In her second match after the comeback, Serena Williams lost in doubles in Berlin. The biggest star of the tournament has already been eliminated and is saying goodbye just as the capital has descended into Serena mania.
Suddenly, without warning, she is there. For a brief moment, almost unnoticed, accompanied only by little security and a few cameras, Serena Williams walks through the middle of the fans at 3:50 p.m. It makes its way wherever food stands and advertising campaigns are set up. Some children run after him, trying to quickly get an autograph, but in vain. And then it’s over, Serena Williams disappears into a cordoned off area again and goes to the gym to warm up. Disbelieving looks from some bystanders. Was she really just doing that? That happened so quickly. Of course, many are here at the Berlin Tennis Open on Tuesday because of her. The organizer had advertised again in the last few days, including with posters.
Not sold out despite Serena
Nevertheless, the Steffi Graf Stadium is not sold out. “Berliners are not as starstruck as perhaps others,” says tournament director Markus Zoecke. With the announcement that Serena Williams would be playing in Berlin, people were “hoping for a little more,” says Zoecke. The Berlin Open has grown considerably over the last two years since the change of organizer. In public and sporting perception – many top stars compete in singles, measured by the number of spectators and also literally on site: an additional grandstand was added to the Steffi Graf Stadium this year. The area of the facility in which sponsors have set up their stands with sales areas and other advertising campaigns is now so large that the LTTC Rot-Weiß, the club that actually has its home here, only has one place left to play.
Berliners are not as starstruck as perhaps others.
Markus Zoecke, tournament director
The growing tournament challenges the club
Here, trainer and former professional player Lena Papadakis oversees a tennis program for children, who use four mini nets on small fields to get the most out of the area. The tournament is also a challenge. “It’s already an issue for many people here,” says Papadakis. “Personally, I think it’s great because I also see how the children’s eyes light up when they see the players,” said the coach. However, she doesn’t have any places to train here during the tournament. Some things are currently taking place in other clubs and halls in Berlin, she says. Nevertheless, contact with professional players is “cool”, especially for young tennis players in the club. And of course, above all, Serena Williams. “Usually not that many people watch doubles – but everyone watches Serena,” says Papadakis.
String Serena’s racket? “Of course something nice”
While Serena Williams disappeared into the gym before the match and will come from there via a tunnel into the stadium, her rackets are still among the fans on the grounds. In a white tent, stringer Marco Fekete bends over you and tightens tennis strings. “It’s obviously something nice when you string the racket of a 23-time Grand Slam winner,” he says. Next to him, his colleague Ozan Filiz is currently working on one of Elina Svitolina’s rackets; a total of four employees are responsible for stringing the professional rackets. While Marco Fekete traveled from Austria, Ozan Filiz usually works in a tennis shop in Berlin. It’s a science, every player wants a different string, depending on the temperature, for example. Even in matches, players sometimes change their minds – if they want more power or control. Within a quarter of an hour you will receive a new covering. Serena Williams ordered three rackets and a pretty hard side for her match in Berlin, reveals Filiz – 27 kilos, he says (for the tennis nerds). The strings are painted with the logo of Williams’ racket sponsor and then they are ready for the match. It can start so slowly. A few meters away, the Steffi Graf Stadium is also filling up.
Surprising choice of Double partner
At 5:34 p.m. the time has come. Serena Williams comes onto the court – light pink skirt, pink shoes, just like her grip – a subtle Serena Williams outfit. At her side is the Czech Karolina Muchova. The fact that Williams competed with Muchova in Berlin came as a surprise. Her doubles partner from Queens, Viktoria Mboko, is still injured and was not registered for Berlin anyway. But there had been rumors in advance that Williams could compete with her compatriot Coco Gauff, who is 22 years younger. “I don’t know who spread the rumor,” said Gauff on Tuesday in Berlin. She was never asked – because if she had been asked, she would definitely have said yes. It was a funny and telling moment. Because when Gauff said that, she had just won her doubles with Jessica Pegula and Pegula was sitting next to her. That’s why Gauff quickly added: “Sorry, Jess, you know I love you.” Of course Pegula would have understood it that way too. It’s just Serena Williams. That’s what’s special about her, she’s a role model and a star even for many of the best players in the world right now. The Williams-Gauff double could perhaps still happen in the future. Williams also admitted: “I would love to play with her sometime, she was on my list. I should have found out better whether she is starting here.” So the choice fell on Karolina Muchova, who is also competing in the singles at the Berlin Open and won her first round match in under an hour in the morning. “Karolina is a great player who plays very beautifully. I enjoy watching her,” said Williams. That’s why she asked her.
