…And yes, from what I know, Serena’s racket must still be smoking a couple of days after that awesome finale!
“She smoked it,” said Serena’s hitting partner, Mark Hiawaly. “It was unbelievable. She’s serving more than in the past, hitting around 200km and serving very accurately. She took time from Maria by standing inside the court and defending off the pace. Every time she moves forward, that’s when she’s playing the most best possible”.
After watching Serena Williams utterly demolish, neuter, demoralize and humiliate Maria Sharapova in the 2007 Australian Open final, 6-1 6-2, one is left wondering, where is the typical?
“We’re better now, we’re faster, we hit the ball harder, Steffi Graff or Pete Sampras wouldn’t have a chance today…” Imagine Serena didn’t play for almost 2 years and did so much crap! Wouldn’t this apply to exceptional players from other eras? I think so!
Yes, it would certainly apply to Pancho Gonzales, Rod Laver, Ken Rosewall, Margaret Court, Lew Hoad, Bjorn Borg, Pete Sampras, Maria Ester Bueno, Billy Jean King, Steffi Graf, and many, many others. But I prefer to leave that discussion for another time and focus on Serena’s fantastic performance in this final.
Contrary to what happened in the men’s semi-final between Andy Roddick and Roger Federer, where Andy takes a lot of blame for making Roger look good. In this women’s final, Serena Williams put on an impressive display of power, aggression and absolute pressure that resulted in total dominance.
Maria Sharapova, despite trying hard, was reduced to a spectator in a match where, from the return winner to the forehand, backhand and volley winners, she was mercilessly passed over! Maria rarely had the opportunity to participate in a rally and when she managed to win a point, she lost the next two.
The statistics show us how devastating and one-sided the final was:
o Williams served 69 percent throughout the match to Sharapova’s 51 percent, and she won 79 percent of those successful serves at 67
o Sharapova served six double faults to two
o Williams finished with 28 winners to 12
o Sharapova made 13 unforced errors against 11
o Williams converted 4 of 6 break points on 0 of 2
o Williams also won 53 percent of the points by receiving 27
o Williams won 60 points in total to 35
There is nothing more to say than to congratulate Serena Williams on probably the most fantastic tennis performance in a women’s Grand Slam final in modern tennis!
If you want a role model for grit, fighting spirit, perseverance, focus, determination, athleticism, clear thinking under pressure, winning spirit, you don’t need to move on, look up to Serena Williams!
Enjoy your tennis!
For comments or ideas about this article, email the author Sergio Cruz