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By Chris Oddo | Monday January 23, 2017

Speaking on ESPN on Monday, Patrick Mouratoglou, coach of Serena Williams, expressed some concern about the form of the 22-time major champion as she prepares to face red-hot Johanna Konta in the quarterfinals.

More: Nadal Outmuscles Monfils to Reach Quarterfinals in Melbourne

“Today the performance of Serena was not the best I’ve seen,” he said during a panel segment. “During a Grand Slam you often have one day or two that you don’t play your best tennis, you don’t feel great, you feel a bit slow—it was that kind of day today.”

Williams had to battle to get past Barbora Strycova, and her error count was high. She was broken four times, made only 45 percent of her first-serves, and tossed in a total of 46 unforced errors over the course of the one-hour and 45-minute affair.

And, yet, Williams still won in straight sets.

It was something that the 35-year-old took solace in. “I feel like it was really good for me to win on probably not my best day, which is always good, because sometimes you rely on one shot and if it goes off, and then, like, what happens now?” Williams told reporters. “It was really good for me to almost lose that so I know my other game is going pretty good, too.”

Mouratoglou agrees with Williams’ assessment, but he did seem a bit more concerned about the general lack of pep in Williams’ step.

“She was not moving well so she made a lot of unforced errors, much more than usual,” Mouratoglou said. “She didn’t serve great because, same, no legs really in her serve. So it was not a good match, but the important thing is to find a way to win when you play bad, and she did. She didn’t play her best, but she won, and now she has a real test in the next match with a strong opponent, Konta. We’re looking forward to this one.”

Mouratoglou knows that Williams’ movement will need to sharpen—and quickly. She’ll need to be on guard against Konta. The winner of nine straight matches attacks early and often and can move the ball all over the court with steady groundstrokes and a surprisingly big serve.

“We have to do a lot of exercises for sure about it,” he said. “The preseason was for sure good so there is no explanation on why she doesn’t move as well as usual, but we definitely have to solve that, especially against Konta who is someone who plays so fast. [Konta] takes the ball early, she’s aggressive all the time, you can’t afford to be a bit slow.

“And also with Serena’s game, she’s taking a lot of risks and that’s her game and she has to be able to play her game. When you are a bit late you make much more unforced errors.”

Mouratoglou says he would like to see Williams to continue to evolve her game and come forward more. He likes that she has been aggressive on the return, hitting with depth and following her shots to net to shorten points. He wants to see more of it.

“When she does that I think she’s almost unplayable,” he said. “She takes the ball early, she goes to the open space and then she comes to the net to finish up with a swing volley overhead, or a volley—she does that so well, and of course we work a lot on it. I know she’s 35 but I think she has a future, she can still have her game move forward and get better.”

Williams and Konta have never played before. The British No. 1 will be contesting her second Grand Slam quarterfinal; Williams will be playing her 47th.

 

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