"I honestly wouldn't have thought
last year after winning the U.S. Open I would win the Serena Slam at
all," Williams, emulating her feat of 2002-2003, told reporters. "It's
super exciting."
Grand Slam bid
If
the American triumphs at the U.S. Open -- and the odds might be stacked
in her favor given the 33-year-old is the three-time defending champion
-- she would become the first player since Steffi Graf in 1988 to
complete the calendar-year grand slam.
A victory would, too, draw the world No. 1 level with Graf on an Open Era leading 22 majors.
It didn't take long, Williams admitted, before New York crept into her mind.
"I
did the whole presentation, I did the whole walk around the court,"
said Williams. "I was peaceful, feeling really good. Maybe a little
after that I started thinking about New York."
Her coach, Patrick Mouratoglou, made an early request to U.S. fans to back Williams in September.
"I
think if the crowd helps her, it's going to be a plus," the Frenchman
told a small group of reporters. "So of course I expect the American
crowd to be the best ever for her because to have an American player
like her who is probably the greatest (in) history writing history at
the U.S. Open is huge, and I hope the American crowd will be so proud of
that that they will help her."
Oldest winner
As
if achieving another "Serena Slam" wasn't enough, Williams also
surpassed Martina Navratilova by nearly four weeks as the oldest women's
grand slam winner in the Open Era.
One of the keys to her longevity? Freshening up her workouts.
"Right now I'm dancing a lot," said Williams.
The
21-year-old Muguruza, appearing in her first grand slam final, wept in
her chair afterward but shouldn't feel disheartened. It's not very often
that Williams loses grand slam finals: She improved to 21-4, last
tasting defeat at the 2011 U.S. Open against Samantha Stosur.
Muguruza didn't go away tamely, either, making matters interesting after trailing 5-1 in the second.
The 20th seed won plenty of new fans with her performance at tennis' grandest arena.
"I
don't feel disappointment but you never know how many chances you're
going to have to play a final in a grand slam," Muguruza, who will move
inside the world's top 10, told reporters. "But if you have to choose
who to win or who to lose to, I would choose Serena."
Despite the occasion, it was the Venezuelan-born Muguruza who began the sharper.
Fast start
If she was nervous, she didn't play like it.
Williams,
by contrast, struck three of her eight double faults in the first game
and was immediately broken, much to the delight of those gathered on
Center Court. Muguruza's powerful serve and ground strokes troubled an
anxious Williams in the early stages.
One
felt, however, it was only a matter of games before Williams awoke,
even if Muguruza crushed Williams at last year's French Open.
Holding
consecutive break points in the sixth game was a warning sign; in
Muguruza's ensuing service game a forehand error wide tied proceedings
at 4-4.
Muguruza's coach, Alejo
Mancisidor, said the eighth game was the turning point. Muguruza's
small window of opportunity slammed shut.
"With
Serena you have to do everything perfect," Mancisidor told a pair of
reporters. "So you do something not good, Serena starts playing good and
then it gets very tough. But for being in the first final at 21,
nothing to (criticize)."
There was no way back for Muguruza, Spain's first female grand slam finalist in 15 years.
With Williams settling into a rhythm on
serve and Muguruza serving second, the pressure took its toll.
Muguruza's first double fault at 4-5 set up a set point, which Williams
duly converted courtesy of a forehand winner.
Williams
tallied 12 aces to give her 42 total in the quarterfinals against
Victoria Azarenka, semifinals against
Maria Sharapova and final, or the
business end of the event.
Williams
raced to the 5-1 lead in the second set but finishing off the affair
proved difficult. Muguruza saved a
match point at 5-3 with a forehand
winner after Williams escaped from 0-40 with a barrage of thumping
serves. A proud Mancisidor was close to tears.
Perhaps Williams flashed back to last month's French Open final against Lucie Safarova, when she was forced to a third set.
Forehand error
Alas,
Muguruza succumbed. Her forehand, the less steady side, produced an
error wide on a second match point to end the one hour, 23-minute
contest.
Not that Williams knew right
away that she had won a sixth Wimbledon crown. She lost track of the
score and said she didn't hear chair umpire Alison Hughes utter, "Game,
set and match."
Muguruza and Williams hugged at the net before Williams bobbed in delight near her chair.
Sunday's men's final sees
world No. 2 Roger Federer, aged 33 like Williams, battle top-ranked
Novak Djokovic in a repeat of the 2014 finale the Serb won in five sets.
But the final Saturday at Wimbledon,
just like the final weekends in New York, Melbourne and Paris in the
last 11 months, belonged to Williams.
"If
you see how much effort it takes to win one (major), to be able to win
four in a row is completely incredible," said Mouratoglou.
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