Karolina Muchova and Serena Williams
Muchova provides more highlights
And the joint appearance with Williams seems to ensure that Karolina Muchova’s technically good and variable game becomes known to many Berlin tennis fans. In the first few games she is the one who carries the doubles. Even if Serena Williams points – she scores the first with a forehand volley – attract significantly more applause. Only when Muchova wins a point single-handedly with two artistic volleys far into the match does she get the same storm of celebration as Serena Williams. But right from the start, in the first service game of her opponents Erin Routliffe and Giuliana Olmos, it becomes clear what Williams’ biggest challenges are in her comeback: fast, especially lateral movements on the court and the timing of the return – this had already been shown in the game in Queens, despite the success. Experts like her long-time former coach Patrick Mouratoglou also see these aspects of the game – the small, quick movements, reflexes and timing – as the biggest challenges. Williams’ first service game in Berlin gets off to a bumpy start: a smash from Routliff, a lost baseline duel against Olmos – 0:30. But then a breath of the Serena Williams that everyone here is hoping for blows through the stadium: strong serves, a powerful backhand – the audience cheers.
To be honest, I felt pretty good – nimbler, more stable and faster than in the first game in Queens. Overall I felt good.
Serena Williams after her defeat in Berlin
Williams: More calm thanks to her daughters
But it is a service game from Serena Williams that initiates the defeat. When the score is 3:3, the formerly dominant server gives up her service. The encouraging applause from the Berlin audience and a “come on Serena” call before the decisive point didn’t help either: Williams made the decisive mistake, she wanted to put pressure with her backhand after a good second serve – the power is there, as is the distinctive, familiar scream, only the ball flies out of bounds. This happens a few times when Serena Williams wants to unleash her power shots that day. You then lack a bit of precision and timing. Even though she herself said after the game: “To be honest, I felt pretty good – nimbler, more stable and faster than in the first game in Queens. Overall, I felt good.” Above all, the “new” Serena Williams is pretty calm. That may also be because of her daughters in the audience, says Williams. Williams says she kept noticing the two of them in the stands, how one was trying to slow the other down, and it made her laugh, “otherwise I might have been more irritable.” Because the match doesn’t turn around in the second set either.
The audience tries everything – unsuccessfully
With the score at 4:6, 1:1 and 40:30, Williams was even shot once at the net by her opponent Olmos. She immediately raises her hand to apologize and literally freezes into a pillar of salt. Only when Williams turns to her and raises his hand does she come out of the shock of literally hitting the living legend with a ball. Williams was then able to hold her serve, but shortly afterwards Routliffe and Olmos broke Muchova’s serve. So when Serena Williams steps to the line with the score at 2:4 in the second set for perhaps her last service game in Berlin, the audience gives everything they have again. That’s not much compared to the big stages Serena Williams has taken on in her career. The “let’s go Serena let’s go” chants and the rhythmic clapping before serves are nevertheless exceptional for the Berlin Open. Williams manages perhaps her best serve game – with strong first serves and a cracking forehand volley. As a result, the audience grasps at any straw. This appearance by the greatest tennis player of the modern era shouldn’t be over yet. Tennis audiences can be mean when they desperately want to see another set. There are a few heckling moments before the opponents’ serves, and even their mistakes are applauded. It doesn’t help at all. Routliffe hits an ace, and on match point Williams fails with an attempt to pass Olmos. The American’s first and last appearance ends 4:6,4:6. At 7:11 p.m. Berlin has to say goodbye to Serena Williams again. She signs a few autographs, smiles at her children and leaves the court. She is gone again as unrealistically quickly as she came. As engaging, impressive and somehow frightening as Serena Williams is on the court, she almost seems reserved in Berlin.
“It’s nice that people are watching more doubles because of her”
When she was already gone, her opponent, the New Zealander Erin Routliffe, who, strangely enough, also competed against Williams in Queens and lost there, said this sentence: “It’s nice that people want to watch more doubles because of her, that makes me happy.” Because doubles is often the neglected child of tennis, fans flock to the singles matches of the big stars. Perhaps this is one of the most exciting observations about Serena Williams’ comeback.
Williams talks about Wimbledon and leaves the individual start open
The next stage, however, will be bigger: Serena Williams will soon be competing in Wimbledon with her sister Venus (sportschau.de). Of course, this was also discussed in Berlin. Serena Williams reveals that her daughter Olympia had the idea. “She told me I should play with Venus. She’s always right, she’s smart and wise. So I said, let’s see if we can do it,” Williams said. When asked by a journalist whether she would also like to try to get a wild card for the Grand Slam tournament in London in singles, Williams replied with the counter question: “Do you think I’m ready for that?” She had to work, Williams said, muttering without giving a real answer: “That’s the question of the hour… I don’t know.”
Broadcast: rbb24 Abendschau, June 16, 2026, 7:30 p.m. Video: rbb24 Abendschau, June 16, 2026, Jonas Schützeberg
