Serena opens up about anxiety regarding coronavirus crisis

Serena Williams says she is feeling ‘anxious’ and ‘on edge’ as she continues to self-isolate during the coronavirus pandemic.

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Spending the next 6 weeks in solitude. Being a wife. Being a mom. Cooking. Cleaning. Spring cleaning. Face mask. Makeup tutorials. I’ll let you know how it goes…. stay safe everyone. This is serious. ??

A post shared by Serena Williams (@serenawilliams) on Mar 13, 2020 at 6:01am PDT

After Indian Wells was cancelled almost a fortnight ago, the 23-time Grand Slam champion revealed on Instagram that she planned to spend the next six weeks at home due to the coronavirus crisis.

Now, Serena – in a post to TikTok – has opened up on how she’s finding it challenging to deal with the anxiety that’s stemming from the deadly virus.

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I’ve been staying at home and practicing social distancing. I want to make sure I’m doing my part during these uncertain times. Your actions matter and to #stayhome is one thing we can do to flatten the curve. Thank you @voguemagazine and Anna for raising awareness to make sure we take care of one another, even if it’s from your couch. And thank you to all who are out there taking care of us outside of your own home.

A post shared by Serena Williams (@serenawilliams) on Mar 20, 2020 at 3:53pm PDT

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Now more than ever, we are all one team. #playinside #playfortheworld

A post shared by Serena Williams (@serenawilliams) on Mar 21, 2020 at 7:00am PDT

“I wanted to take a minute and talk about my experience with corona. It started out with me feeling like: ‘Oh it can’t really affect me.’ And then suddenly Indian Wells was cancelled and I was like: ‘Oh, OK, that’s weird but I have a little time off and I’m going to enjoy that time off.’ And then one cancellation led to another and then led to another and led to all this anxiety that I’m feeling.

“Now I’ve been social distancing for actually a really long time, for probably two weeks now, and every little thing makes me crazy. And by anxiety I mean I’m just on edge. Any time anyone sneezes around me or coughs I get crazy. I don’t hang out with anyone, and when I say anyone I mean my daughter.

“She coughed, I got angry and gave her a side-eye. I gave her that ‘angry Serena’ and then I got sad. I was like: ‘Is she OK? Is there something wrong with my daughter? Is there anything I can do?’ I just don’t know what to do, so instead of being relaxed I’m really under a ton of stress.”

The 38-year-old, who currently has a frozen ranking of No. 9, last played at the Australian Open, where she suffered a shock loss in the third round go Wang Qiang.

Serena was due to play both Indian Wells and Miami before both tournaments were suspended because of COVID-19.

The ATP and WTA have since cancelled all tournaments until June at the very least, with the entire clay swing – including Roland Garros – called off.