Alycia Parks reveals Serena Williams gave her this tip for playing clay-court tennis

As speculation has swirled in recent months about whether Serena Williams is planning a return to the WTA tour, the active player at the center of these conversations hasn't been her sister, Venus, but 25-year-old American Alycia Parks. Parks has been a regular practice partner for the 23-time Grand Slam singles champion at home in Florida, confessing at last month's Miami Open that the two have been hitting up to "three times a week."

Across the ocean at the Mutua Madrid Open, where Parks has already won three matches this week, the former world No. 1 has also been top of mind for Parks, too, as she admits that she's "learning to play on clay a little bit."

"She told me that you just can't hit everything flat on clay, so that's what I've learned and what I'm putting into my matches now," she told Prakash Amritraj at the Tennis Tennis Desk after upsetting Elisabetta Cocciaretto 6-3, 6-2 in the first round of main-draw action on Wednesday.

"So she's definitely helping me a lot out there!"

Watch: Alycia Parks is practicing with Serena Williams "three times a week"

Parks, currently ranked No. 84, says that the conditions in Madrid—where the speed of the clay court is faster at altitude—  feed into her strengths, even if the surface itself hasn't always been to her liking.

Including qualifying matches, she is 7-3 on clay so far this spring on non-traditional dirt in Charleston, Linz, Stuttgart and now Madrid. She admitted that she gained confidence from a 3-1 week in Stuttgart, where she didn't lose a set before playing Mirra Andreeva tough in a second-round loss.

In Madrid, Parks hasn't lost a set yet either, and was in full flight against the No. 41-ranked Italian, who owns a clay-court title at WTA level and reached the fourth round at Roland Garros two years ago. Parks never lost serve, winning 83% of her first serve points, and preached a mentality of patience that saw her pick up a third Top 50 win this year.

"It's coming together," Parks said of her clay-court game. "You just have to build the point. I have to tell myself that it's not going to be serve plus one all the time ... I just tell myself to relax out there, that it's not going to be three shots. That's not how you're going to play on clay, so that's what I've been working on.

"I was struggling a little bit in Linz, but I went to Stuttgart and I was like ... 'How do I put points together on clay?' So I've been watching a lot of tennis on this surface, and it's been getting me through matches."

In Parks' tournament debut in 2023, she upset Victoria Azarenka, then seeded No. 15, en route to the third round. She'll hope to match that result with an upset of fellow American Ann Li, the No. 31 seed, next.