WIMBLEDON — The willful Serena Williams is chasing a pantheon of greats and while she’s still more than a few strides away from tackling them, she’s beginning to bite small chunks out of their heels.
In perhaps her most impressive performance ever at Wimbledon, Serena bullied her older sister, five-time champion Venus 7-6 (3), 6-2 to win her third title at the All-England Club and further backed up the contention that she’ll go down as the best player of the decade.
In winning her 11th major, Serena took it to a woman who hadn’t been touched in her previous six matches, who had won 34 straight sets, who had intimidated and wiped the floor with every talented comer.
But not Serena, who vowed after falling in last year’s Wimbledon final to Venus to return to London a better and more consistent player, one who would coolly take care of service games, munch on second serves and dominate their back court exchanges. True to her word, that’s exactly what she did, only dropping eight points on her service games where she powered 12 aces to only two from her sister.
Now the 27-year-old is just one major title behind her former Fed Cup captain, Billie Jean King. She’s won three out of the four last Grand Slams and is looking every bit as good as she did in ‘02 and ‘03, when she won five out six majors. “It’s unbelievable,” Serena said. “I just feel really good. I feel like now I’m just not even in a competition of how many I can win. Now I’m looking at the next goal of someone like Billie, who is completely my idol. To get to her level and have 12 would be even better.”
Unlike Venus, who wiped out the fragile world No. 1 Dinara Safina in the semis, Serena had to put on one of her most clutch performances ever in her 6-7, (4) 7-5, 8-6 final four takedown of Russian Elena Dementieva, when she had to fight off a match point at 4-5 in the third set with a headstrong net charge and a gutsy backhand volley.
It was in that moment that the world recognized once again what a courageous player she is, as many of her peers may have just stood in the backcourt praying for an unforced error. But not Serena, who was brought up to throw roundhouse punches whenever she’s staggered. “I usually go kamikaze when I’m down,” Serena said. “So if I’m going to go out, I’m going out like a hero or something.”
Serena went nowhere but up to victory and even though she said going into the final that it was one of the few times that she didn’t expect to win, she was still determined to match Venus big blow for big blow. When given the opportunity to strike first, it was Serena who delivered the most vicious uppercuts.
Venus had two opportunities to put her nose in the front at 4-3 in the first set when she held her only two break points, but on the second one, when she got a decent look at a forehand crosscourt pass, she flew it long and then was thoroughly outplayed.
Serena only committed one unforced error in the tiebreaker, where she showed off the blowtorch forehand that against Dementieva had, according to her, taken a vacation to Hawaii. On her second set point with Venus crowding the net, she launched a gorgeous topspin backhand lob winner.
“I don’t think I did too many things wrong in the tiebreak,” Venus said. “I would just play a good shot and she’d just hit a winner off of it or put me in a position where she could hit another winner.”
The second set was all Serena, as the little sister got a much better read on Venus’ second serve and was consistently out-legging her in sideline-to-sideline sprints. She had no intention of letting it go and like she did all tournament long whenever she was in trouble or played a lousy point, she took her left hand, spread out her strong fingers and lifted it up and down the ground as if to say, ‘keep calm.’
“Sometimes if I get too pumped or if I grunt too loud I lose,” she said. “I just want to stay relaxed.”
She broke Venus to 4-2 when her older sister uncharacteristically double faulted and then in the final game, displayed a bit of nerves, but eventually soothed them. She needed four match points to close it out, as she erred on two shaky forehands and watched her sister crunch an overhead, but finally, Venus missed an easy backhand and for the first time since ‘03, the Venus Rosewater Dish was Serena’s.
“I was thinking, God, I didn’t choke on another match point,” said Serena, who was fairly muted in her celebration, as she didn’t want to embarrass her doubles partner, whom she has beaten in all three of her Wimbledon title runs. “I was thinking it was good to be over, ‘cause I really didn’t want to serve. I was excited. Like, Wow, I won Wimbledon. It’s been so long. It felt really good.”
After she received the trophy, Serena walked into the members-only area where they have the names of the tournament champion posted. The name Serena Williams was already etched into the ‘09 spot and she put her index finger onto the glass and counted how many times she won. The Williams family has taken eight of the past 10 titles, with only Maria Sharapova in ‘04 and Amelie Mauresmo in /06 being the interlopers.
“Actually, I felt like my name should have been there at least once more,” said Serena, who was stunned by the 17-year-old Sharapova in ‘04. “ At least I got in another one.
Serena believes she’s a better than she was in 2002-2003, when she went back to back on the lush lawns and in many senses she’s correct: she’s a better defensive player, volleyer and spots her serves more accurately. She’s not as quick as she was back then, but she’s a more accomplished strategist and has a deeper understanding of the big points, which is why for the most part, she’s been able to push back the talented teenagers.
“The competition I think is even better now,” she said. “There are so many great players that are winning every week. I feel like this run is great. I should have won the French Open, or at least I should have had a chance (she fell 7-5 in the third set to eventual champion Svetlana Kuznetsova in the quarterfinals). But it’s really exciting. I feel like 10 years ago I won my first Grand Slam, and I’m still winning championships.”
Unfortunately for Serena and for the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour, Williams didn’t regain the No. 1 ranking with the victory as by advancing to the semis, Safina bettered her third round performance of last year and gained enough points to hold the spot as least until the week of July 20.
The Russian has come under severe criticism as of late as in her three appearances in major finals, Safina has yet to win a set, and against Venus at Wimbledon, embarrassed herself by failing to come up with a Plan B. But in most fans’ minds, Serena is the real No. 1 anyway, as she has been little short of perfect in winning the ‘08 US Open, ‘09 Aussie Open and 2009 Wimbledon.
“I think if you hold three Grand Slam titles maybe you should be No. 1, but not on the WTA Tour obviously,” she said. “But whatever. It is what it is. I’d rather definitely be No. 2 and hold three Grand Slams in the past year than be No. 1 and not have any.”
Serena is seven majors away from tying Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova with 18 majors (Margaret Court and Steffi Graf top the all time list with 24 and 22 respectively) and Williams doesn’t expect to climb that high on the ladder, given how much the depth of women’s tennis has increased. But in great health – and that’s consistently been a question with Serena since she tore her left knee up in 2003 – she’ll have to be considered a major factor on quick surfaces at least until she’s 31, which gives her another 15 Slam or so to go at Evert and Navratilova. Given the size of her heart and her fathomless determination, winning another seven Slams can’t be considered entirely out of the question.
“ I’m really just playing for me, whether I’m the greatest or not,” she said. “I can’t even put myself in a sentence with the greatest, because I think of people like Martina and Steffi and Billie Jean. They were such great champions. To even be mentioned with those people is a real honor to me. I feel like I’m really young.”
