Entertainment

Watch a young Serena WIlliams pretending to play at the US Open

From pretending to compete, to actually winning the tournament six times.
From pretending to compete, to actually winning the tournament six times. From pretending to compete, to actually winning the tournament six times.

Serena Williams is such a dominant figure in women’s tennis these days that it’s hard to picture her having to pretend to play at Grand Slams.

Of course, she wasn’t always a 23-time major winner but after watching Nike’s latest commercial, released during the US Open which the 35-year-old has won six times, you realise she has been inhabiting the role for longer than you might think.

“This is you at the US Open, this is you,” Richard Williams, Serena’s father, tells his daughter in footage from years gone by.

The video marks Serena’s return to the US Open, having missed the 2017 tournament while pregnant with her daughter, Alexis Olympia Ohanian Jr.

Nike also posted the following image days earlier in the aftermath of the news that Serena would no longer be allowed to wear her black catsuit at the French Open, having worn it this year at Roland Garros.

The US athlete’s return to Flushing Meadows was a victorious one, beating Poland’s Magda Linette 6-4 6-0 to advance to the second round. She’s not pretending to play at the majors anymore.