Champions Corner: Serena
LONDON, Great Britain – Serena Williams wasn’t sure how she found herself at the net on match point. At least not for as long as she did. But as was the case at the Australian Open, Angelique Kerber dug in and made her hit that extra shot, poking, prodding, and counterpunching as we’e seen the German do so well. Kerber was not going to give it away. Serena had to earn it. And as she finally put away the last ball with a casual forehand volley into the open court, the 34-year-old American fell to the turn and laid still.
Finally. No.22. Finally.
“On match point I hit a great shot and she got it back and I was like, ‘How appropriate that I have to win this at the net because I’m never at the net,” Serena told ESPN after the match with a laugh.
For nearly a year, Serena’s path to her Open Era record-tying 22nd major was paved with crushing disappointment. Her nervous, three-set loss to Roberta Vinci at the 2015 US Open was, in her own words, heartbreaking. What should have been the Summer of Serena – a coronation of her greatness looked sure to come at the US Open with the completion of the Calendar Slam – ended with a shock loss. She took the rest of the season off and returned at the Australian Open in January, again in search of No.22. Again she came up short, as Kerber blocked her way with brick-wall defense.
The big-match losses continued. Victoria Azarenka beat her in the final of the BNP Paribas Open. Then came a loss to Svetlana Kuznetsova at the Miami Open. When she earned her first title of the season at the Italian Open in Rome, she looked back to her dominant ways. Then came a one-way loss to Garbiñe Muguruza in the French Open final.
“I have definitely had some sleepless nights, if I’m just honest, with a lot of stuff,” Serena said. “Coming so close. Feeling it, not being able to quite get there.”
And then things changed. Serena willed the change. She woke up one morning after the French Open and decided to stop feeling sorry for herself. She would not allow herself to be the victim of some universal conspiracy to keep her off the podium. She was the architect of her own destiny. And in that moment, the Serena Williams took back the reigns.
“One day I woke and I felt different,” Serena told a small pool of reporters after the final. “I felt I can do better. I can do this. Not only can I do this but I’m going to do this and there’s nothing in this world that’s going to stop me.”
The change in mentality showed both on and off the court. I wrote last week about the clear change in how Serena spoke about herself throughout the fortnight. That was based on just my observation. I put that theory to Serena after the final. She agreed.
Q: One thing that I’ve noticed with you in the press room here and off the court as well is there does seem to be a re-embracing of “I’m Serena. I’ve done what I’ve done.” How far away did you think that you got from that last year? I feel like you were trying to diffuse the pressure a little bit of the run up to New York, saying “I’m just doing my best, that’s all I can do.” But it seems like you kind of recaptured yourself here.
A: Yeah, I definitely think so. I feel like… God, get it, girl [laughs]. Wow. Yes. Very well said.
While she was dishing out bagels on court, reminding her opponents and anyone watching this was a focused, determined, positive Serena, off-court she took every opportunity to remind reporters that her last three Slam losses did not change her character as a champion. At times it felt like it was just as important to say it out loud to herself as it was for the press to hear.
“I definitely feel like when I lose I don’t feel as good about myself. But then I have to remind myself that you are Serena Williams. Do you know what you’ve done, who you are, what you continue to do not only in tennis, off the court? You’re awesome. I think that shows the human side of me, that I’m not a robot. I only expect perfection.”
For the first time since 2006, we saw a rematch of a Grand Slam final in the same season. Kerber flummoxed Serena with her defense at the Australian Open and there is no denying that Serena was unsettled throughout the match with nerves. On Saturday, Serena controlled those nerves. In fact, she controlled everything. On the surface that rewards her game like no other, she served 13 aces, one of which wiped out the only break point she faced all day. She fired 39 winners to 21 unforced errors on a day when Kerber forced her to earn every inch.
“Serena was serving unbelievable today,” Kerber said afterwards. “At the end I was trying everything, but she deserved it today. She really played an unbelievable match. I think we both play on a really high level. I tried everything.
“I mean, I think I was not the one who lost the match, I think she won the match. Just one can win, and today Serena deserved it.”
On a day when Kerber hit just nine unforced errors in the match, Serena had to win it. And on this day, instead of throwing her hands up to the heavens asking how Kerber could get that one ball back every time, she simply gripped her racquet tighter and took control.
“We had a lot of long, tough points,” Serena said. “I think every single point I worked for, and nothing was given to me.”
That sums up much of Serena Williams’ career. With her seventh Wimbledon title she is now tied with Stefanie Graf for the Open Era record in major titles. She now just two wins short of Martina Navratilova’s Open Era record of Slam wins. She has won more matches at Wimbledon than any other active player. On Monday she will remain No.1, the oldest woman to hold the top ranking, for her 301st week.
After the match the BBC ran a montage of Serena’s march to No.22, narrated by Serena herself reading Maya Angelou’s poem “Still I Rise.” It was a moving montage of all her trials and tribulations over the last 12 months.
“I knew Maya when she was around,” Serena told a pool of reporters. “I used to go hang out with her. She was someone I really admired and I think her work should always live on.
“It’s an extremely powerful poem to me and it meant a lot to me last year. It’s one of my favorite poems of hers and I think it’s so powerful. The words are so strong and so encouraging. And I think it describes me. I really do.
“One of the most powerful lines that I like is when she says don’t get me twisted with your bitter twisted lies. Were you happy to see me down, were you sad when I fell down? And then one of my favorite parts is ‘I’m the hope and the dream of a slave.’
“So those really, really resonate with me because that’s what my ancestors were. I’m the product of that. If you break down those words, it was a dream probably for my ancestors to be here and to see what they, because of their perseverance, were able to let me have this opportunity. It’s so touching and it’s so amazing that because of that I do have that opportunity.”
We may never know the true depth of the emotional impact this last year – or really these last 20 years – has had on her personally. But her internalization of the words and the message, one of hope, of overcoming, of being judged and misunderstood, of celebrating her black history while defying it, speaks volumes of where she’s been and how she tapped into that inner strength to get back to where she wants to be.
Earlier in the week, a reporter asked what it feels like to go down as one of the greatest female athletes of all time. Serena did not blink. She did not hesitate.
“I prefer the word ‘one of the greatest athletes of all time’.”
Rise up. Serena is back.
All photos courtesy of Getty Images.