Williams is just too hot to handle

FOR THE past few weeks, for fear of jinxing the attempt, Serena Williams had banned anyone uttering the four-letter word “slam” in her presence. With yesterday’s 6-4 6-4 win against 21-year-old Garbiñe Muguruza in the women’s singles final, she added Wimbledon to her collection of the current French, Australian and US Open titles.

Now that the “Serena Slam” has been completed, for the second time in her glorious career, she can shout the word from the rooftops. Or at least from the Centre Court’s outside balcony, where she repaired after her victory to flourish the trophy to the fans.

“We love you Serena,” they shouted.

“And I love you more,” she beamed back.

What a way it was to secure that historic target, blasting her way to victory against a spirited, imaginative, endlessly competitive opponent. At 33 years 289 days Williams is the oldest female grand slam champion. But the way she celebrated victory here, with an uninhibited dance, she looked a woman rejuvenated, ready to press on and on. This, her 21st title, places her three behind Margaret Court in the list of grand slam winners. On this evidence, she might sweep to the top within a year.

Not that her tilt at immortality began auspiciously. The tall, graceful Muguruza broke Williams’s serve in the first game, leaving the American suddenly looking her age.

The newcomer’s long-limbed

Don’t be sad, you’ll be holding this trophy in a couple of years

athleticism suggested this could turn into an upset. Muguruza had calculated that the best way to defeat Williams was to take the game to her. Some of her shots in the early stages had roars of appreciation rolling down the stands. She just had to hold her serve and the first set was hers.

There was only one problem: Muguruza was playing Serena Williams. And she is still incapable of accepting defeat.

She broke back in the eighth game. Then in the 10th, Muguruza double-faulted twice to give Williams set point. It was an advantage she put away with a throaty growl.

Muguruza suddenly found herself 1-5 down in the second set, with Williams serving for the slam.

But in an indication of what may lie ahead in her career, the Spaniard stopped making errors and attacked. She broke Williams to love, then took her own service game. Then she broke Williams again, to put herself within another service of parity.

At this point we witnessed how Williams has accrued so much silverware. She has frequently claimed she is playing these days entirely for fun. If so, it was fun driven by a guttural howl. Growing angrier and more intense, she was thumping the ball back at Muguruza and finally wrapped up the set, and the match.

Generously leading the applause for her opponent, who was weeping profusely within moments of the end, Williams told her: “Don’t be sad, you’ll be holding this trophy in a couple of years.”

However, you would suspect that, if Muguruza is to win here in the next few years, she will still have to get past Serena Williams. —