Motherhood can’t stop Williams
LONDON: Serena Williams demonstrated that having a baby had not robbed her of any of her phenomenal tennis skills when she became the first mother in 38 years to reach the Wimbledon final, with a 6-2, 6-4 demolition of Germany’s Julia Goerges yesterday.
Goerges had come into her first Grand Slam semifinal having belted more winners (199), more aces (44) and more unreturned serves (113) than anyone else in the women’s draw but those statistics counted for little when she came up against an opponent who is in hot pursuit of a record-equalling 24th major.
Remarkably, the 36-yearold was back in a Grand Slam final just 10 months after giving birth to her daughter Alexis Olympia.
“It’s crazy. I don’t even know how to feel because I literally didn’t think I’d do this well in my fourth tournament back in 16 months,” said the American, who won the 2017 Australian Open while in the early stages of her pregnancy.
““This is not inevitable for me, I had a really tough delivery and multiple surgeries and almost didn’t make it to be honest. I couldn’t even walk to my mailbox, so it’s definitely not normal for me to be in a Wimbledon final. I’m enjoying every moment.”
That was clear as she dashed Goerges’s hopes of an all-German final with Angelique Kerber.
Kerber proved too solid for Latvian Jelena Ostapenko with a 6-3, 6-3 victory.
A tight tussle looked in store at 3-3 in the first set but when Ostapenko fired a forehand long to drop serve the match quickly ran away from her.
She double-faulted on set point and Kerber shot into a 5-1 lead. Ostapenko narrowed the deficit to a single game but Kerber nipped the recovery and booked a Saturday date back on Centre Court. – Reuters