Dubai: Maybe, just maybe, the enormity of the occasion has not yet dawned on the usually unflappable Serena Williams. On the cusp of tennis history, the 33-year-old has been busy playing down talk of becoming the first woman since Steffi Graf in 1988 to win all four Grand Slam titles in a calendar year.
Or maybe it is not such a big deal for her, even if she does win the US Open final on September 12. She is the three-time defending champion after all and, with her victory at Wimbledon this year, she achieved her second ‘Serena Slam’ of holding all four Grand Slam titles at the same time.
But this is different. Serena was six when Graf won all four titles in a calendar year. Before the German, there was only Margaret Court in 1970 and Maureen Connolly in 1953, the first woman to do so. Serena, for her part, has been breaking records ever since she won her first major title at Flushing Meadows in 1999. Another victory this year and she will become the first woman or man in the Open era to win the US Open seven times. And she will also draw level with Graf on 22 Grand Slam singles titles, two behind all-time leader Court.
But she refuses to dwell so far into the future ahead of the year’s final Grand Slam that begins on Monday, instead focusing her energy on what she does best, bracing herself for her first-round opponent. “Right now I’m looking forward to just playing tennis,” Serena said after the draw on Thursday. “That’s all I want to do.”
Her first round opponent is Vitalia Diatchenko. Ranked 86th, the Russian “admires Serena for her fast and aggressive game”, according to the WTA website. Well, who doesn’t?
The legendary Chris Evert, whose record of six US Open titles is under threat, calls Serena “a phenomenon that once every hundred years comes around.”
John McEnroe recently described her as “the greatest player, I think, that ever lived.”
But then Serena is used to such accolades, even from her peers, particularly after they have been pummeled by her powerful serves and groundstrokes. Ask Maria Sharapova, who is seeded to meet her in the semi-finals and has a 2-18 record, losing her last 17 matches against the American, with her last win coming 11 years ago.
They are not the best of friends on the circuit, but Sharapova has immense respect for her nemesis, as does Simona Halep, who is seeded second and is slated to meet her in the final. They did meet in the Cincinnati final a week back and the Romanian was left battered and bruised and is fighting to get back to full fitness for the year’s final Major.
Honestly, no one in their right minds would bet against Serena winning the coveted Grand Slam. Not even her fiercest critics. Just a look at the head-to-head records of her potential opponents in New York tells the tale.
Halep is 1-6 against the big-serving American, while her second-round opponent Mirjana Lucic-Baroni of Croatia, who upset Halep at Roland Garros, is 0-2.
American Sloane Stephens, with a 1-5 record, could be there for the third round, and big-serving compatriot Madison Keys or Poland’s Urszula Radwanska may be waiting in the fourth round.
The quarter-finals could pit Serena against either her sister Venus, eighth-seeded Czech Karolina Pliskova or dangerous 18-year-old Belinda Bencic of Switzerland.
Bencic was the last woman to beat Serena this year, winning a tight three-setter this month in the Toronto semi-finals on her way to a second career WTA title. It was only Serena’s second defeat of the whole year.
Gone are the days when Serena chose to dabble in fashion, having lost motivation for the game. But, while she has been virtually invincible of late, she has still seemed beatable during this late career surge.
The biggest server the women’s game has ever known has struggled at times with her delivery and lost nine sets during her victorious run through the 2015 Australian, French and Wimbledon championships, including seven first-set losses.
Yet, no one has succeeded in derailing her Grand Slam charge, which began at last year’s US open.
“Who can stop her?” pondered US Fed Cup captain Mary Joe Fernandez, a two-time Grand Slam doubles winner and now a commentator. “If she plays her best, she’s better than everybody and she will win.”
Well, that just about sums it up.
