Serena Williams has found something more nerve-racking than winning tennis matches at Roland Garros: speaking French afterward.
The world No. 1 has been talking the native tongue during her on-court interviews after her five French Open wins. Though she says she’s nervous, Serena has been receiving high marks from the notoriously-fickle fans at the Grand Slam event. The crowd has applauded the effort with each of the top seed’s successive wins.
Serena wanted to start speaking the native language in post-match interviews last year, but lost in the first round and never had the opportunity.
This year, winning hasn’t been a problem. Serena dominated her first four opponents, then won a tense quarterfinal against the big-hitting Svetlana Kuznetsova.
She’s been speaking French for years but said she lacked the confidence to speak it at the tournament.
“It’s way, way more nerve-racking than playing tennis,” she told reporters.
Serena has reasons to learn the language besides self-improvement and fan-pandering. She owns an apartment off the Champs de Mars and has been working with a French coach, Patrick Mouratoglou, whom she’s also rumored to be dating.
While answering softball questions after early-round wins is impressive, it’s not the goal. Serena wants to speak French at her trophy presentation ceremony.
“She is ready,” the sporting newspaper L’Equipe wrote after Serena’s quarterfinal. And they weren’t talking about her game.
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