"I love his grit. I've always loved that, way before we played doubles. I always said he reminds me a lot of myself. I'm just a big fan"
Wednesday 2 September 2020 15:37, UK
Serena Williams hailed the character Andy Murray showed to come through his first-round marathon with Japan's Yoshihito Nishioka at the US Open.
Williams, who also won her own first-round match on Tuesday, was waiting to take to court inside the Arthur Ashe Stadium after the conclusion of Murray's match.
Despite being eager to get her own campaign up and running, she said afterwards she had Murray's back the whole time.
"Usually when you're waiting for a match, someone is down two sets, you root for the person that's ahead so you can get on the court," the 23-time Grand Slam champion said.
"I was rooting for Andy the whole time. I really wanted him to win. Gosh, when he was down in the third set, I was like, all right. I was just rooting for him so hard."
Williams and Murray came together for the mixed doubles at last year's Wimbledon, referring to themselves as 'Mur-rena', and Williams recognises the qualities he showed in his 4-6 4-6 7-6 (7-5) 7-6 (7-4) 6-4 victory.
She said: "I love his grit. I've always loved that, way before we played doubles. I always said he reminds me a lot of myself. I'm just a big fan."
It was really good because I know what it's like to be down, I know what it's like to be injured, I know what it's like to be counted out. I felt like it was a real gutsy win for him and I was really happy.
Williams played her first US Open back in 1998 and she won her maiden title at Flushing Meadows a year later.
For all involved, the 2020 version is very different and the six-time winner explained why she has been so supportive of it taking place, despite the challenges involved.
"I think what's most important about this event taking place is just the spirit," she said.
"Sport has been gone for so long, particularly tennis. We missed two Grand Slams. The US Open is the first major tennis event since Australian Open.
The morale can be really low in the world with everything that's going on. Sometimes you just want to take your mind off [it] and people have been doing that for generations through sport.
"That's one of the reasons I was so supportive of the US Open. I felt like it was such a good time to get back out there for athletes and for fans to kind of just disconnect and be a fan, and for athletes to do what they do best."
Alongside the wealth of protocols and the US Open 'bubble' being created, fans not being able to attend something has drastically changed the atmosphere for players. For Williams, that brings about different elements to consider.
"I think the easiest [thing about it] is a little less pressure. I think the hardest is making sure you stay pumped," she said.
"For me it was clearly easy because I'm always overly passionate. I love being passionate. It's what I'm best at."
Williams will continue her quest to equal Margaret Court's record of 24 Grand Slam titles on Thursday against world No 117 Margarita Gasparyan.
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