Serena thinking of slain sister shortly before lopsided loss

Tennis great Serena Williams tells Time Magazine in a cover story published Thursday that shortly before the worst defeat of her career she learned the killer of her sister Yetunde Price had been paroled.

The 23-time Grand Slam champion was stunned 6-1, 6-0 by Britain's Johanna Konta on July 31 in San Jose, California.

The defeat marked the first time in 928 professional matches that Williams failed to win more than one game. At the time she spoke of having "so many things on my mind" without elaborating.

But in a wide-ranging interview with Time, she said that 10 minutes before she took the court she learned via Instagram that Robert Edward Maxfield, the man convicted of killing Price in a drive-by shooting in 2003, had been released from prison earlier in the year after serving 12 years of a 15-year sentence.

"I couldn't shake it out of my mind," she said. "No matter what, my sister is not coming back for good behavior. It's unfair that she'll never have an opportunity to hug me."