The surprising loss of defending champion Serena Williams in the fourth round of Wimbledon Championships to Sabine Lisicki added yet another headline-grabbing event at the All England Club. Several marquee players in both gentlemen’s and ladies’ singles competitions have exited during the first week and Williams was among who survived the onslaught and was expected to win the title once again. However, she was ousted by the young German on Monday.
However, Williams’ coach and rumored boyfriend Patrick Moratoglou says that these losses do happen even for a great player like Serena.
“She’s human,” he said.
“You cannot expect for anybody even if she is the greatest player of all time, if she is, to be perfect on all the matches all the year. She is not, and she will never be,” he added.
“I think still that her low level is better than it was before. But she is a human. She is going to lose some matches, and we have to be ready for that.”
In her postmatch interview following her three-set loss, Williams said that being beaten by Lisicki was not that surprising.
“It’s not a shock,” Williams said. “Like I said, she plays really good on grass. She has a massive, massive serve. So going in there you have to know that it’s definitely not going to be an easy match playing her at Wimbledon, especially on Centre Court.
“It’s definitely not a shock.”
