Ajla Tomljanovic reveals how she prepared herself for epic clash with Serena Williams at US Open 2022

Tennis icon Serena Williams was eliminated in the third round of the US Open which might be the last match of her illustrious career on Saturday. While there was a lot of focus on her during her third round match, her Australian opponent Ajla Tomljanovic was also in the limelight. Tomljanovic knew very well that she was all set to play against a tennis icon, who had won record 23-Grand Slam titles in her career when she entered the third round of the US Open 2022. She defeated Evgeniya Rodina 1-6, 6-2, 7-5 to set her clash with Serena. Tomljanovic used an interesting way to reduce the pressure on herself before the match got underway.

Speaking to Tennis.com.au, Tomljanovic revealed how she managed the pressure of playing against Serena who was in her home turf. She disclosed that she had deleted all of her social media accounts in order to stay in a bubble and not let the enormity of the occasion get to her.

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“As soon as I won my second round, I deleted all my social media and I wasn’t looking at the news. Because everywhere I turned, it was Serena. So I didn’t want to make it… Like I already know how great she is. I didn’t want to psych myself out even more. If I had heard that (conversation) before, I’d be like, ugh, that’s a tough task, then. But if I just stay within my little bubble and my people around me, it’s way easier to deal with things,” Tomljanovic revealed.

Serena had defeated second seed Anett Kontaveit in the second round of US Open 2022. The American star had received tremendous crowd support in that match and Kontaveit was overwhelmed by it. Later Kontaveit left her post-match press conference in tears.

Talking about Kontaveit’s emotions, Tomljanović said “I heard about it, and then I googled it. I thought, OK, whatever I think, how it will be, it will be probably worse. You cannot think, oh, what’s it gonna feel like when you double fault, or when you miss the first serve and you hear them (the crowd)? It actually does get to you. So after seeing her press conference, and just reading about it, I just tried to get as prepared as I could, for the worst.”

The Australian would face off against Ludmilla Samsonova in the fourth round of US Open 2022 on Monday.