Williams hails Murray doubles as she roars into singles final
SERENA WILLIAMS believes her doubles partnership with Andy Murray helped her reach the Wimbledon final and put her on the verge of a record-equalling 24th Grand Slam singles title.
The seven-time champion overpowered unseeded Barbora Strycova 6-1 6-2 in 59 punishing minutes on Centre Court.
The serve was nearly flawless and the groundstrokes as brutal as ever but her occasional forays to the net – a feature of her mixed doubles matches with Murray – paid off handsomely.
Williams said: “I promise you, when I hit a volley I was like, ‘Would I have made it if I didn’t play doubles’? I don’t think so.
“I kept telling you guys I thought the doubles would help me. I really think it did. I don’t BY ANDY SIMS attack the net that much. I tried to and want to.
“I know when I play doubles here with Venus, it definitely helps my singles game. I was really keen to play mixed here.
“It helped me, not just today and this event, but hopefully it will help me in the future.”
The quest to equal Margaret Court’s record seemed to weigh heavily on Williams in her defeats in last year’s Wimbledon and US Open finals.
But she insisted the magic No.24 will no longer be playing on her mind when she faces Simona Halep in tomorrow’s final.
She said: “I thought about it this morning. I actually didn’t think about it since because it’s really not about 24, or 23, or 25.
“It’s really just about going out there and giving my best effort. No matter what I do, I will always have had a great career. I kind of let it go this morning.”
Williams’ defeat to Angelique Kerber in last year’s final came 10 months after birth of daughter Olympia and the subsequent complications she suffered.
She added: “I just remember I was tired and Angie played unbelievable. I was sad but I was also proud of myself.
“There was nothing I could do in that match. Physically I just wasn’t there.
“After that I just trained and trained and trained to get fit. So I’m definitely at a different place.”
Czech Strycova had knocked out Johanna Konta to become, at 33, the oldest female first-time Grand Slam semi-finalist.
She said: “That was Serena’s best match of all here. She was serving amazing. She was playing deep so I really couldn’t play what I wanted to do.
“If she plays like that in the final it’s going to be very hard for Simona – but then Simona has also her weapons. Every day is different but today she was playing amazing.”