From there, Williams dominated in the second set, putting home two aces in her final service game, and sealing victory with a powerful backhand to take home the title.
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Men’s doubles final: No. 1 Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut of France beat Julien Benneteau and Edouard Roger-Vasselin of France 6-4, 7-6 (1), 6-3.
“It’s unbelievable”, said Serena.
Quote of the day: “My goal is to win, always, at least a Slam a year”.
Australian Margaret Court’s career spanned both the amateur and open eras, and she landed 24 grand slams, setting the benchmark by which every other great champion is judged. And that moved them into second place on the Open era list of Major doubles champions: Only Martina Navratilova and Pam Shriver, with 20, have won more.
Serena Williams spoke out about recent cases of gun violence and police brutality in the United States, just after she celebrated her record of 22 Grand Slam titles with a straight sets victory over Angelique Kerber in the Wimbledon final. In Melbourne I thought I played well but Angelique played great, and better.
There was a stunning loss to Roberta Vinci in the U.S. Open semifinals in September, ending Williams’ bid for a calendar-year Grand Slam. Then losses in finals to Kerber at the Australian Open, and to Garbine Muguruza at the French Open. “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”, said Williams. “By losing, you realize things”.
The match featured a stark contrast in styles, but together Williams and Kerber produced a lovely display on Centre Court on Saturday.
The 34-year-old American did it, as she often does, with almost impeccable serving. The American employed first strike tennis going for the big serves and groundstroke winners early.
Truth is, twice as good does not even begin to cover how much better again than everyone else Williams has become.
Kerber saved the first, but she could not save the second after being forced out of position by a powerful Williams forehand. Soon enough, she was wrapping Kerber in a warm embrace, then holding up those fingers to symbolize “22”.
“Today when she’s in trouble at 15-30, boom, boom, this is Serena”, said Mouratoglou. “So she brought the energy from Game 1 and that really brought me up, too”.
Showing she has heeded Graf’s words of wisdom, Kerber had sprinted to the final without dropping a set. But she could not keep up with the trophy on the line, although it was a high-quality final that was tighter than the scoreline might indicate.
In a magnificent one hour 21 minute match she defeated Angelique Kerber of Germany to walk at last with the legends of the game. “I try everything. Yeah, I mean, I think I was not the one who lose the match, I think she won the match”.
Reflecting on the match, Kerber said that she did everything possible to stay in the match, but it was Serena who took the victory in the end, Sport24 reported.
So, Williams was asked Saturday, is she already thinking about No. 25, to surpass Court?
“Oh, God, no”, Williams said.
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“I don’t look at the reward, I look at how to achieve it, and there was clearly something missing in the last eight months, and the thing that was missing was just Serena”.
