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Serena Williams has another shot at history on Saturday – and a score to settle.
The last time Wimbledon hosted a ladies’ Grand Slam final re-match in the same season was 2006, when Amelie Mauresmo followed up her Australian Open triumph by beating Justine Henin once more at The Championships. How Angelique Kerber would love to follow in the Frenchwoman’s footsteps.
Like Mauresmo, the Australian Open champion is still riding the wave of her Grand Slam breakthrough in Melbourne. Unlike Mauresmo, Kerber is facing a six-time Wimbledon champion in the rematch. Serena’s pedigree at The Championships is remarkable, her place among the greatest players to have picked up a racket unquestionable.
At this point in her career, Williams is playing the record books every time she steps on court as much as the person standing across the net – and history is proving to be a formidable opponent.
It took the 34-year-old a year to claim her 18th Grand Slam title at the 2014 US Open, drawing her level with Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova. A year later, New York played host to the final leg of her bid to win the first ‘Calendar Slam’ in 28 years, a run ended in dramatic fashion by Roberta Vinci in the semi-finals.
Victory in New York would not only have seen Williams emulate Steffi Graf’s 1988 Grand Slam season, it would have drawn her level with the German on 22 majors, the Open-era record. Twice since then she has stood one win away from matching Graf’s haul, and twice she has been denied – first by Kerber in Melbourne, then by Garbiñe Muguruza at last month’s French Open.
But if history weighs heavy on Williams’ shoulders, vengeance draws the very best from her. Take the experience of Maria Sharapova, who stunned Serena and Centre Court to lift the Venus Rosewater Dish in 2004. Williams has won all 15 of their matches since 2005, including the Australian Open finals in 2007 and 2015 and the French Open final in 2013, playing some of her finest tennis against the Russian.
Williams will need to bring her A-game once more on Saturday to tame Kerber, and lessons will no doubt have been learnt after the German held her nerve to win January’s Australian Open final in three sets.
Kerber is one of the game’s great defenders, something Williams found to her cost that night as she paid the price for repeatedly approaching the net off balls that the 29-year-old returned with interest.
The German’s game is built around speed and angles, turning her opponents’ power against them with some wicked cross-court drives, twinned with a borderline neurotic aversion to unforced errors: she has hit just 75 en route to the final, while Williams has made 112.
A big part of Kerber’s success in Melbourne was an outstanding serving performance. The German actually led Williams in the ace count until late in the match – also a testament to her fine returning skills – but the same cannot be said for the left-hander’s delivery rate at The Championships.
Kerber has hit 11 aces in her six matches en route to the final, and has given up 14 breaks of serve – 11 of them against Simona Halep and Venus Williams, her quarter-final and semi-final opponents, respectively. In contrast, Williams – whose serve is one of the great weapons in modern tennis – has hit 61 aces so far and did not offer up a single break point in either her quarter-final win over Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova or against Elena Vesnina, who was dismissed in 48 minutes in the semis.
Taking up an aggressive returning position will ratchet up the pressure on Kerber’s delivery and could rattle the German, should she struggle to make an impression against Williams’ serve early on.
In the rallies, patience will be key – and while Serena will be wary of approaching the net with abandon, she will no doubt recall the two drop shots that secured Kerber’s crucial break in game six of the final set in Melbourne. Under the greatest pressure, the German went for the audacious, spurred on by the occasion. As with so many aspects of the match-up, Williams will be twice shy come the final.
Bear that in mind, and history will take care of itself.
