Serena Williams' first round exit brings the French Open to life But once we had all calmed down, the post-mortem began. How could Serena, a 13-time Grand Slam champion, be so naive as to keep going for winners on her service returns, even though her opponent was barely able to hobble around the court? How could we explain her apparent inability to change direction, when she had just come off a run of 17 consecutive clay-court victories? Bizarrely, her footing was far more sure on the blue "ice-rink" of Madrid than it was on this blameless surface. People will speculate about injuries, but it's more likely that Serena's body was gripped by "last-chance" nerves, the curse of the ageing champion. When you move towards the end of your career, there is that terrible anxiety that each match in any given tournament could be your final outing on that particular stage. Not that she is planning to retire, as far as we know. Just that a woman who has come back from serious foot surgery, not to mention a pulmonary embolism, knows how fragile an athlete's life can be. Perhaps she should speak to Roger Federer, who took some time off last year to "get those doubts out of my system." As he explained during a revealing press conference at the O2 Arena in December, the cumulative weight of defeats can mount up, even for the most successful performers. Serena's record since her comeback last summer suggests that she, too, is "seeing a lot more problems than there actually are," to borrow Federer's phrase. She has been among the favourites for the last four Grand Slams, but she lost to Marion Bartoli at Wimbledon, to Sam Stosur in the US Open final (with an assist from Asderaki), to Ekaterina Makarova in Melbourne and now to Razzano here. With all due respect to those opponents, they are four players that Serena is capable of beating. But her determination to peak at the big tournaments has clearly translated into tension in her racket arm. She said before this tournament that "bad luck" in matters of the heart had encouraged her to prioritise tennis and give 100 per cent to the game. But maybe her best policy, when she comes to Wimbledon next month, would be to chill out and enjoy the ride.