“My parents, they’re going to be in Barcelona watching me on the TV”, she said.
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Serena Williams of the United States returns a shot to Garbine Muguruza of Spain, during the women’s singles final at the All England Lawn Tennis Championships in Wimbledon, London, Saturday July 11, 2015.
After defeating the gritty battling Spaniard in two tough sets (6-4, 6-4), Williams graciously said, “Don’t be sad”.
She has now won seven major championships in her 30s. Williams’ serve was working much more fluidly in the second set (she served 9 aces against only 3 in the first) and she was getting more first serves in as well (61 per cent against 49).
It gave her the second “Serena Slam” of her career, but she can break new ground in New York next month.
She is the first woman to win the French Open and Wimbledon back to back since 2002. She is just one major title behind Graf on the Open era leaderboard and within three of all-time record holder Margaret Court’s tally of 24 and the first player since Graf in 1988 to win Wimbledon and the Australian and French Opens in the same year.
“A Grand Slam final for me is a dream come true and I also want to say congrats to Serena, showing that she’s world number one”.
Martina Navratilova, Maria Bueno, Jana Novotna and Virginia Wade are just some of the greats that will watch the final on Centre Court alongside other invited guests.
It eventually dawned on her that she had clinched the title and she raised her arms to the sky before embracing the vanquished Muguruza. She’s on course to win a calendar Slam. She is expected to be the best for a long time.
Muguruza won the next two points with backhand winners, the second one nearly leaving Williams in an ungainly heap on the baseline. “She never gave up hope of raising the trophy”.
Williams replied with an mad ace and screamed “Where have you been?” to her trusty weapon. Winning all four majors in one calendar year was “definitely a goal of mine when I was younger”. Serena Williams had match point to win it but Maguruza stays calm and wins the match.
“Radwanska is not easy to play, because she knows how to destroy the game of the other person”, Morozova, a ex- coach of the Soviet Union national team who used to guide 2008 Olympic champion Elena Dementieva, said in interview at Wimbledon.
The enormity of the occasion and the sheer presence of Williams then seemed to hit home and the Spaniard crumbled, losing 14 out of 15 points to trail 5-1 as her vastly-experienced American opponent closed in for the kill.
The American’s 21st Grand Slam crown and 68th tour-level title earned her a cheque for £1.8 million. She really stepped up to the plate.
Hingis and Mirza, the top-seeded team at the tournament, beat No. 2 Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina of Russian Federation 5-7, 7-6 (4), 7-5, playing the final two games under the roof on Centre Court.
That left her ambivalent over her grasscourt ability which wasn’t helped by a first round exit in Birmingham and a second round loss in Eastbourne in the run-up to the All England Club. “I think if I had felt it better during the match, maybe I would have been able to close it out”, she said.
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Muguruza was more than pleased to accept the compliment. She also makes her first appearance in the power ranking’s Top 10. She wasn’t out there just to play a final. Muguruza’s powerful serve and ground strokes troubled an anxious Williams in the early stages.
