Serena Williams may be getting better with age. About to turn 32, Serena’s supremacy is showing no signs of slipping. She displayed a dominant performance to defeat Vika Azarenka to win her seventeenth major title, 7-5 6-7 6-l.
Fourteen years ago, Serena captured her first major title at the U.S. Open. Azarenka was just ten years old then.
To defeat the world no. 2 Azarenka, 24, required nearly three hours of high quality tennis but Super Serena handled the challenge with another typically stunning performance. She says she just might be at her pinnacle now, and her age is not important. “I don’t think about it (age). I feel great. I’ve never felt better. I feel really fit,” said Williams. “I haven’t felt like this in a number of years. I’m excited about the possibilities.”
The possibilities are obvious: Many more major titles. Surpassing Navratilova and Evert’s eighteen major titles is almost a certainty to happen next year.
Sharapova, Azarenka, Radwanska, Stephens, Na, Errani, Kvitova, Wozniacki, Kerber, Jankovic, Stosur and the rest of the WTA must be feeling like Mike Tyson’s competition in the heavyweight division in l988 right about now.
Can anybody beat Serena the way she is playing now? No.
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Mitch · September 9, 2013 at 10:13 am
The only thing stunning about her performance was that she choked and dropped serve twice when serving for the match.
Dan Markowitz · September 9, 2013 at 10:31 am
Now Mitch, that’s true, but not totally true. I saw Serena club a 126 mph ace. I don’t know if every male on the pro tour can do that. Also, while I’m certainly not a big Serena fan, her ability to hit those groundies so deep and laser-like, is darn impressive. Granted, she couldn’t deal with Vika’s drop shots yesterday and her movement at the net is slow and plodding, but her overall game is still amazing.
I say the more interesting match would be for Serena to play Johnny Mac or maybe Agassi in a match now.
bjk · September 9, 2013 at 10:55 am
So an aging athlete is playing at her best at a point when most athletes are in serious decline. How often does that happen naturally? And look at that upper body – Serena has always been muscular, but does that look normal to you? She’s got bigger shoulder and arm muscles than a typical point guard in the NBA. And she struts and screams and intimidates her opponents on the court like no other female ever has before. It would surprise nobody if this was the product of drugs.
Scoop Malinowski · September 9, 2013 at 11:07 am
She’s got bigger shoulders, arms and upper body than a good number of the ATP players.
Harold · September 9, 2013 at 11:44 am
The Women’s game bores me to no end..They hit hard, no doubt, but no variety.
They all scream and choke, they all cry(there’s no cying in tennis), there’s way more gameswomanship,phony timeouts.
Good thing there was football on at the same time and didn’t have to watch
Dan Markowitz · September 9, 2013 at 12:03 pm
Ok, come on, how about Camilia Georgi!!?
Harold · September 9, 2013 at 12:11 pm
Call me when she is heard from again. She’s Kirilenko light
Scoop Malinowski · September 9, 2013 at 1:42 pm
Haha Harold )
bjk · September 9, 2013 at 6:40 pm
The ESPN announcers know it can’t be mentioned without destroying their careers, and there’s even less chance of ‘roids being mentioned on CBS. But when Pam or PMac or the rest say things like, “she can do this for another five years” or “she will break Graf’s records” or “this is incredible,” they’re acknowledging this is not a normal situation. Esp “I think she’s getting better” or “she’s never played this well before.” Well how is that posssible? Look at Fed, that’s what age does to a 32 y-o.