Serena Williams was forced to wait a little longer than usual for her Arthur Ashe opener but was ‘really happy’ to see Andy Murray complete an epic US Open comeback.
Williams was scheduled to play after Murray on the main New York show court and it looked as if the Scot would be heading out of the draw when he was two sets and a break down to Yoshihito Nishioka.
In normal circumstances, Williams would want the player who has fallen behind to lose quickly so that she could crack on with her own match.
But that was far from the case on Tuesday.
Having teamed up with Murray, the three-time Grand Slam winner from Dunblane, at Wimbledon, Williams is always ‘rooting’ for her fellow former world No. 1 to get the win.
And despite it taking him four hours and 40 minutes to do so, Williams was impressed with his ‘gutsy’ display.
‘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 and get off,’ said Williams.
‘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.
‘I saw him give the racquet to his trainer. There’s Andy, he plans on playing five sets here. I was really happy for him.
‘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.’
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