‘Serena Slam’ beckons
SERENA Williams has a Wimbledon itch to scratch. Its name is Garbine Muguruza.
The outstanding young Spaniard is in Williams’ crosshairs as grand slam history beckons. And the American is not buying suggestions the world No.20 has a free shot at the All England Club title tonight.
“She has Wimbledon to lose. I think we both have Wimbledon to lose, so I think that’s something to lose,” Williams said.
“And, yeah, she’s beaten me before, so she knows how to win. She knows what to do.
“It’s a different situation. So I think it puts her in a unique position where she has an opportunity to become Wimbledon champ.”
Or not. Like Roger Federer, also a 33-year-old master of tennis psychology, Williams appreciates exactly what is on the line.
Should she win, she will – for the second time in her career – hold all four majors at the same time.
It will be the realisation of the subject she has banned every journalist, coach and fellow player from discussing – the “Serena Slam”.
And it would leave her standing on the brink of grand slam immortality. But then there is the matter of dealing with Muguruza, her conqueror at the French Open last year.
“It’s always not easy to play someone that you have to fight for every point, you know, to the very end,” Williams said. “It’s always something that’s not very comfortable to play.
“I’ve won so many grand slam titles. And, you know, I’m at a position where I don’t need to win another Wimbledon. I could lose, sure, I won’t be happy.
“But I don’t need another Wimbledon title. I don’t need another US Open. I don’t need any titles to make it.”
But she needs to beat Muguruza. The effervescent baseliner up-ended Williams in Paris last season and the disappointment lingers.
“The losses you learn from,” Williams said. “That loss I think I learned the most from in a long time. I got so much better after that loss. I was able to improve a lot. I worked on things.
“I didn’t see the results straight away. But months later I started seeing the results more and more. “I learned so much from that. “Sometimes as much as you don’t want it or as bad timing as it could be, I don’t want to lose to anyone at a grand slam.
“But unfortunately, I did. But it was really an experience that helped me say, ‘OK, Serena, you want to be the best, you’re going to have to do certain things and you’re going to have to improve certain things’.”
Williams has now strung together 27 successive grand slam wins and needs only to win tonight to complete the Serena Slam and hold all four major titles.
The latest graduate of Spain’s endless grand slam production line, Muguruza is undaunted by Williams.
“I think (it) is the best final you can play,” she said. “To have Serena in the Wimbledon final I think is the hardest match you can have.
“If you want to win a grand slam, when you dream, you say, ‘I want Serena in the final’. She’s like one of the best players in all these years. So it’s obviously, I think, the best challenge to have.
“It means a lot. You work all your life to achieve a grand slam final, to be in this situation.
“It’s like a dream, like a present after the hard work.”