By Bill Simons
LONDON—Under the bright New York lights, in distant Melbourne, on Paris’s sticky clay and against a young wonder-Brit in London, Serena Williams has prevailed. Five times in Paris, she cheated defeat, scoring astounding comebacks. And then she saddened an entire island when she beat the English cutie Heather Watson.
But Victoria Azarenka is no cutie.
She may be named after modern Britain’s greatest queen, the lady in black who defined propriety. But today in white, this Victoria was hardly preoccupied with tea party civility.
Have you heard her screech?
Is there a more painful sound in the game? Speaking of pain, Azarenka, the former No. 1 who has twice won the Aussie Open, suffered foot and leg injuries that sidelined her for months in 2014.
And on her long comeback, she has twice been blunted by Serena. In Madrid, Vika was up 5-1 in the first set tiebreak, then faltered. She re-grouped, but ultimately collapsed. Three times she double faulted on match point before losing. At the French Open against Serena, Vika hit a critical forehand on the line on set point that was wrongly called out. Clearly Serena—who’d been forced into an error by the shot—wasn’t hindered by the late “out” call. Words were exchanged, baffled glances were traded, but both the umpire and Serena refused to give Vika the point.
Like many players before her—think Justine Henin, Jennifer Capriati, Maria Sharapova—Azarenka was not pleased with Williams. She called the Paris point “bullshit,” and is still “pissed.”
Perhaps then it wasn’t surprising that Vika, who hadn’t lost a set in the entire tournament, stormed out of the gate, won 83% of her first serves, played fabulous defense and raced to a 6-3 first-set victory.
Nonetheless, Centre Court was stunned. Serena followers merely mumbled, “Here we go again.”
Williams counterattacked. What else is new? After all, we do know that the American is inner-city/Centre Court tough. But the Belarusian is no pushover either. Some claim she will again reach No. 1.
Soon there were battles within the battle. Fierce assaults, corner-to-corner sprints, and defense-to-offense wonders were followed by power blasts, stretch flicks and blanket coverage. “This certainly is a good advert for women’s tennis,” said Live at Wimbledon radio. “These two are pushing tennis to lofty, breathtaking heights.”
Exactly!
The audio rose to such stratospheric levels that perhaps the sounds were heard way up there. This was far from the sound of Centre Court silence.
Grunt. Screech. Scream! Fans laughed, while the biggest control-freak ump in the game tried to “brake” the crowd.
These days, no one has been able to “brake” Ms. Williams once she decides to turn it up and get into gear. Almost on cue, Serena lifted her game, Vika’s defense dipped just slightly, and in the sixth game of the second set, Serena stretched wide to blast a cross-court winner from a distant corner. “Yeah!” she shouted. We saw her familiar fist pump. Once again on the comeback trail, Serena had scored a huge break to go up 4-2 in the second set. Moses was good at parting the sea. Serena’s not bad at turning tides. She’s come from behind to win a record 34 times after losing the first set in Slams.
Still, she would admit later that she felt vulnerable in the third set. But she went on to upgrade her serve. Her forehand had a new command. She powered backhands that kissed deep corners.
Just before Williams scored her 3-6, 6-2, 6-3 victory, Azarenka whiffed on a 107 mph serve and wryly laughed.
But her recent matches against Serena have hardly been laughing matters. No, losing to Williams is no capital offense. But now in three months, Vika has dropped leads in three European capitals—Madrid, Paris and London.
Afterward, Vika, quickly conceded Serena’s dominance.
“Did you see those 24 aces?” she asked. “That’s almost a set.” (It is, in fact.)
Still Vika was proud, saying she had never played so well—that the match was an inspiration, that she loved to be pushed, and she would learn from today. She added that she’s “do anything I can, anything, to be able to not just beat Serena, but to win Wimbledon. I will do anything to win Grand Slams … We put on a great show together … It’s been a while since there was that high quality of women’s tennis. I wasn’t surprised because I know she’s going to do everything to win … [but] I’m the type of player that will never give up.”
But what was she thinking during all those breathless points? “When everything [is happening] all I see is the ball. I don’t even really see my opponent.”
Now her opponent, Serena, can see the Wimbledon and “Serena Slam” finish lines. Thursday, in the semis, she faces “arch-rival” Maria Sharapova, who she has beaten in 16 straight times.
So no worries, right?
Not hardly. Still, Serena, despite her stomps, her sometimes off-balance miscues and flat stretches, is playing with a a curious degree of serenity. And, that helps her on court.
Right now, she doesn’t want to deal with controversies (i.e. women aren’t put on show courts enough and, by the way, don’t men grunt more loudly then men). She doesn’t want to talk of inspirational stars of the past, or reflect on records to be set in the future, or Slams to be savored.
She just wants be in these considerable moments. And of late, the lady with the big serve and hefty heart has been gracing us with a string of wondrous moments quite unlike any others in memory.
