Unable to replicate the sort of turn-back-time performance that carried her to the semifinals at the All England Club, Venus was broken in her first four service games Thursday and lost to No. 4-seeded Angelique Kerber 6-4, 6-4.
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Kerber instigated the second of three shock defeats against the American at the Australian Open final this year, coming between Roberta Vinci’s stunning US Open semi-final win in September and Garbine Muguruza’s surprise French Open victory in June.
Steffi Graf’s 22 major singles titles-one more than Williams-remains the record for Open era tennis, which began in 1968.
Serena Williams, right with her sister and playing partner Venus Williams of the U.S. talks as they play against Elena Vesnina of Russian Federation and Ekaterina Makarova of Russian Federation during their women’s doubles tennis match on eleven day of the Wimbledon Tennis Championships in London, Thursday, July 7, 2016.
Williams past year issued a self-imposed ban on speaking about the calendar grand slam, which was eventually spoiled by Vinci, and she gave similarly short shrift to questions about her tying with Graf. “I think that’s how I feel”.
Kerber will now face Williams on Saturday, in a repeat of the Australian Open final in January when the German produced a stunning upset to clinch the title.
She insisted Thursday she’s more relaxed and more confident on court thanks to that big moment.
Speaking about her match against Venus, the Kerber admitted that her plan was to wear the 36-year-old down.
She said she could not wait to step out on Centre Court once again for the final against Serena. “Definitely wanted to do more today, try to arrive to Saturday”, said Williams, referring to the day of the women’s singles final.
“I prefer the word ‘one of the greatest athletes of all time, ‘” Serena said, via Sports Illustrated.
And she asked one reporter, in response to his question about whether she and Vesnina deserved to be paid as much as the men: “Absolutely”.
Wimbledon 2016 didn’t get the Serena vs. Venus all-Williams matched that many hoped for, but it will give fans a chance to see a solid matchup between Serena and Angelique Kerber.
The left-handed Kerber dropped to her knees at the baseline and tossed aside her racket after a running cross-court forehand victor capped the 19-stroke exchange that ended her semifinal against Venus.
“For me it’s not enough”.
But at the end of the day, we don’t think Serena will lose three straight Grand Slam finals, especially at one of her favourite places on the planet: Wimbledon Centre Court.
“I think we deserve equal prize money”, Serena said.
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“I felt like the score was going fast”, Vesnina, the first unseeded woman to contest a Wimbledon semi since 2011, said. I know the experience what’s came directly after Australia. How to learn, how to actually try to play her serve, how to return her serve.
