Strawberries and cream not a big deal, says Serena
But pooh-poohing Grand Slam title may be her game plan
SERENA Williams embodies big-match intensity. She might lose to unknowns in lesser events and occasionally stumble in the early rounds at majors. But almost never when it counts the most.
In Grand Slam singles and doubles finals, Williams is a ridiculous 33-4 (20-4 and 13-0) – not to mention 4-0 in Olympic gold medal matches.
Yet her mindset as the top seed heading into Wimbledon on Monday – where she can win a fourth consecutive major and keep alive her quest for the first calendar-year Grand Slam in 27 years – could not be more blasé. If you take her at her word.
“I don’t think that’s going to define my career or make or break it,” the No 1-ranked American said.
In an interview this month at her Paris pied-a-terre two days after beating Lucie Safarova to win her third French Open and 20th major overall, Williams pooh-poohed the milestone on everyone’s mind.
She is 14 matches away. Steffi Graf, in 1988, was the last player to win the Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon and US Open in a single season. No player has captured the first two legs since Jennifer Capriati 2001.
Williams, 33, said it would have preoccupied her in seasons past, but she has become so comfortable with her place in history, it matters little.
“I don’t know how this sounds, but it’s not on top of my list,” she said, still sniffling from the flu-like illness that nearly derailed her run in Paris. “My list right now is to do well at Wimbledon. And then my list is to do well at the US Open. And then Australia.”
Williams, clad in shorts and an orange-and-white top with her Yorkshire terrier, Chip, nestled in her arms, said: “I don’t really think, nor am I overly concerned, about winning a Grand Slam at this stage of my career. I think five years ago – yeah. Ten years ago, yeah it might have. Now I’ve got enough. I don’t need a Grand Slam to define my career whereas maybe a few years ago if I didn’t have 20 Grand Slams then I would have needed that.”
It makes sense that Wimbledon remains her immediate focus. The five-time champion has stumbled lately on grass. She lost to Sabine Lisicki in the round-of-16 in 2013 and to Alize Cornet in the third round last year.
“I haven’t done well there in a while. I had done well for so long in the beginning of my career and now it’s just been like kinda shaky.”
Still, Williams doesn’t act like she’s simply icing her career cake.
Though she is 32-1 in 2015, many of her matches have been dramafilled episodes where she has fallen behind, looked far from her best, and then lifted to another level and willed herself to victory.
She has bellowed “C’mons!”, littered courtside mikes with F-bombs, and pleaded to the heavens and to her box, all in an effort to get her game on track.
Pam Shriver, the ESPN analyst, said Williams is probably of both minds. “Athletes are gifted at taking bits of pressure off,” said the former top-three player from Baltimore.
“I don’t disbelieve her, but I think deep down she wants to be one of the few players to go down with the calendar-year Slam.”
What isn’t a matter of speculation: Williams, who turns 34 in September, is better than ever, and more distant from the field than at any time in her career.
Following an 11-month health and injury absence in 2010-11, Serena has been as close to untouchable as any player in history.
In 61 tournaments since June 2011, she has captured 30 titles, seven majors and compiled a .924 winning percentage (242-20). In the same number of tournaments prior to being sidelined, she won 11 titles, six majors and owned a .800 winning clip (180-45).
Her late-career success is the latest plot twist in a story of convention-breaking feats since she and her sister, Venus Williams, emerged from the tough streets of Compton, California, in the mid-1990s.
Serena returns to Wimbledon on the heels of another mini-comeback. When she departed London a year ago, she had failed to advance past the fourth round in three previous majors. And no exit was more bizarre than in London.
Three days after losing to France’s Cornet, a dazed Serena flailed around the court in a doubles match with Venus before retiring. Speculation about what ailed her was rampant. But Williams rebounded as only she can.
She lost just once the rest of the season (not including a withdrawal and a retirement), captured the US Open, and with her two majors in 2015 is now on the cusp of a second “Serena Slam” – holding all four majors simultaneously.
Serena won four consecutive Grand Slams in 2001-02 when she was 21. “What a turnaround that is,” said Shriver.
If Serena arrives in London as a heavy favourite again, her rivals have aided her domination. Reigning Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic, ranked No 2, has struggled with her health and top form. The 2011 and 2014 Wimbledon champion withdrew from this week’s warm-up at Eastbourne with an illness.
Last year’s finalist Eugenie Bouchard and 2012 runner-up Agnieszka Radwanska are mired in slumps. Third-ranked Simona Halep and No 5 Caroline Wozniacki have yet to approach last season’s high levels. Then there is Maria Sharapova. The five-time Grand Slam champion from Russia, who shocked Serena in the 2004 Wimbledon final, hasn’t beaten her in more than a decade and is 2-17 overall.
Perhaps the biggest hazard for Serena is she knows the speedy courts at the All-England Club ben- efit her big serve and first-strike aggression. When she doesn’t dominate, it rankles. “On paper she should just breeze though every Wimbledon,” says 18-time major winner Chris Evert.
Serena agrees. “It’s not my favourite surface. It never has been. But it does suit my game,” she says.
Maybe she has hit on the right formula, paradoxical as it seems on the surface. She can tell herself it’s all gravy now, and as long as she avoids the pitfall of disengaging too much of her ego, she can relax. That can be a fine line to straddle. – The Washington Post