#Serena Williams compares loss to ‘dating a guy that you know sucks’

Following Tuesday’s shocking defeat to Greece’s Maria Sakkari– the 13th seed– at the Western & Southern Open in New York, 38-year-old Williams compared the loss to a toxic romance.

“I put myself in a bad situation,” the third-seeded Williams told reporters. “It’s like dating a guy that you know sucks. That’s literally what I keep doing out here. It’s like I have to get rid of this guy. It just makes no sense. It’s frustrating.”

Williams, who has been happily married to Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian since 2017, fell to 25-year-old Sakkari in the third set, 6-1.

“It’s hard to play the way I have been playing and to stay positive,” Williams said. “And to play nine hours in a week is too much. I don’t usually play like that. It’s all new for me.”

Though Williams is coping with the latest loss, she’s also gearing up for this year’s fanless US Open amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

“There was no excuse,” Williams said. “Yeah, it was hard, but I had so many opportunities to win, and I have to figure that one out, like how to start winning those matches again.”

The Western & Southern Open is serving as a US Open tune-up in Flushing after it was moved from Cincinnati. The US Open gets underway on Monday.