Women’s world number one Serena Williams claimed her seventh Wimbledon victory by defeating Angelique Kerber (7-5, 6-3) and equalled Steffi Graf’s the record of clinching 22 major titles on Saturday.
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Williams’ power was on display at 5-4 in the second set, when a blistering backhand almost knocked Kerber off her feet.
Williams lost to Kerber in the final at this years Australian Open and was beaten by Garbine Muguruza in the final of the French Open.
When they were asked during the BBC interview which one is in charge of their doubles team, Serena immediately pointed toward Venus and said with a laugh, “She’s definitely the boss”. “Not only can I do this, I’m going to do this, and there’s nothing in this world that’s going to stop me”.
But after rediscovering her ruthless streak in her 28th grand slam singles final she said that it was a special feeling and there had been a few sleepless nights fretting about it. She had 12 aces to Kerber’s one and said it was important her serve was working so well because the gusty conditions made ground strokes less predictable.
“In those moments I have to come off and just be like, ‘do you know what you’ve done, who you are and what you continue to do, not only in tennis, but off the court as well?” I think that’s just rare, and different. The tennis player was there but Serena as a person was not really herself… Babos and Shvedova put up a fight as the fifth seeds, but the Williams sisters proved to be too much and took the match in straight sets. Then I was in the final again. I think every single point I worked for, and nothing was given to me.
“With time you can heal and she needed to heal”. I was not the one who lost the match.
In the early part of their careers, Serena and Venus were a familiar fixture in the doubles at the grand slams and their sheer power was usually enough to see off most pairs who played a more traditional form of doubles.
Four years after their last Wimbledon title together, Serena and Venus are now 14-0 in grand slam finals. Serena Williams of the U.S smiles during a press conference, after winning the women’s singles final against Angelique Kerber of Germany pn day thirteen of the Wimbledon Tennis Championships in London, Saturday, July 9, .
Venus seemed more clued up when she and Serena combined to win the doubles title later in the evening, beating Timea Babos and Yaroslava Shvedova 6-3 6-4.
Having coped with the heavy artillery heading her way, Kerber’s downfall was self-inflicted as two poor errors opened the door for Williams to take the opener.
“I think if anything, I was able to show resilience”, Williams said.
“I won it already”.
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“Once I started focusing more on the positives, I realised I’m pretty good”.
