There were no Fourth of July fireworks when Serena Williams won her third Wimbledon title but such are the American’s achievements that she does not need anything to advertise the fact that she is the greatest player of her generation.
Eleven grand slam titles should be enough to preclude the need for firecrackers or anything else, for that honour roll of major titles needs no adornment. Williams beat her sister Venus – a five-time Wimbledon champion herself, lest we forget – with a display of classy grass-court tennis and penetrating serving in the final, two days after saving a match-point to get past Elena Dementieva in the semi-finals.
She was not pushed nearly as hard by her sister in the final, though the first set was a good deal more competitive than the second. Had she been, though, Serena would no doubt have produced more feisty resilience, for that, more than any other of her attributes, is her biggest weapon. This Wimbledon marks the third time that Williams the Younger has saved match-points and then gone on to win a grand slam title and that is a measure of just how extraordinary a competitor she is.
“It's a wonderful achievement. She's played so well so many times. You know, a lot of the times actually at my expense,“ said an always admiring Venus after the match. “We've both always contested each other well, and the best player that day always won.”
Serena, who won the Australian Open in January and last year’s US Open, has now won three Grand Slam titles in the last twelve months (not to mention reaching six of the last eight major finals), which means that she is touching the form she showed when her career was in its peak in 2002 and 2003. She is not young by the standards of most female tennis players but is arguably a far more potent force than she was a couple of years ago.
“It's really exciting. You know, I feel like ten years ago I won my first Grand Slam, and I'm still winning championships,” said Williams, before summing up her tally of titles. “It's unbelievable. I just feel really good. I feel like now I'm just not even in a competition of how many I can win. It's just now I'm looking at the next goal of someone like Billie Jean King, who is completely my idol. To get to her level and have twelve would be even better.”
Overall the women’s Championship this year has been an interesting one. From a British perspective, the highlight was certainly Elena Baltacha’s first round win over Alona Bondarenko on an enraptured Court No.1, which the British No.2 rated as the biggest win of her career. Georgie Stoop also deserves at least an honourable mention for pushing No.7 seed Vera Zvonereva so hard in their memorable two-day tussle in the first round.
Williams’ contest against Dementieva stood head and shoulders over every other contest as the women’s match of the tournament, though. It showed the new Wimbledon champion at her very best – gutsy, obstinate and, above all, winning.