SHOCKS EVEN HERSELF WITH FINAL SHOWDOWN VS GERMANY’S KERBER
Serena Williams has been saying it over and over and over: Wimbledon is only her fourth tournament since returning to the tour after having a baby.
“Every time I go out there, I want to, I guess, take a giant step forward,” she said. “Keep taking giant steps, but keep improving.”
Williams played a total of seven matches in 2018 before arriving at the All England Club, and she’ll be playing her seventh match in the last two weeks when she meets 11th-seeded Angelique Kerber of Germany in the Wimbledon final today.
It certainly didn’t take long for the 36-year-old American to get her game in gear and close in on what would be an eighth Wimbledon title, one short of Martina Navratilova’s record, and 24th Grand Slam trophy in all, equalling Margaret Court’s all-time mark. t was only 10-and-a-half months ago that Williams had far more serious concerns.
Health complications
After giving birth to her daughter, Olympia, on September 1, Williams dealt with health complications that included blood clots and led to what she said were multiple operations.
“Almost didn’t make it, to be honest,” Williams said after completing her 6-2, 6-4 semi-final victory over 13th-seeded Julia Goerges.
She’s been wearing compression leggings during her matches as a precaution and says she remains nervous.
“I mean, even this week, I had a pain in my leg, and I went to ■ the worst-case scenario: ‘Oh, my God, I have a (pulmonary embolism) in my leg,’” Williams said. “I didn’t know I would have such, kind of, traumatic thoughts. Especially now that I have a daughter, I want to be around as long as I can to support her. ”
The tennis? That’s come quite naturally, not surprisingly.
She was off the tour for more than a year after her Australian Open title in January 2017 — won while she was pregnant, she later revealed. Williams first came back by playing doubles with her older sister, Venus, for the US Fed Cup team in February. Then came her singles return, at Indiana Wells in March, when she won her first two matches before losing to her sibling.
Next was a first-round loss at Miami. Following another two months away from competition, she entered the French Open in late May, and won three matches before pulling out before the fourth round because of an injured pectoral muscle.
Williams rested some after that, not practising serving at all for a couple of weeks, and was able to ease into things once Wimbledon began because of a draw that allowed her to avoid playing any seeded opponents — or anyone ranked inside the top 50, for that matter — until Goerges, who was making her Grand Slam semi-final debut.
Now will come the sternest on-court test Williams has faced: Kerber, a former No. 1 and twotime major champion with a lefty stroke and never-give-up-on-aball defence. After winning her semi-final against Jelena Ostapenko 6-3, 6-3, Kerber was asked what she sees across the net going up against Williams.
“I see a champion,” said, “that’s for sure.” Kerber
Aged 20, Serena already had two Grand Slam titles under her belt, but winning her first Wimbledon crown, at the expense of her sister Venus, was her true breakthrough moment. Venus, two years older, was the world’s top player at the time.
Serena made it clear who would end up being regarded as the family’s best player as she sealed a dominant win that moved her above Venus to the top of the WTA rankings.
2003: Beats Venus Williams (US) 4-6, 6-4, 6-2
With five Grand Slams in her trophy cabinet, Serena was well established as a global star, but the Williams’ sisters popularity with fans was still hit and miss after a less than warm reception at the French Open.
This was one of a clutch of strangely lacklustre all-Williams finals that played a role in the public’s apathy.
Despite suffering from an abdominal injury earlier in the tournament, Venus was Serena’s final opponent again and it was the younger sibling who took the title for a second successive year.
2009: Beats Venus Williams (US) 7-6, 6-2
After a barren six-year spell marred by Wimbledon final defeats against Venus and Maria Sharapova, it was Serena’s time to regain her throne.
The sisters went into the final with a 10-10 record, but having powered through the draw without dropping a set, defending champion Venus began as a marginal favourite. Serena had other ideas, winning comfortably to end Venus’s hopes of a third straight title.
2010: Beats Vera Zvonareva (Russia) 6-3, 6-2
In the most one-sided of Serena’s Wimbledon finals, she needed just 66 minutes to demolish the out-classed Vera Zvonareva. The American didn’t drop a set in the entire tournament and Russian 21st seed Zvonareva, playing in her first Grand Slam final, was no match. Williams also moved past Billie Jean King to sixth in the all-time list of female Grand Slam singles champions with 13 major titles. Looking towards King in the Centre Court Royal Box afterwards, Williams said: “Hey Billie, I got you, it’s number 13 for me.”
2012: Beats Agnieszka Radwanska (Poland) 6-1, 5-7, 6-2
This was an emotional fifth Wimbledon title for Serena after injury and health issues forced her to the sidelines for over a year between 2010 and 2012. Radwanska made a fight of it, winning a rain-delayed second set.
Serena became the first woman over 30 to win Wimbledon since Martina Navratilova in 1990, while her 102 aces were the most in an All England Club campaign.
2015: Beats Garbine Muguruza (Spain) 6-4, 6-4
For the second time, the American secured the ‘Serena Slam’ as she held all four Grand Slam titles at the same time. Muguruza was making her major final debut and Serena exploited the youngster’s nerves despite a brief wobble of her own late in the second set when she twice dropped serve. It was the 33-year-old’s 21st Grand Slam title and third of 2015.
2016: Beats Angelique Kerber (Germany) 7-5, 6-3
Serena’s seventh Wimbledon triumph gave her a historic 22nd Grand Slam title, equalling Steffi Graf’s Open era record. Kerber had beaten Williams in the Australian Open final in January, but the German couldn’t produce another shock.