Serena Williams will face a depleted field at this year`s U.S. Open but her recent form has made it clear that her latest quest for a record-tying 24th Grand Slam singles title will hardly be a cakewalk.

Since tennis returned from a COVID-19 hiatus that lasted nearly five months, Williams has gone 3-2 in matches that all lasted three sets and have taken a toll on her weary legs.

“It`s hard to play the way I have been playing and to stay positive,” said Williams. “And to play nine hours in a week is too much. I don`t usually play like that. It`s all new for me.”

After falling to world number 116 Shelby Rogers in the Top Seed Open quarter-finals, Williams went on to the Western & Southern Open where she lost in the third round to 13th-seeded Greek Maria Sakkari.

Williams squandered an opportunity to close out the Sakkari contest on serve in the second set and started getting cramps as her opponent launched a comeback.

“I don`t think that helps mentally when it`s like you know the match is over and you have won the match, and now your legs were already tired and now they are even more tired, and now it`s even more tired,” said Williams.

“I put myself in a bad situation. It`s like dating a guy that you know sucks. That`s literally what I keep doing out here. It`s like I have got to get rid of this guy. It just makes no sense. It`s frustrating.”

With so many of the world`s top players opting not to travel to New York amid the COVID-19 outbreak for the Aug. 31-Sept. 13 U.S. Open, the path to a Grand Slam title might never again appear so undaunting for Williams.

The 38-year-old will be seeded third at the U.S. Open and was drawn into the same quarter as former champion Sloane Stephens, 2017 finalist Madison Keys, two-times Grand Slam winner Garbine Muguruza and Sakkari.

“If she doesn`t win this one, I would think people, and more specifically she herself, would most probably doubt that she can win another one,” seven-times Grand Slam champion and Eurosport analyst Mats Wilander said.