As final approaches, Serena recalls her loss to Halep
WIMBLEDON, England — There are, of course, many reasons why Serena Williams has been as successful as she’s been, for as long as she’s been.
The serve. The returns. The groundstrokes. The court coverage. And more.
A little insight into one aspect of the way she approaches matches arrived via her answer to a question looking ahead to Saturday’s Wimbledon final against No. 7seeded Simona Halep.
Williams, who can collect her eighth title at the All England Club and 24th Grand Slam singles trophy overall, was asked why she’s been able to accumulate a 91 headtohead mark against the Romanian.
“The biggest key with our matches is the loss that I had. I never forgot it. She played unbelievable,” Williams said. “That makes me know that level she played at — she can get there again. So I have to be better than that.”
Doesn’t matter, apparently, that the result came all the way back in 2014, in a relatively inconsequential roundrobin meeting at the seasonending championships. Or that Williams soundly beat Halep later at that same tournament. Or that Williams won their only matchup this season, at the Australian Open in January.
If it’s going to help to have a reminder that Halep is capable of beating her because she DID beat her once, why not focus on THAT?
Plus, Williams enters her 11th final at the All England Club well aware that she has lost her past two championship matches at Grand Slam tournaments — against Angelique Kerber at Wimbledon and against Naomi Osaka at the U.S. Open, both in 2018.
The latter descended into chaos after Williams was penalized a game for a heated argument with the chair umpire. She said in a firstperson essay she wrote for Harper’s Bazaar that she met with a therapist and wrote to Osaka to apologize for the whole episode.
As for the loss to Kerber at the All England Club?
“I don’t remember much. I just remember I was tired and Angie played unbelievable. I actually was sad, but I was also proud of myself. There was nothing I could do in that match. I did everything I could. Physically I just wasn’t there,” Williams said Thursday after easily winning her semifinal 61, 62 against Barbara Strycova.
“I remember after that, I just trained and I trained and I trained to get physically more fit. So I’m definitely at a different place,” Williams said. “Yeah, I didn’t have the preparation coming into Wimbledon of training for two weeks, even. So that would have been nice.”
She’s been dealing with those sorts of issues since returning to the tour last year after taking time off while having a baby.
Now her daughter, Olympia, is nearly 2; Williams held her in an arm while cooling down on a stationary bike at the All England Club this week.
After hurting an ankle in the Australian Open quarterfinals, Williams ended up wasting a big lead and exiting. Then she pulled out of matches or missed tournaments entirely because of an illness or a bad left knee.
Look where she is now.