Serena Williams Wants Her Happy Back

Thirteen-time major winner Serena Williams has been off the tennis courts for months and she's had enough of the sedentary life. In an interview with USA Today, Serena says it has been a “tough year" and her string of health scares has her depressed and the only thing that will get her out of this funk "is going on the court and holding up trophies, singles and doubles." Her problems began last May when Common dumped her. Then in July she cut her right foot on glass shortly after winning Wimbledon. In the months since, she has had two operations on the foot to repair a damaged tendon and last month she suffered a pulmonary embolism, or blood clot, that traveled from her leg to her lungs and was hospitalized to remove a grapefruit-sized hematoma from her stomach.

Williams, however, says this latest string of "unfortunate events" has almost been too much. "I definitely have not been happy," said Williams, who has dropped to No. 11 in the women's rankings since her absence. "Especially when I had that second surgery (on my foot), I was definitely depressed. I cried all the time. I was miserable to be around." Williams, 29, says she is taking it a day at a time. While she says she hopes to return to the tour by summer, the former No. 1 isn't sure when she'll be back. A pulmonary embolism can, if untreated, be deadly. Some professional athletes have missed months with the condition....

...Williams said she had grown tired of the isolation, doctors' visits and physical limitations since injuring her foot. She said she spent 10 weeks in a cast and almost 10 weeks in a walking boot and wore a tube and drainage bag for a week after her hematoma surgery. "I called him Grover because he was like a grenade," she joked about the drainage bag. "I hated him." To divert herself, she has become a karaoke addict — even staying up all night on a couple of occasions belting out tunes on her home equipment. "I've developed a karaoke habit," she smiled. "I've become a crooner." Her favorite covers include Rihanna and Celine Dion. Bryan Adams' Everything I do is "one of my go-to songs," she smiled. Williams, who remains on blood thinners, said that doctors told her a part of her lung had "died" from the pulmonary embolism. She will have another cat scan in about three weeks to see if the clots are melting. Whether she will be the same ferocious player once she comes back from what could be a year or more layoff is one question on many minds. Age is not on her side. No player has been truly dominant past the age of 30 in the last two decades. Williams says she banishes such thoughts. "First of all mentally, I'm 15," she laughed. "As long as I stay on that level I'll be fine." Williams has set no timetable but continues to say she could return as early as this summer. "I don't know what's realistic," she said. "I really don't know. I haven't put a date on it yet."
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Serena, whose new step-mother is just three years older than she is, adds that the public support has been encouraging and leans on her family for support.