By Bill Simons
Revenge—is there any stronger emotion?
Love is sweet, but the power of revenge has a force of its own.
In 1956 the Soviet Union invaded Hungary. The Hungarian water polo team soon responded with a sweet victory that at least softened the blow.
Boxer Ernie Terrell would not call Muhammad Ali by his chosen name. Ali punished him in the ring.
In tennis, many, like Rafa Nadal, might dismiss the notion of revenge. But don’t kid yourself.
In the men’s game, you could argue that Jimmy Connors’ entire career was a kind of payback for his mom being beaten to a pulp on a court by thugs.
In women’s tennis, there is no greater revenge player then Ms. Serena Williams. After being dumped by the Washington Redskins’ LaVar Arrington, she rose up from personal devastation to win the “Serena Slam,” collecting four straight majors from 2002 to 2003. And after losing in the first round of the 2012 French Open to local darling Virginie Razzano, Serena wasted no time seeking vengeance.
After teaming up with Grigor Dimitrov’s French coach Patrick Mouratoglou, she promptly won Wimbledon and the US Open. But winning the French would be a different challenge. Like many an American she had an aversion to Roland Garros.
Yes, Serena adored Paris, had an apartment in town, and had grown to love both the French language and her French coach. But, after winning the French Open in 2002, she had not even reached a final at the tournament. After 2003, she never progressed beyond the quarterfinals. Whether it involved Jennifer Capriati, a streaking Svetlana Kuznetseva, Sam Stosur and her high-kicking serve, Justine Henin’s gamesmanship, or Virginie Razzano fighting valiantly in memory of her late fiance, Paris in the springtime was no lark for this lady.
This year, though, Serena was more relaxed. Focused, calm and triumphant, she dominated on American and European clay and came into the final on a 30-match win streak, having dropped just three matches in the twelve months since her loss to Razzano.
Except for one wretched set against Svetlana Kuznetzeva in the quarters, she was Super Serena. Her flowing serve—fast, varied, imposing, and deceptive—is the most dominant weapon in tennis. She pounds her groundies, moves well, and has gained more touch and variety thanks to playing doubles. Her fitness is strong and she is the best fighter in the game. When IT asked her to describe herself in a word, she didn’t miss a beat.
“Fierce,” she said.
And these days, truth be told, Serena’s competition is not especially fierce. Not that the women’s tour is as fragmented as it was a while ago, when a string of No. 1 players—Dinara Safina, Jelena Jankovic, Ana Ivanovic, Caroline Wozniaki— either couldn’t win a Slam or went on to suffer free falls in the rankings.
Today, there is a clear, strong “Big Three”: Victoria Azarenka, Maria Sharapova, and Serena. But Williams has clearly dominated her two top rivals.
Sharapova famously beat Serena at Wimbledon way back in 2004, but over the past eight years, Serena has defeated her Russian foe 12 straight times, dropping just a single set in their last seven matches. It seems as if Serena will never forgive Sharapova for that Wimbledon final. What did we say about revenge?
On the eve of Serena's and Sharapova's latest showdown, fans were thrilled to have the No. 1 and No. 2 players in the final of a woman’s Slam for the first time since 2004. But observers knew Sharapova, even (or perhaps especially?) as defending champion, would have to catch a significant break to down Williams. The Russian would need to move with newfound quickness and have a fabulous serving performance to perhaps take advantage if Serena had one of her off days.
Serena didn’t have one of those days. And when Maria dropped the first three points of the match, it was easy to imagine a blowout. The crowd immediately began offering sympathy cheers to encourage the Russian.
Maria didn’t let them down. Clay is no longer a liability for her. The second-best dirt baller in the game, Sharapova likes the extra time clay provides, and she promptly fought back to hold serve, then scored a surprising break to go up 2-0. When Sharapova reached 40-15, a point from a 3-0 lead, Serena surely must have felt some pressure.
But remember: Serena is fierce. She promptly pounded the kind of forehand winner that sends a message. When Williams is truly triumphant, we see a “let it all out” quartet of four gestures: she pirouettes, lasers a fierce glare at her friends' box, offers a massive fist pump, and hollers “Come on!”’ None of these were obvious in this year's French final, but after that early forehand winner, it was clear Serena was back in the hunt. Serving with power, running the Russian side to side, she scored successive breaks of serve to win the first set, 6-4.
Still, if Williams is the greatest battler in the woman’s game, Sharapova—cerebral and intense—is only a tad behind her. Plus, with those flat, deep groundies she learned from Robert Lansdorp, she is always a force. But too often Maria was in chase mode, trying to get her feet back under her as she lunged to catch up with Serena’s mean groundies. Maria’s forehands flew, her defense was exposed. Serena’s serve punished. Maria battled bravely, fighting off four break points to hold the first game of the second set before Serena scored what proved to be a pivotal break to go up 2-1 in the second set.
With a set and a break in hand, Serena hit a certain comfort zone. She didn’t suffer a shock implosion, a foot-fault violation, or a call for hindrance, and only a modest few of Sharapova’s deep groundies and potent serves did real damage. Serena bent but didn’t break en route to a 5-4 lead. One game from the championship, she felt she was just too nervous to hit a groundstroke, so she blasted three aces and ended the match in exactly the form she's been displaying for months: clean, efficient, and oh-so effective.
As a stunned and victorious Serena fell to the clay, we saw before us a woman with the best single stroke in history (her serve), a veteran with 16 Slams (more than twice of any active player,) a 31-year old who now has won as many majors (three) as any other thirty-something woman, the best American woman player in history, and a woman who now has to be, at the very least, in the conversation about the best player of all time.
Plus, Serena is, without question, the most resilient tennis soldier in our lifetime. Near death just a couple of seasons ago, she now has won the title on the same court where a season ago she suffered a humbling loss that her mother Oracene said was on her mind all year. “[Sports] is definitely about winning and losing,” she told IT after the match. “I'm still a little bit upset about that loss last year, but it's all about how you recover. I've always said a champion isn't about how much they win, but it's about how they recover from their downs, whether it's an injury or … a loss.”
And being a champion is also about growing.Over time we've witnessed the transformation of a girl named Serena. Once quite silly, giggly, and distracted, she was prone to meltdowns, to rage, and more than a few panic attacks, as well as the bright lights and siren call of celebrity. Today, she has morphed into a woman: more calm, even patient and reflective; in love; and able to charm a stadium of skeptical Gallic fans with a refined and sophisticated French accent not common in Compton or the WTA.
