Halep’s ‘chill year’ going just as planned
LONDON With last year’s French Open, her first grand slam title, under her belt, Simona Halep decided 2019 would be “a chill year.”
Then, on Saturday, she stepped on to Wimbledon’s Centre Court and obliterated the great Serena Williams 6-2, 6-2 in 56 minutes to win the final.
The irony was not lost on the Romanian former world No. 1 as she drank in her success.
“After winning the (2018) French Open I took a big holiday, a long holiday, and then I said it is a chill year,” she said, grinning.
“But I meant I wanted to relax as a person, not as a player,” she said, laughing. “I still work hard for every day, every match, every tournament.”
That much was abundantly evident on Saturday as she scorched the greatest female tennis player in the last 50 years and the most successful in terms of grand slam titles in the Open era.
On the day, Williams, who was chasing her 24th grand slam win, was relegated to the role of bitpart actor as Halep produced an extraordinary performance.
“I’m very sure that was the best match of my life,” said Halep, who made just three unforced errors in the one-sided contest.
It was the seeming absence of nerves that impressed most, even if the Romanian said her stomach had been unwell before the contest.
Having an opportunity to equal Margaret Court’s all-time record of winning 24 Grand Slam singles titles, the 37-year-old Williams suffered her heaviest defeat in a major final.
“When someone plays lights out, there’s really not much you can do.
You just have to understand that that was their day today,” said Williams.
Canada’s Gabriela Dabrowski and her Chinese partner Yifan Xu lost 6-2, 6-4 to Barbora Strycova, of the Czech Republic, and Taiwan’s Su-wei Hsieh in the women’s doubles final.
Teenager Shintaro Mochizuki, 16, became the first Japanese to win a junior boys’ Grand Slam title, beating Spain’s Carlos Gimeno Valero 6-3, 6-2 in the Wimbledon final on Sunday. On Saturday, 17-year-old Daria Snigur became the second Ukrainian player to win the girls’ singles title at Wimbledon with a 6-4, 6-4 win over American Alexa Noel.
In the junior men’s doubles final, Canada’s Liam Draxl and Govind Nanda of the U.S, the No. 7 ranked duo, lost 7-5, 6-4 to No. 1 seeds Jiri Lehecka and Jonas Forejtek of the Czech Republic.