Viewers’ Guide
Serena poised to top Graf’s record this year in NYC at Open
The new $150 million white retractable roof atop Ashe Stadium is big and beautiful, but nothing is bigger in tennis than Serena Williams.
There are only a select few sporting greats — mostly in South American soccer — more recognizable by a single name. Serena soars into that stratosphere.
She enters the U.S. Open not on the same epic mission as last August, when she vied to complete the elusive Grand Slam — four major titles in the same year. She fell short in agonizing fashion, a jumble of nerves in the semifinals to unheralded Roberta Vinci, after which she shut it down the rest of the year.
This Open, Williams, 34, looks to surpass Steffi Graf ’s Open-era mark by winning a 23rd Grand Slam singles title — a fabricated milestone considering the women didn’t have a pro circuit in the 1960s. The genuine record still will be held by Margaret Court, at 24. A mission perhaps for the 2017 Open. Williams can also post her seventh Open title, which would break Chris Evert’s record.
The pain of missing out on the Grand Slam — the sport’s epochal accomplishment — is more than the pain in her shoulder that prompted her withdrawal from the Open tune-up in Cincinnati.
In the recently released EPIX documentary “Serena,’’ Williams explained the depth of her melancholy and why she pulled out of 2015’s final three events — something that rubbed the tennis establishment the wrong way.
Tennis Channel, shockingly, declined to vote Williams Player of the Year, choosing Novak Djokovic. Never mind that no player since Graf’s 1988 Grand Slam had even entered the Open with a shot at the epic achievement — three majors already in the bag.
“This is the biggest moment of my career and I didn’t get it,’’ Williams said in the documentary. “I’ve never been in this position so close to having something and losing it or not getting it.
“I’ve let a lot of people down. You give a lot of people hope that they could do something that’s impossible. But hell, I couldn’t do it either.’’
The hangover from the Open debacle, after which she was surly in the post-match press conference, dribbled into 2016. She lost in the finals at the Australian and French Opens. Yes, she won Wimbledon to tie Graf’s mark at 22, but she has set the bar so high, it will be viewed as a disappointing year if she doesn’t win the Open.
Her coach, Patrick Mouratoglou, marveled at the ridiculous expectations.
“For Serena, only winning the trophy is expected,’’ Mouratoglou told Tennis Magazine. “Winning four Grand Slams in a row, three the same year, and reaching the semis of the fourth, is a feeling of failure. Nothing else.’’
Indeed, Serena’s post-Wimbledon activity has been a disappointment. She was unceremoniously bounced out of the Rio Olympics by Elina Svitolina in the third round and pulled out of Cincinnati with a recurring shoulder ailment. Williams said her shoulder began hurting right after winning Wimbledon.
“I think she’s just showing her age a little bit, that she’s human, that she’s not going to be able to dominate the way she did last year,’’ ESPN’s Patrick McEnroe said. “I think she’s vulnerable. She’s still Serena Williams. She wants to break Steffi’s record.
“I’ve heard mixed things about her shoulder. I’m not sure if she’s a hundred percent. But if anyone saw her play at Wimbledon, see her once she gets going, to me if she plays up to her ability, she’s going to win this. But yeah, I would say she would be vulnerable more so than she has been for quite a while.”
The doubts are music to her ears as Williams has risen to the top each time doubts have sprung across a career that has featured its rough patches. If Williams doesn’t make the semis, she likely will lose her 308-week stranglehold on No. 1 in the rankings.
“Serena being No. 2 in the world doesn’t sort of sit well with her,” Evert said.
With Mouratoglou enhancing Williams’ career after the brilliant job by her father, Richard Williams, she no longer is the free-swinging player of early in her career when power superseded tactics. Craftiness is part of the package. “Somebody once asked her, ‘Do you remember winning your first U.S. Open?’ She goes, ‘Yeah, I just went out and hit the ball. I had no idea what I was doing.’ And I think that sums it up,” Evert said. “She had no strategy. She just hit the ball. That’s the way she was taught by Richard: Just hit the ball, and she made a lot more errors. But she was a great athlete and she had the power. She uses her head a lot more on the court.”
Serena has often called her father the world’s most accomplished tennis coach by guiding two champions, including sister Venus, but says she never has been smarter.
“I just feel I try to be as efficient as I can out on the court,’’ Williams said Friday. “I just feel like my game has matured a lot overall and mentally sometimes I definitely do put a little more pressure on myself. That’s a good thing because I only expect the best from myself.’’