It was a great day in tennis for the Williams sisters.
World number one Serena Williams beat German fourth seed Angelique Kerber to win a seventh Wimbledon and 22nd Grand Slam title. Then only three hours later Serena teamed up with her sister Venus to win their sixth Wimbledon doubles championship and 14th Grand Slam title as a pair, defeating fifth-seeded Timea Babos of Hungary and Yaroslava Shvedova of Kazakhstan 6-3, 6-4.
“This tournament I came in with a different mindset,” says Williams speaking of her single win first. “In Melbourne I thought I played well but Angelique played great, and better. So I knew going into this one I needed to be calm and be confident and play the tennis I’ve been playing for well over a decade.”
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Williams and Kerber’s fellow German Steffi Graf now tally 22 majors, the most in the Open Era of professional tennis. Talk now will surely center on the American attempting to get to Margaret Court’s 24 grand slams, the all-time record.
Williams didn’t want to dwell on the next step up the ladder, especially since she endured struggles to win her 18th major — tying Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova — and the 22nd.
“One thing I learned about last year is to enjoy the moment,” said Williams. “I’m definitely going to enjoy this.”
Kerber saved three break points in her opening service game. She would often be scampering side to side in the match dealing with those Williams’ drives.
Williams took a slight tumble at 4-4 but was unhurt. At 5-5, 15-30, two unreturnable Williams serves got her out of trouble.
Just when it looked like a tiebreak beckoned, Kerber, fatally, made two unforced errors at 5-6, 15-all.
On a second set point Williams forced an error to grab a crucial one-set lead: Williams has never lost a final at a major when winning the first.
At 3-3, not only did Williams produce the ace on break point but she hit another ace to earn a game point. Seeing that rare chance dissipate, Kerber was broken in the next game and Williams held to love to close out the one hour, 21-minute affair.
The world number one squashed all memories and naysayers of last year when she fell two matches short of a historic calendar Grand Slam, and of losing in the Australian and French Open finals this year.
In the doubles match, Serena intercepts to end the next point. Babos hits an ace down the middle to bring up 15-30, but from there it turns into a game of fine margins that all seem to go against Babos and Shvedova. First Shvedova narrowly fails to find the baseline with a return, then, a couple of points later, Babos misses the alley by a hair’s breadth. Another missed return brings up match point, and the duo seize the opportunity as Serena intercepts with one final backhand volley.
What a day for the Williams family.
Congratulations Venus and Serena!
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