by Louise Belcourt
Was there a doubt in your mind that Serena Williams, the world number 1, would continue her dominance over the world number 2, Maria Sharapova in the Australian Open final?
There shouldn’t have been. As usual Serena bought out her A game to overcome a spirited Maria 6-3 7-6 (5). With 18 aces and 38 winners Serena was too determined and dominant for the Russian.
Going into the final Serena had won their last 15 matches. Unbelievably, the last match Maria won in their duel was over 10 years ago in 2004.
Serena had a good start breaking serve twice in the first set to win comfortably in an indoor court, as rain forced the roof to close half way through the first set.
The second set was a much tighter affair with no breaks of serve. Serena had plenty of chances on Maria’s serve early on, but to no avail. But Serena kept her composure with breathtaking groundstrokes and serves, earning herself a championship point with Maria serving at 4-5. Maria saved that one with a perfect punishing forehand into the corner. The tension continued into the tie-break where Maria saved another championship point, before an ace by Serena seemed to clinch the championship only to be denied by the net cord. Serena steadied herself and served another ace. Stunned she jumped up and down like a child at a candy store.
With that she had won an astonishing 19th grand slam and 6th at the Australian Open.
On winning her 19th grand slam Serena said, “Yeah, it just felt so good. I mean, I’ve been through so much the past week. I really, really didn’t expect to win. I didn’t expect to be here this long. I was just really, really elated to have an opportunity to walk out on the final match.â€
I’m coming to appreciate Serena more and more with every slam she wins. What a true champion. Stuck down with a bad cold for the last week in a chilly week in Melbourne, she fought and believed and conquered all. She was more serene (…Serena…) than usual, happy in the knowledge she had 18 grand slams and having no pressure to win anymore. But no less when the pressure was off she played even better, chased down more balls, served even harder, and pounded those groundstrokes to become the oldest women’s Australian Open champion. Her eloquent and motivating speech made me admire her even more.
On her long victory speech Serena said, “A month or two ago I thought if I won the Australian Open, there was so much I wanted to do and wanted to say, because it would be special, it would be 19, it would be something amazing.†“I wanted to thank the crowd, because this crowd here in Australia is really good to me. Like I say, I don’t get that everywhere. I really feel my heart really is here. Also there was other things I wanted to say and motivate people that may not have come from a lot. You can still make it and you can still do it if you just persevere and you believe in yourself.â€
At 33 years of age, and with 19 grand slams, how many more grand slams can Serena win? She is only 3 shy of Steffi Graf’s record of 22.
I believe she will go down as the greatest women’s tennis player of the modern era. And all that from a humble beginning in Compton, LA, USA.
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Scoop Malinowski · February 2, 2015 at 10:54 am
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I’m coming to appreciate Serena more and more with every slam she wins…” This quote sums it up for me too Louise. Once a bit rough around the edges, being a tennis champion has refined and transformed Serena in a great champion, with power, grace, humility and respect for the game. She is the greatest female player ever, maybe the greatest female athlete ever. Power, smarts, class, athletics, dedication, commitment, inspiration. As super as Serena is on court my lasting image of her will always be when she lost to young Maria at Wimbledon final, it was Maria’s first major, the camera showed Serena in her chair after looking over at Maria and her father hugging and feeling that joy. Serena actually was beaming herself, clearly happy for the Sharapova’s and their special moment. I have never seen a loser of a major final look so sincerely happy for the winner like Serena showed that day.
Martin G · February 2, 2015 at 11:33 am
I think you are going too easy on Serena ….
Did you already forget last year Wimbledon act after
loosing to Cornet?
Or US Open incident
Scoop – Serene never forgave Maria for that final …
She always get up and go extra mile to crash her …
Her focus is always 120% when she is playing her.
Even before Dimitrov factor came about.
15 wins in a row in last 11 years, one lopsided rivalry.
This final was closer because Serena was sick last week.
Serena is not my type of the greatest champion ever ….
I respect her for her game and grand slams but
she was never a leader of WTA.
Too many dramas and conflicts in her professional career.
It’s strange – Fed, Nadal inspired whole field of guys to get better.
But on female side – Serena and all other power girls inspired girls to go down the wrong path ….
That 33 year old player can dominated whole field like she does speaks volumes about that field or maybe about how strong she is.
Take your pick.
Scoop Malinowski · February 2, 2015 at 11:47 am
Martin, at the time Serena and Maria were young, but I saw that warmth by Serena for Maria. Things have obviously changed since they have gotten older and more cutthroat. Also I think Maria’s greater success with endorsements bothers Serena. Tennis is a vicious and violent sport. I look past any bad behavior or McEnroe-esque tirades or emotional outbursts. The pressure and stakes are huge, these players devote everything to winning big titles. To lose is heartbreak. Serena’s a battler. It’s hard to be perfect in tennis. Even Federer hit that ballkid at the net last year in the Rome or Madrid final, out of frustration, but nobody made an issue about it. If Serena did that a few years ago it would have been blown way out of proportion. Serena has never intentionally or out of frustration hit a ballkid or linesperson with a ball.
