She has now won nine Grand Slams since turning 30 and after her 36-year-old sister Venus reached her first semi-final since 2010, there may be many more years to come.
Advertisement
The American sports star has achieved greater glory in tennis after she turned 30 unlike other women players, most of who retire by that age.
“I learned not to get involved in those debates and conversations, ” she said.
A victory there will put her just one Grand Slam win away from tying the all-time Championship mark of 24 set by Australian Margaret Court.
Williams came close to the historic achievement earlier this year in before she was defeated by Kerber at the Australian Open in January. “I’m going my own way”.
“But right now I am probably a little more focused on the Slams – or at least I was with getting to 22”.
Williams had also lost in shocking fashion to unseeded Roberta Vinci in the semifinals of last year’s U.S. Open, where she was attempting to equal Graf’s record as well as complete a calendar year Grand Slam. “But maybe even more so is the excitement of getting 22, trying so hard to get there, finally being able to match history, which is pretty awesome”, she said. “I was not feeling Serena being herself and this is what I was looking for to find back the real Serena”, Mouratoglou said after Williams hoisted the Venus Rosewater Dish for a seventh time. You just get to the final and try to win. To her great credit fourth seed Kerber used her skilful shot placement and scrambling ability to stay in contention throughout a fascinating match of contrasting styles. I do have nephews [and] I’m thinking, ‘do I have to call them and tell them, don’t go outside?’ “And I was like, ‘What does that mean?’ He just said that he felt I was different when I sent that text”.
With the Williams name on both champions’ boards again, it was another day to savour for the family. “I think it was a great final”.
Her victory at Wimbledon a year ago raised her Grand Slam count to 21, but while she nearly had added to that total since, she was not able to.
At one point in the second set, Kerber had a break point, and Williams answered with consecutive aces, clocked at 117 and 124 miles per hour.
Advertisement
“She hates losing and I love that fact: that’s what makes her so great”. “I didn’t want to cool down too much”. Yet by Wimbledon, and by Saturday, she had restored her air of invulnerability, even against the all-grown-up Grand Slam mentality of Kerber, and largely because she had the one component that mattered most: her serve. I expect to win every time I step out on the court. When she is threatened on her serve she hits aces, and when she gets the break points she plays the best tennis of her life and that’s what she did today.
