WHAT HAPPENED WITH SERENA, AND WHERE WILL SHE GO?
By Michael Mewshaw
MikeMewshaw@aol.com
Autopsies are ugly affairs. But after a disaster, there’s no better way to assess the damage and avoid it in the future than to take a hard look at what happened. Although nobody died when Roberta Vinci beat Serena Williams to end her Grand Slam dreams, a number of delusions should have bitten the dust, and many journalists should have regretted their irrational enthusiasm. Although Serena’s emotions and those of her fans are still raw, it’s not too early to do what Patrick Mouratoglou is probably doing – facing facts and trying to find a way to break them to his client without losing his job.
The narrative describing Serena’s career has evolved over time. A few years ago, Chris Evert criticized Williams for not committing herself to eliminating the technical glitches from her game. For all of her successes there’s little evidence that she ever dedicated herself to mastering the basics. She simply kept blasting away and everybody forgot about her flaws. Even now after a match that exposed all of Serena’s limitations, Chris, like most tennis commentators, just repeated the same mantra. This was, they insisted, more a case of Serena being overcome by the occasion than her being picked apart by a clever, calm and technically more complete player. They seem to have forgotten that she had looked just as fragile against Bethanie Mattek-Sands who also mixed up her shots, rushed the net and rattled Serena.
In the aftermath of her train wreck in the semi-finals, Serena continues to be called the greatest player who ever lived. But on what basis? She still trails Margaret Court and Steffi Graf in Grand Slam titles, and many question whether she would have been nearly so dominant if Justine Henin and Kim Clisters had remained healthy and active. Perhaps if Serena had completed the Grand Slam, an argument could be made in her favor. But she didn’t just fall short. She totally disintegrated against Roberta Vinci, ranked 43rd in the world, and she flubbed plenty of opportunities to take control of the match not just because she was nervous, but because like Jimmy Connors in the 1974 Wimbledon final against Arthur Ashe, she couldn’t cope with drop shots, lobs and off-speed angles.
It would be more accurate to say of Serena that she’s the best athlete and most intimidating personality the game has ever produced. Her strength of will and remarkable physical talent have allowed her to come back from the brink of defeat and win matches that her sloppy footwork and poor shot selection should probably have cost her. This time, when she couldn’t blow Vinci away with her serve and couldn’t generate dependable groundstroke speed against Vinci’s slower, yet fuller, arsenal of weapons, she dissolved. While at 5’4” and 120 lbs., Vinci is no physical match for Williams, the Italian showed superior touch, a far better net game, better shot placement and a wicked backhand slice that Serena had hell’s own difficulty getting down to. Was her lack of flexibility a mental block or an outgrowth of her muscularity?
Interestingly, Novak Djokovic faced some of the same dilemmas in his quarterfinal match against Feliciano Lopez. The Spaniard’s wiliness left the Joker visibly frustrated. But as always he was the epitome of flexibility and was able to adapt and win while Serena had no second gear, no plan B. At times she appeared to be a woman on the verge of a nervous breakdown. But the cruel truth is that pressure is part of the game, and dealing with it is a basic requirement for being called the best ever.
Vince Lombardi used to ruminate that fatigue makes cowards of us all; what is described as an emotional collapse is often actually the result of a physical short circuit. As formidable as Serena appears to be, it’s worth wondering whether she was sufficiently fit to remain lucid under pressure and win when power alone couldn’t carry the day.
It does her no favors to ignore her shortcomings and simply reassert that she’s “the greatest.” As any club pro will tell you, prove it on court. Final assessments should be postponed until after Williams’ career ends. A commercial broadcast shortly after Flavia Pennetta showed how easy it was to beat Vinci proclaimed that Serena will “Rise Again.” Here’s hoping that’s true. But just as the longest journey begins with a single step, Serena needs to start her comeback by having an honest discussion with her coach, then with herself.
Michael Mewshaw is the author of 20 books, including Short Circuit: Borg, McEnroe and Connors, the Era of Bribes, Match-fixing and Drugs, now available as an e-book.