Dan Markowitz · February 2, 2015 at 3:18 pm
Scoop, you say tennis is “a vicious and violent sport,” but did you watch the Super Bowl yesterday? Little guys like Julian Edelman are hit helmet to helmet and just bounce off of tackles and keep on running. Now, he might have brain damage 20 years from now, but nobody’s hitting these guys or gals on the tennis court in the head or sticking a finger in your eye like in basketball.
Look, I have a son who’s playing pretty high level junior tennis, but he also plays basketball and I tell him when he complains about getting hit in hoops, “Look this isn’t tennis. If you don’t want to get hit, we’ll stick with only playing tennis.”
So, no, tennis is not a vicious and violent sport. If it were, Maria would get truly pummeled by Serena. Tennis is a sport of physical and mental attrition and sometimes abuse, great pressure as a player is out there alone, but as my son says, “I like being alone on the court,” meaning he doesn’t have to pass the ball to anyone or go for a rebound against kids who are a foot taller than him.
Scoop Malinowski · February 2, 2015 at 3:45 pm
Dan: Tennis is a fist fight without the fists. It has the same vicious intensity and killer ruthlessness as a pitbull fight to the death. Winning and losing is life & death to these players, that’s how competitive they are.
Bryan · February 2, 2015 at 11:38 pm
I think barring injury Serena can match Graf’s 22 majors and possibly pass it. A lot of people call Serena the greatest women’s player ever but nobody can say that yet. She’s 3 short of the record, which Graf did and retired at age 30. So she won more titles in a shorter window.
Scoop Malinowski · February 3, 2015 at 7:48 am
Jim Pierce weighs in on Graf-Serena: IN A DOUBLES MATCH FEDERER AND GRAF WOULD LOSE THAT MATCH BADLY AGAINST DJOKER AND SERENA ,ONE THING FOR SURE A GREAT 2 HAND BACKHAND AGAINST A GREAT ONE HAND BACK AND ALL THINGS EQUAL PHYSICALLY , THE GREAT 2 HAND BACKHAND SHOULD ALWAYS BE ABLE TO DRIVE THROUGH THE ONE HAND BACKHAND GRAF INVITED MY DAUGHTER MARY PIERCE WHEN MARY WAS 17 YEARS OLD TO COME PRACTICE WITH HER AT THE POLO CLUB IN BOCA RATON , I SAT IN THE BLEACHERS AND WATCHED , HER FATHER WAS THERE , AND MOTHER AND MYSELF AND MY WIFE AND SOME CLUB MEMBERS LOOKINGF ON , THEY PRACTICED HITTING TO EACH OTHER FOR ABOUT 45 MINUTES , EACH OTHER TRYING TO OUTHIT THE OTHER , PRETRTY SOON MARYS POWER BROKE THROUGH GRAFS RACQUET , THE BALL WOULD FLY THIS WAY AND THAT AND STRAIGHT UP IN THE AIR OFF OF GRAFS RACQUET , THEY THEN SERVED 4 GAMES EACH , MARY HELD SERVE EVERY TIME , GRAF DID NOT WIN ONE GAME , SHE WOULD GO TO HER BACKHAND SLICE AND SHE NEVER WON ONE POINT THAT DAY WITH HER SLICE , SHE WAS NOT MUCH FOR COMING OVER THE BALL ON THE BACKHAND , LATER ON WHEN MARY WON THE 2000 FRENCH OPEN SHE BEAT GRAF 6-2 6-2 ON THE WAY TO THE FINAL AND GRAF WAS THE SOLID NUMBER ONE IN THE WORLD THEN , ALSO IN 2000 I TRAINED MARY FOR 2 1/2 MONTHS , PUT HER IN SUYPREME SHAPE , SHE DOMINATED SERENA IN THE INDIAN WELLS CALIF. TOURNAMENT , YEAR 2000 , 6-2 , 6-1 I DO BELIEVE , BUT I WOULD GET HER READY AND SHE WOULD GO OFF ON HER OWN TAKING EVERY GAS STATION ATTENDENT TURNED COACH INTO HER CAMP , WHY I DO NOT KNOW , I ALWAYS HAD TO REPAIR HER LIKE IN 2005 ,,,,,,,,,, THE 2 HAND BACKHANDS OF SERENA AND DJOKER WOULD BLOR THE OTHER 2 AWAY , PLUS SERENA HITS THE BALL HARDER FROM THE FOREHAND SIDE ALSO , MORE THAN GRAF , GRAF WAS A GREAT PLAYER BUT NOT A PURE POWER PLAYER , SHE TOOK THE BALL EARLY AND MOVED WELL , JUST MY 2 CENTS WORTH.
Scoop Malinowski · February 3, 2015 at 7:50 am
Reader Bill Chandler comments on Pierce early days: Greetings, I had a few comments to make on the Mary Pierce article from 2013, but comments are closed, so thought I might make them here. I played tennis on some public courts next to a baseball field in Treasure Island, FL in the mid-80′s. Played there 3-4 times a week, there were 2 courts, and almost every we played there was a father and daughter practicing next to us. She was maybe 10 years old, with pigtails and glasses. Her father was pretty rough on her and I would tell him how good she was, she could really hit the ball! I don’t remember all the details, but about that time our local paper had an article about a family who had sold their house and were living in hotels and looking for places for their daughter to play tennis. It was the Pierces.