retiring from professional tennis after the US Open.

In the piece, she said she turned to Woods for advice when she was trying to figure out whether to return to playing after she was sidelined by an injury at Wimbledon in June 2021.

“I said, ‘I don’t know what to do: I think I’m over it, but maybe I’m not over [tennis],’ ” Serena wrote in Vogue. “He’s Tiger, and he was adamant that I be a beast the same way he is! He said, ‘Serena, what if you just gave it two weeks? You don’t have to commit to anything. You just go out on the court every day for two weeks and give it your all and see what happens.’ I said, ‘All right, I think I can do that.’ “

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Asked Wednesday about Woods’ role, Williams said, “We talked a lot. He was really trying to get me motivated.”

She continued: “I didn’t know what I wanted to do. I was just lost. So many questions. When you can rely on someone like that — I mean, my goodness, he’s Tiger Woods — it was really helpful to get clarity.”