At a chilly French Open, Serena Williams finds her footing on clay

Williams won her first clay-court match in 15 months in the opening round of the year’s final Grand Slam on Monday, 7-6 (7-2), 6-0, over fellow American Kristie Ahn. The 28-year-old Ahn broke Williams’s fearsome serve twice in the first set before the three-time French Open champion started moving — and serving — better.

Williams won the first set in 74 minutes and the second in 27.

“The biggest difference was just confidence,” Williams said. “I just need to play with more confidence, like I’m Serena. So that was it. I just started playing like that, and I love the clay and I started playing like it, opening the court and moving and sliding.”

The abrupt change in surface with just two weeks between the end of the U.S. Open, which is played on hard court, and this year’s French Open isn’t the only adjustment Williams and many other players at Roland Garros have had to make while playing tennis amid a pandemic, but it is one of the most significant.

Hard courts generally play fast and reward flat, powerful groundstrokes and big serves. Clay courts require the balance and catlike agility to slide to a stop before changing direction and patience when building points. That diligence becomes more important when cold weather slows the courts even more than usual.

Players usually have several weeks on European clay to prepare for the French Open. This year, ninth-ranked Williams had only two weeks of practice sessions after she withdrew from the tuneup tournament in Rome because of an Achilles’ injury.

(Asked how she is managing the tendon, Williams replied “a ton of prayer.” She then added that she is also using a laser and ice in her rehab.)

Aside from surface-level changes, Williams is staying in the tournament-provided hotel rather than her apartment in Paris because of novel coronavirus restrictions. She is also acclimating to the weather — both tiny changes to her routine that had little apparent effect on her play Monday. She hit 11 aces and 26 winners.

“I hate the cold. I’m from L.A. and I live in Florida; for half my life, I’ve never seen snow. Cold weather and me do not mix. That’s my Achilles’ heel,” Williams said, laughing. “But I’m dealing with it. I’m having a positive attitude about it.”

With a fourth French Open title, Williams could tie Margaret Court’s record of 24 Grand Slam singles titles. But the 39-year-old isn’t the only player in Paris aiming for history this year.

Rafael Nadal has a chance, too — a record-extending 13th French Open title would tie Roger Federer’s all-time men’s singles major titles record of 20. Nadal cruised past Belarusian Egor Gerasimov, 6-4, 6-4, 6-2, on Monday to face 236th-ranked American Mackenzie McDonald in the second round.

Williams will face Bulgarian wild-card entry Tsvetana Pironkova in the second round in a rematch of their three-set quarterfinal at the U.S. Open.

“She’s playing well, but I am, too,” Williams said. “I’m ready to play her. She’ll be ready to play me. It will be a long match, she will get a lot of balls back, but so [will] I. I’ll be ready.”