Serena Williams’ initial reaction to her straight sets defeat to Alize Cornet last night was laughter.
The top seed leaves Dubai without the title for a third time in three appearances and the American said she was “embarrassed” after her loss in the semi-finals.
While she tried to give credit to her opponent, Williams blamed herself for what she described as an error-strewn performance.
“I’m a wee bit embarrassed,” laughed the 32-year-old. “She played really well. I just didn’t play today. I tried, though. I just kept hitting errors. I don’t think I have made that many errorswinin a match in I think at least three years, maybe four years.
“She played a solid match. She knew someone was going to hit balls in the stands and just didn’tget the ball in play, kind of. I think she did that really well. It wasn’t my day today.”
Williams came to Dubai coming off a back injury which sidelined her after her Australian Open fourth round defeat to Ana Ivanovic.
She says she felt no pain throughout the week at the Aviation Club but also admitted that she wasn’t able to feel her best stepping on to the court.
“I haven’t felt good this whole week, to be honest, just from my first match,” said Williams.
The 17-time grand slam champion was at a loss when she tried to explain her flat performance, and came up with a bizarre rationale.
“I started out extremely slow. I have been actually looking at a turtle every day. I think it’s so cute. Maybe I was too influenced by it. It’s a really cute turtle in the hotel,” said Williams.
“I need to be able to play better than that if I want to be playing on this tour, on the professional tour. Maybe I can go to amateurs,” she added sarcastically.
Her next appearance will be in Miami next month and she says she is still undecided on Fed Cup. But before she leaves Dubai, she may want to give her sister Venus some tips ahead of her final today.
“I’m sure she (Venus) watched the match. She’s played her a few times. I will obviously tell her what to do, but she’ll be fine,” said Serena.
