Some thought there was something Shakespearean about Centre Court on the day that Serena Williams won her 22nd Grand Slam title; others would compare the American's brilliance to excelling on the PlayStation.

"If professional tennis was a video game, Williams would have beaten the highest score over and over, and conquered every level and boss and dungeon over and over on the highest difficulty settings possible," according to USA Today.

The New York Times, meanwhile, was thinking about the Bard when praising the quality of the final against Angelique Kerber: "The fight was there in the Shakespearean theatre that is Centre Court, a place where the acoustics transform both subtle and abrupt mood shifts in the crowd into ripples or tsunamis of sound that travel across the grass and into the players' heads and forehands.

"There is still no place like it in tennis, and what was marvellous about this final was that Williams had a rival whose strengths and big-match mentality allowed Williams more time and space to show her full range of wares."

In a couple of months, Williams will turn 35, and the Wall Street Journal observed that the Californian has beaten beating three or four different generations of rivals.

"Now that she has 22, Serena is not someone who equals records, she is someone who beats records," her coach, Patrick Mouratoglou, is quoted as saying in a Reuters report.