Serena in sexism row
SERENA WILLIAMS last night hit out at Wimbledon for shunting women’s matches on to smaller courts to make way for the men. ‘Every year there are two men’s and one women’s match on the main courts — Court No 1 and Centre Court,’ said the five-time champion (right) after beating Victoria Azarenka 3-6, 6-2, 6-3 to set up a semi-final against Maria Sharapova. ‘We are still fighting on that. We’ve made some progress. Hopefully we’ll keep making progress and get to the point where we’ll have even more featured matches. ‘I don’t think it’s limited to Wimbledon. We have this problem at a lot of different tournaments. ‘It’s a huge conversation
that we have to have.’
VICTORIA Azarenka sounded like a goat falling off a tall cliff and Serena Williams was the screaming assassin who did the pushing.
Between them, they produced an excellent, deafening game of tennis, which resulted in Williams taking another step towards something remarkable.
Not that this brilliant, spiky American will contemplate such possibilities, having firmly banned all talk of the ‘Serena Slam’.
With Maria Sharapova up next in the semi-final, and the fact 11 years and 16 matches have passed since the Russian last beat Williams, that chatter is getting louder. ‘I told you guys don’t mention the Serena Slam,’ she told a television reporter.
Whether Williams can hear any of the talk with all the grunts still ringing in her ears is a moot point.
At times the noise the pair made was farcical and a distraction to what was a brilliant match between players at the top of their games. Towards the end of the first set, the Centre Court crowd started laughing loudly while points were in progress, prompting Azarenka to later say: ‘I think they might have had a little too much Pimm’s. When people say, “Make sure you hydrate yourself”, I think they mean with water, not with alcohol.
‘I’m there to play my best and try my hardest, and that’s what I’m going to do. That’s what Serena does. That’s what every other woman out there is doing.’
To that end, the standard was exceptional, particularly for the first set and a half, with Azarenka breaking early and holding off some ferocious Williams responses. The two-time Australian Open champion, rising again after an injury-wrecked 2014, then had chances to break in the second before Williams made the breakthrough for 4-2.
Azarenka lost herself in the drama and was given a code violation for an ‘audible obscenity’; Williams rounded off each little victory with a stare and muscular posturing at the Belarusian.
As the intensity rose, so did the grunting. The observation would later rile Azarenka, who said: ‘I was practising next to Nadal, and he grunts louder than me, and nobody notices that.
‘Why? I don’t understand why. I think maybe it’s time to just put it aside and not talk about it all the time. Look at the good stuff.’
By the close of the third, with Williams having again broken early in the set, the American had served 17 aces across two hours. More than that, she hit 46 winners and only 12 unforced errors. ‘Did you see the aces?’ Azarenka asked. ‘She hit almost a set of them. That’s pretty good.’
They are not numbers, for aces or otherwise, typically associated with 33-year-old tennis players, but when has Williams ever conformed so neatly to type? She is going through a wonderful Indian summer in her career of 20 Slams and it is hard to make an argument against her taking this title, which would put all four major trophies in her possession at the same time.
Who would then bet against her taking the US Open and becoming the first woman since Steffi Graf in 1988 to win the lot in one year?
Sharapova is the next obstacle, but there appeared to be some cheeky meaning in the words when Williams said: ‘I love playing Maria.’ Given her record of smashing the Russian, with whom she has a rather cold relationship, why wouldn’t she?
Williams went on: ‘I think she brings out the best in me. I think I bring out the best in her. I thought we had a wonderful final in Australia (which Williams won in straight sets). It was very entertaining. She played really well. For me, I don’t feel like I have any pressure going into this match.’
Earlier, after stepping off court, she had said: ‘I have nothing to lose. I just want to win a match and if I don’t there is always next year.’
She has said plenty of variants on that theme over the past week, but if you believe it you might also believe in flying pigs. Or goats.