Simona Halep sweeps Serena Williams 6-2, 6-2
WIMBLEDON, England – Welcome to the club, Simona Halep.
That’s the prestigious All England Lawn Tennis Club, where Halep now has a lifetime membership by virtue of her victory Saturday in the Wimbledon women’s singles final.
And welcome to a different club – the collection of players to dispatch the suddenly vulnerable Serena Williams, the greatest player in the history of women’s tennis
Halep, 27, who previously had won just one of 10 matches against Williams, made light work of her at Centre Court, 6-2, 6-2, finishing in a breezy 56 minutes.
Williams, the seven-time Wimbledon singles champion, was down 4-0 in the first 11 minutes.
“It was a little bit of deer in the headlights,” said Williams, gracious and upbeat in her midcourt remarks immediately after the match. “Whenever a player plays that amazing, you just kind of have to take your nod on the head and congrats for all the hard work.”
Whereas Williams was looking to become the second woman to win eight or more Wimbledon singles titles – Martina Navratilova has nine – this marked Halep’s debut in the finals of the storied tournament.
“Well, I had nerves,” Halep said. “My stomach was not very well before the match, but I knew there was no time for emotions. I just came on court and gave it my best.”
It was Halep who looked like the seasoned pro, with the former two-time world No. 1 player moving Williams from side to side and chasing down shots that looked
unreachable. It was reminiscent of Angelique Kerber’s 6-3, 6-3 defeat of Williams in last year’s Wimbledon final.
As for the dominating serve of Williams, a blistering weapon that had been working throughout the tournament, it never materialized. She had just two aces after leading the tournament with 45 heading into the final.
Halep, the first Romanian to win a Wimbledon singles title, will collect the equivalent of $2,954,000, along with a lifetime membership to the exclusive tennis club.
“I wanted this badly,” she said. “When I started the tournament, I talked to the people from the locker room that my dream is to become a member here. So today it’s real, and I’m really happy.”
In the run-up to the final, Williams played only one opponent ranked in the top 20 – No. 17 Julia Goerges. Halep is ranked seventh.
Williams, whose last tournament win came 2 { years ago at the 2017 Australian Open, is stuck on 23 Grand Slam victories, one shy of the record held by Margaret Court.
Williams has not won a major championship since the 2017 Australian Open. At 37 years and 291 days, Williams had a chance to become the oldest person to win a Grand Slam.
In the men’s final, Roger Federer has a chance to break that record in his match against Novak Djokovic. Federer is 49 days older than Williams. Those two are the most popular players at Wimbledon by far. Driving the feverish demand for tickets is that fans understand those two players are in the twilight of their careers, and they won’t be around forever.
“No matter which way you look at it, we’re not going to be out here in the next three, four, five years,” said Williams, whose winnings Sunday ($1.48 million) increased her career prize money to more than $90 million. “The time is now to get out there and to watch us play, I guess.”
This Wimbledon was filled with storylines on the women’s side. There was the torrent of interest in the effervescent Coco Gauff, an unseeded 15-year-old American who shocked fivetime champion Venus Williams in the opening round, then pulled off two more upsets before losing in the fourth round to eventual champion Halep.
Kerber was knocked out in