THE GREATEST
Flattered by Ali comparison, Serena on quest for record-tying title
Serena Williams wants to win one for the mothers. She wants to get to 24 Grand Slam singles titles Saturday night to tie Margaret Court’s all-time record.
But most of all, Williams wants to stand alone, according to those close to her. Don’t expect Williams to retire until she’s got No. 25 in the bag. Then there can be no doubt.
That can’t happen at this U.S. Open, but Williams is closing in on her first Open championship since 2014. She’s two match wins away from tying Court at 24, but the Open semifinals have been troublesome for the Compton legend in very recent times.
The women’s semifinals are on tap Thursday night with Serena Williams, the 17th seed playing her first Open since motherhood, facing Latvia’s scrappy No. 19 Anastasija Sevastova at 7.
It’s their first-ever meeting as Williams makes her ninth straight Open semifinal appearance, discounting the ones she’s missed (2017, 2010).
In the second semifinal, Japan’s Naomi Osaka, who lived on Long Island for five years as a child, faces sturdy young American Madison Keys, who advanced Wednesday night in straight sets over Carla Suarez Navarro. Keys, the 2017 Open finalist, has made the quarterfinals of all four of the 2018 Grand Slams.
In the stands Tuesday night watching Serena’s quarterf inal crushing of Karolina Pliskova, Knicks superfan/filmmaker Spike Lee said he felt like he was watching Muhammad Ali or Michael Jordan.
A flattered Williams said she especially likes the Ali reference, as she wants to inspire young people as Ali did.
“My choice is to choose to just be the best, try to be — I’m not always perfect,’’ Williams said. “Actually I’m never perfect. Just try to be the best I can be. Maybe I can just influence one person, and that makes a change already.”
Despite her seeding, Williams came into the Open as a slight betting favorite. With her serve ablaze, she appears a solid one. Chris Evert said she can’t see Williams losing the way she’s performing now.
But that’s what we thought in 2015 and 2016 entering the Open semifinals. Three years ago, two wins away from the first “Grand Slam” since Steffi Graf, Serena’s nerves frayed in a colossal upset against unheralded Roberta Vinci, who possesses a similar rope-adope, counter-punch game as Sevastova.
Two years ago, Pliskova took out Williams in the Open semifinals. Last September, she gave birth to Alexis Olympia amid blood-clot complications.
A year later, here Williams is. Long ago, Williams never figured she’d be playing at age 36, weeks shy of turning 37. Long ago, Williams never imagined she’d be playing — let alone vying for a slam singles title — as a mother.
Dare we say it, but Williams is blasting aces all over Flushing. She has 60 aces — by far the women’s leader with the ousted Pliskova next at 29. In her eccentric tennis dresses, she’s also moving more like she did when she was 26 than 36.
“I feel like that’s one thing I really worked on was my moving because it was a little suspect right after my return,’’ Williams said. “I know that I’m fast when I want to be. I can get any ball that I want to, if I want to. I still feel that way.”
Sevastova will likely attempt to throw a lot of dinks Williams’ way to defuse her power. Sevastova won’t have the crowd on her side.
It’s been an unorthodox career for Sevastova, 28, who retired in 2013 due to injury before returning two years later. The Latvian made the Open quarterfinals in 2016 and 2017.
“I’ve seen her play a lot,’’ Williams said. “She’s been playing really well for actually a long time. So obviously I know her game really well. She clearly knows mine. So she’s definitely someone that gets a lot of balls back and something I have to be ready for.”
Williams, who hasn’t won a tournament as a mother, had a rough Open-tune-up season, losing in the second round in Cincinnati last month to Petra Kvitova. But she felt close to being ready for a run. The victory over Pliskova was her first top-10 win in her comeback.
“That’s a really big step for me,’’ Williams said. “Shocking, my first top-10 win. I really felt like I was playing well in Cincinnati, even though I lost. I was just on the verge. I just needed one more match before playing a top 10. I’m getting those matches now — just was so light on matches. Now I feel at a level where I can try to compete against these amazing women in the top 10.”