SERENA’S LONG AND WINDING JOURNEY
When Andy Murray was wincing and whining because of his bad back at the French Open, England’s Virginia Wade called him “a drama queen.”
Wrong on two counts. If you have a wretched back it hurts. And there is only one drama queen in tennis – Ms. Serena. Great triumphs, inexplicable shock upsets, freak injuries, ferocious meltdowns, odd career digressions, hostile crowds, groupies and syncophants – plus the three “D’s,” death, divorce and depression in her family. She may be only No. 6 in the WTA rankings, but when it comes to drama, Serena rules.
But on this Wimbledon finals day, there promised to be little drama. Serena, with her 13 Slams and four Wimbledons, had a ‘been there done that’ experience and a singular arsenal that was going up against a “Martina Hingis-light” foe: Agnieszka Radwanska, the pleasant Pole with the mellow personality and the modest game. Still, analysts searched for reasons this might even be a contest. It had been two years since Serena had won a title. She was sort of old – 30 years. She didn’t even have the most Wimbledon titles in her family.
Get serious.
A prohibitive favorite at the U.S. Open, she had come out flat against the hefty underdog Sam Stosur and lost. She suffered a nightmare upset in the first round of the French, and here at Wimbledon she had played many an extra hour as she and Venus reached the doubles finals. Plus, early in the tournament she moved poorly and almost got booted out in the third and fourth rounds by Jie Zheng and Yaroslava Shevedova
But not only had Serena played her way into top form, serving with a record-making authority, she dismissed defending champion Petra Kvitova and then the soon to be No. 1 Victoria Azarenka.
Now in gear, a fearsome force on a mission, she seemed to be an invincible power.
Naturally Radwanska came out with a bundle of nerves. But to her credit, she fought and dodged. But at the end of of her first service game the Pole pushed a forehand wide. And as the lopsided first set proceeded, it was clear we had a promising, young, savvy middleweight with a nice skill set (who modestly described herself as “just a normal girl playing tennis who is trying to have a normal life”) who was up against an experienced, focused heavyweight with hooks, uppercuts, a nasty overhead and a serve that was on fire. Plus, the sassy L.A. lady with 2.5 million followers is far from normal.
Serena’s onslaught was (pick ‘em): convincing, impressive, unfair. And after she raced to a 4-0 lead, commentators spoke of Natasha Zvereva, who was up in the Royal Box, and who had lost to Steffi Graf 6-0, 6-0 in the 1988 French Open.
To make a match of the final, Radwanska supposedly had to start fast and guess adeptly on Williams serve. She had to disrupt the Californian’s rhythm, change pace, hit short slices, create angles and take risks. She did little of the above, and even though she had chances she only drew blood in the sixth game after she stroked a 100-mpg ace. After the Pole finally won her first game of the match, she lost she lost the first set 6-1.
But at least Radwanska, who withdrew from both her doubles match and her press conference (after winning the semis over Angelique Kerber,) did not withdraw from the lopsided final.
Thanks, in part, to a rain delay, Agnieszka stepped up and overcame her hesitancy and displayed an increasing belief. Now the nerves of a player who hadn’t even reached a Slam semi settled down. She came out thinking the final was just another match and, although she fell behind 3-1 in the second set, she started to hang in rallies and waited for Serena to net backhands or blast forehands long. The 23-year old was more confident, more aggressive. And Serena’s game dipped badly. Her serving percentage fell. Back-peddling and off-balance, her errors mounted.
After 69 minutes, Radwanska scored her first break.
What looked like a runaway by the best front-runner in woman’s tennis was now a match. The Pole got into Serena’s head. She may be the best player in tennis. She may intimidate, but as in Paris and as in the third and fourth rounds, she was now shaky. Her father, Richard Williams, told IT, “I think she lost her confidence. Serena thought she had the match won. When she was up 3-1, I thought we had this thing won and maybe we will win 6-2. But I didn’t know I was in for a dogfight. Serena lost focus.” Richard added that Serena’s loss at Roland Garros in front of a howling French crowd “really affected her confidence. It would affect anyone’s confidence … A lot of things went wrong after she won in Madrid.” And a lot were going wrong in London.
Serena concurred that she had lost her confidence, saying: “There’s no reason in particular. I just think that I was playing aggressive a little more than the first set. Then I have to give credit … She started playing … excellent grass-court tennis, getting a lot of balls back, and I panicked a little bit.”
Even the mighty are not immune to nerves.
