It was a routine day on the green stuff for defending Wimbledon champion Serena Williams. Today, she secured her fourth title at the historic All England Club and her thirteenth title overall. With the win she edged out legend Billie Jean King as the 6th greatest women’s tennis player of all time at the Grand Slam level.
Serena defeated Russian Vera Zvonareva in front of King, the great Martina Navritilova and with mom, Oracene Price, father, Richard Williams and other relatives looking on.
“I got you,” she said to King during the winner’s ceremony, speaking to surpassing her record. The legend acknowledged the feat with a nod and smile.
If there were ever a challenge in the match, the first set was relatively close until her opponent choked in the all too important eighth game of the set and dropped her serve. Serena, with a first serve points won percentage of ninety-eight, was firing on all pistons at that point and effortlessly closed out the set 6-3.
In the second set, Serena was in total control. She broke Zvonareva twice with powerful ground strokes, booming aces, and impossible angles, giving her the decisive win with a final score of 6-3, 6-2 in just over an hour.
“She was just the better player today and wouldn’t let me play my game,” Zvonareva said of her defeat at a post-game press conference. “I didn’t get to play my best.”
Serena, once again, was able to hold up the Venus Rosewater Dish, which already bears the family name nine times over (Venus has won the title five times), at Centre Court in front of 37,000 spectators. The current world number one didn’t drop a set the entire tournament and served up a record 89 aces on her way to the title win. The top seed lost the French open this year, preventing a Grand Slam year, but order has been restored for now.
“At Wimbledon, whenever I come onto this grass and play in front of this amazing crowd, I just start serving well, and I just want to keep it up,” she said. “It’s just such a great moment.” -gerald radford
