Serena Williams Sulks With Press, Sparkles For Obamas

WASHINGTON--With a white Nike Cap pulled low over her eyes, Serena Williams finally arrived to her pre-match press conference some 15 minutes late. 

Though late, it still made her far earlier than she had been earlier in the day, according to the reporters who grumbled about her being a full half-hour late to her afternoon clinic with local kids, a traditional stop for players participating in World Team Tennis.

It was immediately apparent during the presser that Serena was in no mood to be there.  Whereas Venus Williams began her presser Tuesday with a cheery "Hi, guys!," Serena plopped herself down behind the microphone and seemed to sigh.

Serena has her chatty moments with the press, but Thursday was clearly not one of them.  Her answers were short, uninformative, and often condescending.  Asked if her current ranking of No. 175 was motivational by Liz Clarke of The Washington Post, Serena's answer amounted to: "It is what it is." 

I've been in pressers with moody Serena (and other moody players) plenty, so I wasn't especially fazed.  I went into the presser with a question in mind, so I asked it:

SBN: Serena, because of your injuries, tonight will be your first match in the US since the 2009 US Open, where you had a sort of infamous exit.  You made a commercial for Wilson recently that made light of the whole thing--how do you feel about it now? Is it just something you can joke about?

Serena Williams: Oh yeah...I mean, I don't even remember that incident, to be honest.  Whatever.  That was ages ago.  That was so 2009.

I understand that the point penalty that ended her 2009 US Open semifinal isn't going to be her favorite topic, but it was still fair game on this occasion for a number of reasons. 

Firstly, this was her first match in the US since it happened.  Injuries kept Serena out of Miami in 2010, and every American tournament since the injury happened in July of last year.  She's won two grand slams since it happened (the Australian Open and Wimbledon in 2010), which makes the fact that she hasn't played in the US since all the more peculiar and noteworthy.

Secondly, and more importantly, Serena addressed (and unburied) the incident within the last month, with this commercial for Wilson that came out in June: 

So, yeah.  She clearly doesn't remember. At least she was "being honest."

A few questions later, I tried something completely different (with not much more success):

SBN: Serena, having not played in almost a year, you made it to the second week of a grand slam, which is pretty impressive. How close do you think you are to being all the way back to where you were pre-injury? Do you think you're there yet, or how far do you still have to go.

Serena Williams: I'm getting there, and hopefully I'll be there really soon.  And...yeah. I'm hoping I'm getting there.

So while she may have been grumpy, she wasn't especially pessimistic, which is good, I guess.

* * *

After practically sleepwalking onto the court, Serena seemed to find her spark pretty quickly once she realized the Obamas (minus Barack, pictured with her above) were in attendance. 

The Kastles, led by Serena, defeated the visiting Boston Lobsters 25-10, one of the most lopsided scorelines I've ever seen in World Team Tennis. 

The closest match by far was the closing event, women's singles, which came down to the final point between Serena and Boston's Coco Vandeweghe.  Serena trailed 3-1, but prevailed 5-4(5-4) in a tiebreak.  She finished with an impressive forehand winner that inspired Michelle Obama to give a triumphant fistpump high in the air.