A British flight attendant who served Serena Williams on a flight from New York has described the tennis legend as 'lovely' and 'human' after a personal chat that left him 'gobsmacked'.
Meeting on a flight
Sam Miller, 27, helped look after Williams as she travelled in business class to London a couple of months ago, weeks before the 44-year-old announced her sensational return to tennis. The experience, which he called 'crazy', saw the pair discuss New York restaurant and bar recommendations rather than tennis.
'She talked to me more like she was a friend than one of the best tennis players in the world,' Sam said. 'It was crazy, almost gobsmacked.'
A personal encounter
Sam, who joined the Wimbledon queue at 5:45am on Tuesday to see Williams on her highly anticipated return, said: 'We had a really lovely chat, really got to know her, felt like I got to know her on a personal level.' He noted that Williams gave no hint about a comeback, only responding 'yep, yep, yep' when he said he hoped to see her at Wimbledon.
'She was very, very lovely, very human, didn't really talk about tennis at all. Mainly spoke about her life and why she was in New York, restaurant recommendations and bar recommendations more than anything,' Sam added.
Williams' Wimbledon return
Williams, who has won 23 Grand Slam titles, was announced as the final wildcard for the women's singles draw earlier this month. She will also play doubles with her older sister Venus; together they have won six women's Wimbledon doubles titles, and between them hold 12 Wimbledon singles titles (seven for Serena, five for Venus).
Speaking at a press conference on Sunday, Williams revealed she had to talk herself into accepting Wimbledon's offer to play singles. 'I thought I should really take this opportunity. Who knows if I'll ever make it here again. This could be it,' she said. 'I was like, "What's wrong with me, Serena? What are you thinking? Are you nuts? Like you really should do this." People live to be an athlete. I have this great opportunity to showcase what I do, what I do best, I suppose. Yeah, I think ultimately I was like that is pretty cool, so I should do it.'
Fan anticipation
Many of the thousands queuing for Wimbledon were eager to catch a glimpse of Williams' shock return. Eric Madsen, 54, flew in from Indianapolis, Indiana, with hopes of watching his fellow American back in action. 'I feel like she is one of them [greatest ever],' he said. 'I liked a lot of the players around that time and before that. She was great with all different surfaces and then she was able to do doubles.'
Williams has not played competitively since the US Open in 2022. She will play Australia's Maya Joint, 24 years her junior, in the Wimbledon first round on Tuesday evening.
