Heartbreak for Serena… and will she ever be back?
Legend casts doubt over future after losing an epic
SERENA WILLIAMS walked off the Centre Court last night, possibly for the last time, after failing to hold back the tide of youth. The American fought to keep her career at Wimbledon alive, but ultimately could not meet the challenge of a poised and courageous opponent in France’s Harmony Tan, who won 7-5, 1-6, 7-6 after more than three hours.
A deciding super tiebreak saw her recover from 4-0 down to claim it 10- 7, with Williams straining every sinew within her ageing frame.
The tournament’s lowest-ranked woman at 1,204 — a wildcard in name only with her seven singles titles here — ultimately lost the struggle to hide the fact she had not played for 12 months.
She was non- committal about her future afterwards. ‘That’s a question I can’t answer,’ she replied. ‘I’m just playing for right now and seeing how I feel, take it from there. Who knows where I will pop up? There’s lots of motivation to play better and at home (the US open).’
As with most happenings in her career, this was never dull or predictable, a clash of styles lighting up the grand old arena with Williams playing the lead role as she has done so often before.
It was as if the 23-time Grand Slam champion came to this fight armed with a baseball bat to her opponent’s stiletto. Even at 40, the American can summon up ferocious power, and when she launched her fightback the blows were often accompanied by determined yelps and groans.
In an era when many of the women’s top 10 could walk down Wimbledon High Street without any fear of being recognised, Williams retains a star quality all of her own.
As the world No 113, Parisian Tan could certainly stroll down the Champs-Elysees unbothered, but she has a delightful game to watch that harks to another era.
It probably helps she is coached by the canny Nathalie Tauziat, one of Wimbledon’s less-remembered finalists, from 1998.
Williams was coy about how much preparation she had done for Wimbledon and arrived in Eastbourne only last week.
one experienced coach who witnessed her first practice on the south coast ventured that her ball-striking was so clean she must have been in proper training for some time. So perhaps this was less of a calculated risk — playing just two doubles matches in Sussex before heading to SW19 — than might have been estimated.
The American walked on court almost straight after rafael Nadal had finished. The idea of having a 20-minute gap between matches lasted less than 48 hours this year — not the first time that the rules have been changed for Serena.
Williams was like a misfiring diesel at the start, barely able to get going for the first two games but then slowly shifting through the gears and the lanes to reach full velocity.
Tan’s tactics were clear. To exploit her opponent’s lack of movement with the deft use of angles and slices, which extended to one remarkable return dropshot winner.
Its effect soon wore off and Williams gradually turned a 2-0 deficit into a 4-2 lead but could not strike the decisive blows when the set was there for the taking.
The crowd loved it, for advanced age bestows on a player a favouritism that would not have been there in her pomp. The French player kept creatively tormenting her and, although the her legs were moving better, she could not muster the consistency to stop the match slamming into reverse.
Tan clinched the set with a blinding cross-court pass which, as it turned out, sent them into a break because the roof needed closing.
It was becoming clear that Williams’ stamina would be tested. The first set took 64 minutes and the second game of the next took just shy of 20 minutes. There were 30 points before she finally clinched it on a seventh-break opportunity. Experience helps when it comes to transitioning from daylight to floodlight, and the more emboldened Williams started to steam through the set.
The timing was returning and key was her landing three out of four first serves in. Suddenly her power was becoming too much, even for the skilful defence ranged against her.
Tan took a six-minute toilet break before the decider, a chance to collect her thoughts and for Williams to lose momentum.
She had the chance to serve it out at 5-4 in the decider but the ever-poised Tan admirably carved her open to draw mistakes and take it into the new super tiebreak. l
SERENA’S sister Venus is set for a surprise Wimbledon appearance after requesting a late wildcard to play alongside Britain’s Jamie Murray in the mixed doubles. Venus, 42, will try to add to her five singles and six doubles titles at SW19.