MADRID — Serena Williams has chosen the tournament very well for her return, but her body is not going to withstand the demands of high-level competition again, opines one of the people who best knows the muscles and bones of the former world number one.
“The reality is that I can’t imagine her competing at a physical level like when she was competing before her pregnancy. But hey, hopefully she surprises me and hopefully she achieves success. But honestly, I can’t imagine it,” the Spaniard Rubén Mateu, Serena Williams’ physiotherapist between 2016 and 2021, told CLAY.
Serena Williams, one of the greatest tennis players in history, a 23-time Grand Slam champion and number one for 319 weeks, returns to the courts at the Wimbledon tournament, where she will compete in both singles and doubles with her sister Venus. She will reappear on the London grass at 44 years old, being a mother of two girls and having hung up her racket almost four seasons ago, in September 2022. The challenge is monumental even for her, one of the fiercest athletes to have ever existed. A competitor in every sense of the word.
Few know the limits and physiognomy of the younger Williams sister better than Spain’s Rubén Mateu, the physiotherapist who helped the American in her final stage. With Mateu in her box, Serena Williams conquered the last of her 23 majors, the 2017 Australian Open. Furthermore, she won it while eight weeks pregnant, and the title served to return her to number one at 35 years old.
Now based in the city of Castellón, on the Spanish Mediterranean, Mateu continues to treat high-performance athletes, but no longer travels the tennis circuit. During one of his breaks at the Roots clinic, Mateu picked up the phone to analyze Serena Williams’ return for CLAY. The admiration he feels for the American blends with logical doubts about how she will react.
“Serena’s body is not normal, because she is a super athlete, but it is also the body of a 44-year-old person who has been out of elite competition for a while,” Mateu warned. The Spanish specialist acknowledged the tennis player’s monumental effort, reflected in an evident weight loss that has transformed her recent silhouette. However, he clarified that the real challenge is not aesthetic, but mechanical. To compete with guarantees on the current circuit, you must have an spartan discipline: a lot of daily strength work and milimetric management of training time.
It is here where Mateu places Serena’s great crossroads, one that goes far beyond the tennis courts and clashes directly with her family reality after having given birth in 2017 and 2025. “To be able to return to the level she had, you have to invest 12 hours a day and forget a little bit about motherhood or maternal care, and knowing her, it’s a challenge to think that she will forget about her daughters. But if you don’t do it, you don’t get it. I am absolutely convinced,” the Spanish physiotherapist stated emphatically.
The Ghost of Motherhood in the Elite
The recent history of the WTA tour backs up Mateu’s doubts. Modern tennis has become a physical meat grinder that does not understand glorious pasts. “The body of a 44-year-old person who has been a mother twice… I don’t remember anyone who has returned to professional sports like that,” analyzed the American’s former physio, who pointed to the cases of Naomi Osaka or Kim Clijsters, former number ones who battled without success to find their old version after motherhood. “These are people who have been at the top, who have been number one, and even though they have done well, at no point have they returned to their highest level,” Mateu said. Serena Williams faces an almost prohibitive cocktail: the 44-year-old barrier and four seasons of competitive inactivity.
The factor that keeps the flame alive is, without a doubt, the mind. It’s Serena Williams. “Her mere presence in the locker room tunnel is going to intimidate rivals,” Mateu assured. “I don’t think she’s too worried about the rest either. I don’t think her goal is to win titles. At this stage, she doesn’t have to prove anything to anyone. But it’s also true that it’s going to be strange to see her compete without the hunger of wanting to win everything.”
For Mateu, this journey is no longer about records or seeking the 24th major that eluded her so much in the final stretch of her career. Serena Williams’ current engine is the fun of feeling the adrenaline again. Even so, the Spaniard warns that the competitive nature of the former world number one is unalterable, and that the locker room will once again witness her famous internal storms if things don’t go well on court. “I know that after a match, if it doesn’t go well for her, she will return to the previous situation, which is frustration and tension. There will be moments when she can’t be talked to and you’ll have to keep your distance. In the end, it hurts Serena deeply to lose. And that doesn’t change.”
