Serena Williams not blaming loss on ankle injury

Serena Williams did not blame her surprising loss to Karolina Pliskova in the quarterfinals of the Australian Open on her ankle injury. Instead, she credited Pliskova for turning things up in key spots.

Pliskova took the first set of the match 6-4 and was up a break in the second before losing her serve and giving it right back. Williams went on to win the second set 6-4 and then was up 5-1 and serving for the match up 40-30. She was called for a foot fault on her first serve and then rolled her ankle after being wrong-footed on her second serve. After that, she lost the game and five more in a row to lose the match.

In her post-match press conference, Williams said her ankle injury was not the reason she lost.

“I just think she played lights out on match points,” Williams told reporters. “Literally, hitting lines. Just went for it, went crazy on match points. She just played unbelievable on match point. … I don’t think it had anything to do with my ankle per se. I just think she was nailing and hitting shots. Obviously I made some mistakes, but she played really well after that.”

Williams was also asked why she did not call out the trainer during the side change after she injured her ankle.

“I really hate calling the trainer out to be honest. And at that point, I didn’t feel like I needed it or like it would be a big deal, so I kept going.”

Regardless of whether or not she was being genuine about the ankle not being a factor, seeing her take responsibility for her loss and credit her opponent rather than go scorched earth blaming others is refreshing.