By Bill Simons
MELBOURNE, Australia—We see a lanky, rail-thin blond: she’s elegant, beautiful, and except for her sounds and adventurous serves, almost flawless. Perhaps she’s from central casting. The supermodel who bangs a tennis ball. She’s an entrepreneur and risk taker who has her own cleverly-named (laden with sugar) candy company.
What we don’t see is Siberia, a vast desolate tundra, where Maria Sharapova was shaped. We don’t see Chernobyl, a nuclear wasteland that killed and devastated, and that Maria’s parents fled in fear.
And we don’t see Yuri, Maria’s tough-as-Putin papa, who was (and still is) a driving force behind women’s tennis’ second-best player; the man who left his wife behind to come to America with $700 in his pocket, and who plopped his kid on a bicycle to peddle her off to a tennis factory where she started to perfect those mean groundies she unleashes.
But Maria hasn’t forgotten. She told IT, “Oh yes, I remember that bicycle … I take the time sometimes to think about … think about where I came from, the hurdles I had to go through … He was a tough cookie.”
These days, every TV in America informs us that this woman has a shriek that frightens children. We sense that this is one tough, willful lady, and on this drizzly evening in Melbourne, the siren named Sharapova again collided with her nemesis, her Kryptonite—ghetto gal Serena Williams.
Broad shoulders, rock-hard legs, fierce intent—tennis people know one thing: don’t mess with Serena. You can look, but don’t touch. In 2004, Maria scored a breakout Wimbledon win over Serena. Since then, for 11 years, Maria has battled to overcome a wretched mid-career shoulder injury that could have ended her career, won four more Slams, evolved into a nifty clay court player and become the richest woman in sports. But in all this time she hasn’t laid a finger on that imposing force of nature we simply know as Serena.
And this night was no different than their 15 other meetings stretching over the past 11 years.
Yes, the theater was huge. “It’s the ultimate showdown,” said one broadcaster. For the first time in 11 years, the No. 1 and No. 2 seeds would be playing in the Aussie Open final.
Twice earlier in the tournament, Serena had wobbled badly, and a nasty fever and cough had her wheezing big time. For her part, Maria barely survived two match points in the second round against a little-known Russian.
But this was the final. Unfortunately, from the start, Sharapova met an old foe: her serve. Nervous and under great pressure, she double faulted away the fiercely contested six-minute opening game.
Williams, battling tough, would never relinquish the lead.
Never mind that Serena looked awkward when running down drop shots, or that when the roof was suddenly closed at 3-3 in the first set, she had a coughing meltdown and upchucked offstage. Through it all, Serena was dialed in. She dearly wanted to win her first Aussie title in five years.
So there she was. She leaned into returns, created incredible angles, moved with great speed for a large 33-year old and played brave defense as she collected the first set 6-3. She hit eleven punishing winners. Maria had three.
Fans muttered, “Please, spare us another women’s Slam final blowout.” But Maria was on the ropes, reeling from an incredible “Serenian” onslaught. Sharapova glanced haplessly to her corner. “What can I do?” she seemed to ask, her frustration clear.
The Twittersphere was loud. Maria “has to do something different,” noted savant Richard Evans. “This is less a head-to-head than a boot to the neck,” observed the perhaps too truthful Jon Wertheim.
Well, at least Sharapova has a lovely neck. But then again, she has a lovely tennis game, and even when she was being run ragged, corner to corner, she remained Siberian-tough.
“I actually believe that we attract what we’re ready for,” she told IT. “Yes, I haven’t won against her many times, but if I’m getting to the stage of competing against someone like Serena, I’m doing something well. I’m setting up a chance to try to beat her … I’m not just going to go home … That’s just not who I am and not who I was raised to be. I’m a competitor … I love playing against the best.”
No kidding. Yes, we know—Serena showed us a lightning-fast start, fierce serves and her best level of play in the tourney. Too often, all Sharapova could do was wave futilely as Serena’s groundies whizzed by, a distant blur.
Maria was being pummeled when she dropped the first set, but she dug deep and battled back. Her down-the-line backhands, cross-court forehands, gutsy serves and fierce returns drew admiration, and got her tantalizingly close to breaking Serena and changing the battle. Sure, Maria bent, but she didn’t break.
But Serena is Serena. She’s worked hard with her coach Patrick Mouratoglou. At times, she didn’t believe. But her French coach did. When she suffered a dismal loss to Simona Halep at the WTA Championships last fall, she just wanted to go home. Mouratoglou was blunt: We all have doubts, but fight on—win your next match. And during the off-season he worked hard with Serena on the rhythm of her serve. And at this stage, on this stage, it paid off big time.
“Normally, I would feel sorry for someone like Maria,” Serena confided after scoring her 6-3, 7-6(5) win. “She is such a wonderful … fighter. You want to see someone like that do well … But when you are in a sport competing against someone, even my own sister … all the time you want to win … [And if you] give her any room for moving, she’s going to go for it to a new level.”
Maria was going for it in the second set. She took it to a new level as she stepped up her serving, her returns, her belief, her whole game. She wouldn’t go away. Her jabs were bothersome. But Serena’s serve and forehand are body blows that get you in the gut.
The heavyweight Williams rebuffed every surge by the middleweight Sharapova. Yes, at 2-2 in the second set, Maria hit two laser-like winners. So what? Serena, in rhythm and offering her best serving performance since Wimbledon 2012, boomed three aces and a service winner: take that, in your face.
Serena’s serve is, along with Steffi Graf’s forehand, the biggest weapon in WTA history and today it once again bailed her out of trouble. She never seemed to doubt that she could hold. So it was no surprise that the second set went to a tiebreak in a match that was a theatrical triumph.
The final not only gave us breathless on-court firefights, but also a 12-minute rain delay on a court that has a roof, a first-class coughing fit (and an upchuck, two championship points saved by Maria, and a hindrance call on Serena for shouting “C’mon!” (which she accepted with new found calm, rather than freaking out like she did at the 2011 US Open against Sam Stosur). But nothing was more bizarre than the end of this clash, when Serena seemingly sealed the Aussie Open deal with an ace.
Wrong!
A let was called. Serena couldn’t believe it. She struck a pose, hands on hips. The phrase “You can’t be serious” came to mind. Serena later confided that she’d thought, “Man, I am not meant to win this tournament? Do I go [to the] ‘T’ or [hit my serve] wide, then? So I just tossed it and hit it as hard as I could.”
That was plenty hard—another booming ace. Then she paused: an erire moment—time stopped. She shook hands with her deflated foe and then it came: another explosive celebration, bounding athletic leaps, bulging eyes, a swirl of disbelief, complete delight. Her 16th straight win over Maria gave her a 19th Grand Slam, just three short of Steffi Graf. It meant she was the best American ever, beyond Martina Navratilova—who gave Serena her trophy—and Chris Evert. But is Williams the greatest ever? (She sure looked the part tonight.)
So we asked Serena to talk about all she’s done, and her place in tennis history. “I don’t think about it,” she said. “I think if I do I will become very happy .. and impress other people and I don’t want to do that. I want to play next week, next month, next year.”
We continued: “Maria just said we attract what we are ready for. Do you think within yourself that you are ready to get to the Steffi Graf level [of 22 Slams]?”
Serena replied, “I am definitely ready for it. I am not afraid of it. I am going for it, but at the same time there are a lot of people who want to win Slams … so I have to enjoy the moment when I can.”
And we bet she will. After all, these days it seems Ms. Williams can do just about anything she sets her considerable mind on doing. Just ask a certain Siberian siren in red, who this evening was battered blue under an Australian roof.
