Serena avenged an Australian Open setback against Angelique Keber by beating the German 7-5, 6-3 for the Wimbledon title. 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.
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As Williams cements her spot in the GOAT discussion, Kerber’s breakthrough at age 28 is one of the biggest storylines this season.
“I had a couple of tries this year, I lost to two great opponents – one of them actually being Angelique”, Williams said afterward. She played really well. I expect to win every time I step out on the court.
“Obviously the Olympics is next, and the U.S. Open, but that’s as far as I’m thinking. It made for a really good match”. With just three unforced errors on the efficent Kerber stats sheet as she served to force a tiebreak, consecutive groundstroke misses at 15-15 hurt her badly. Even by the extremely liberal and generous standards of the Wimbledon statisticians, that is an impressively low number.
The first six games in the second set went with serve as Babos and Shvedova held firm, but Serena and Venus moved up a gear as they broke the Shvedova serve to lead 4-3 and then Serena held to lead 5-3. “I think I was able to do that today”. If I can just play my game, I know I have a really good chance at winning this match..
“I would like to see people, the public and the press and other athletes in general just realize and respect women for who we are, what we are and what we do”, she said.
That is why in a post-match ode to Serena, The Guardian wrote, “Serena Williams, in numbers and deed, in the sheer power of her narrative and the exhilarating manner of her tennis, will be regarded – if not today, certainly soon enough – as the Muhammad Ali of her calling”. “I love to see history being made and I think she will go down as the all time victor in Grand Slams”. I think we both [played at] a really high level.
She added: “I’ve won gold and I love gold”.
The Williams sisters now have a remarkable 14-0 record when playing doubles together in Grand Slam finals.
Nicolas Mahut and Pierre-Hugues Herbert beat Julien Benneteau and Edouard Roger-Vasselin 6-4, 7-6 (1), 6-3 to win Wimbledon on Saturday in the first all-French Grand Slam men’s doubles final of the Open era.
The American duo claimed their 14th major doubles championship – but their first since the SW19 success of 2012. When the American won Wimbledon 12 months ago, her fourth major title in succession, another triumph seemed all-but inevitable but surprise defeats at New York, Melbourne and Paris poured doubt on the 34-year-old’s pursuit.
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Kerber, who beat Williams in the final of the Australian Open earlier this year, didn’t give this one away.