Now Serena, said her sister Venus, “just had to focus within and be dedicated to what she had to do to win, one point at a time.” Serena regrouped and retooled and made an emphatic in-your-face Slam dunk statement. In the fourth game she blasted four aces in just over a minute, as if to say, “I am Serena Williams. I’m always confident.” She then broke and, amidst her power blitz, unleashed a subtle, against-the-grain, drop-shot winner to score an insurance break to go up 4-2. She raised her arms in emphatic celebration. Her fifth Wimbledon was in sight. After she hit yet another backhand winner she secured her 6-1, 5-7, 6-2 triumph. She promptly did a “Pat Cash” and climbed to the Friends Box. Then, back on court, she teared up as she thanked her team, who helped her survive multiple surgeries and a life-threatening blood clot.
In a life crowded with drama, her 14th Slam win and her first in two years was not exactly high drama. What was dramatic was Serena’s coming back from being in a cast for six months, surviving her blood clots and often being stuck at home
She explained to the media. “Gosh, [I] definitely had some lows … there was a moment on the couch … for two days. I was just over it. I was praying, like I can’t take any more. I’ve endured enough. Let me be able to get through this.
- Serena rushes to celebrate her victory with her family.
I didn’t give up. I was just so tired … I had a tube in my stomach and it was draining constantly. Gosh, right before that I had the blood clot. I had lung problems. Then I had two foot surgeries. It was a lot … I felt like I didn’t do anything to bring on that … I just felt down, the lowest of lows.
Coming here and winning today is amazing because … last year I was ranked almost 200. It’s been an unbelievable journey. The French Open was so disappointing because … I was undefeated on clay. I had a lot of confidence. When I lost that, that really got me down. But I stayed in Paris and started training with Patrick, and I was really excited.”
Asked about her support team, she praised her trainer, Esther Lee, her PR person Val Vogt, her half sister Isha Price, and her manager Jill. “From the day I got to the hospital until the day I left, they never left the room. They slept there, all three of them. And they didn’t have to do that. They didn’t owe me that … That meant a lot to me. Even though I was trying to keep the spirits up, everyone was making jokes, it’s hard to find people in your life that sleep there every night … on a chair. I’m not comfortable, but at least I’m on a bed … I remember Esther, she came up to me and she was like, God is really going to help you through this. He never gives you more than you can handle. I think she saw that I was really, really, really down. So that really helped me, or else I would still be there.
“Those are memories that I’d rather not endure, but if you have to endure them, it’s unbelievable to have those people by your side.”
Asked whether she was more vulnerable these days, Serena said, “When you go through a lot of tough things you just kind of let down your guard a little bit and just be yourself. I love being me. I’m a normal person. I like it when people get to see that side of me. I’m always crying in movies. I was actually crying the other day watching Desperate Housewives.”
When asked what else she wanted from her already extraordinary life, Serena replied, “Are you kidding? The US Open, the Australian Open, the French Open, Wimbledon 2013, The Championships.”
Serena’s 30, but again and again she told us that emotionally she’s just 12. Giddy kid, red-carpet Queen, Twitter monster and yes, Wimbledon champion – we have a feeling this woman is going to deliver even more drama.
QUOTEBOOK
“I knew his chance would come.” – Rafa Nadal on vacation on Sardinia on Andy Murray
“I played a great match today.” – Roger Federer
“What Serena has to do is go back to her win and Madrid and see what happened [to her confidence]. Otherwise, it will show up again.” – Richard Williams
“Murray is under more pressure then any other player since Tim Henman.” – Mats Wilander
“Seventy four years of sporting hurt – more like agony, actually – finally ended last night …” – Matthew Engel
“Murray in the singles. Marray in the doubles. Getting rather bored now with Britain’s dominance in tennis.” – Gary Lineker
“You guys are overthinking everything. You are so far out of the ballpark, you obviously don’t know me at all.” – Andy Murray on the British press.
“I’m not going to come out depressed this year. He’s not going to lose.” – A woman in the Wimbledon queue.
“When they are on song they are so talented.” – Radio Wimbledon on French players.
The women’s game is not equal to the male version. It’s actually far superior.” – Hannah Wilks
HEADLINES
HIP HIP MURRAY
TEARS BEFORE FED TIME
TEAR WE GO ANDY
FED WANTS A SEVEN-UP
THE ANGUISH WAS FAMILIAR – THE ENDING WAS NOT
MAGIC MURRAY CAN ROLL SWISS
I WAITED FOR THE TANTRUM … BUT THIS IS THE NEW ANDY
HAWKEYE THE PHEW
ROGER: I’LL GIVE BRIT A FED-ACHE
