Wednesday 26 / June / 2024
London: If Serena Williams' rivals were hoping that the American would take some time out to savour drawing level with Steffi Graf's professional-era record of 22 grand slam titles, her coach Patrick Mouratoglou fired off an immediate warning.
"Now that she has 22, Serena is not someone who equals records. She is someone who beats records," the Frenchman said after watching Williams at Wimbledon finally crack that magic number following three failed attempts over the past 10 months.
"What makes her the champion she is, is this ability to immediately forget what she has achieved and focus on something else. That's what makes Serena."
Since winning her 21st singles major at Wimbledon last July, Williams admitted she experienced many "sleepless nights" as she had been haunted by the spectre of "number 22".
She stumbled at last year's U.S. Open semifinal, faltered in January's Australian Open final and yelled out in frustration after falling in last month's French Open final.
But that Roland Garros loss to Spain's Garbine Muguruza finally snapped her out of the brain fog that had plagued her since last September when her pursuit of the calendar Grand Slam ended with a shock Flushing Meadows defeat by Roberta Vinci.
It was no surprise, therefore, that Mouratoglou was mightily relieved with Saturday's triumph because had she lost, it would have been the first time since 2011 that Williams would not have held at least one grand slam title.
"We were in a situation in the last eight months that was not comfortable. I was not feeling Serena being herself and this is what I was looking for to find back the real Serena," Mouratoglou said after Williams hoisted the Venus Rosewater Dish for a seventh time.
"The most important thing is that we got Serena back."
"Finding Serena" is nothing new for Mouratoglou, though.
Before Williams hired him, following a first round loss at the 2012 French Open, she had been going through a lean spell having drawn a blank at the majors for almost two years.
Mouratoglou wasted little time in giving her the confidence boost she needed to return to the winners' circle.
Once again armed with the belief that made her such a destructible force on court, she has gone on to win nine grand slam titles under Mouratoglou's guidance -- which is no mean feat considering she is now aged 34.
"Serena is like no other player, she is an unbelievable champion for many reasons," said the coach.
"But one of her characteristics is her ability to raise her level on the key moments. When she is threatened on her serve she hits aces, and when she gets the break points she plays the best tennis of her life and that's what she did today.
"This ability to win the big matches, that's what champions are made for and she showed that she was back."
Icing on the cake
Serena Williams put the icing on the cake of another magnificent Wimbledon campaign by teaming up with sister Venus for a sixth doubles crown at the All England Club on Saturday.
The reigning Olympic champions beat Timea Babos of Hungary and Kazakhstan's Yaroslava Shvedova 6-3, 6-4 on Centre Court — hours after Serena claimed a record-equalling 22nd grand slam singles title by defeating Germany's Angelique Kerber 7-5, 6-3.
Serena has now won both the Wimbledon singles and doubles (with Venus) in the same year on four occasions. Together, the American duo have a perfect 14-0 record in grand slam doubles finals.
"It's unbelievable," said Serena. "It's a feat even I couldn't have thought would have happened. It's amazing."
For Venus it was a consolation after she lost to Kerber in Thursday's singles semi-finals -- denying her a first grand slam singles final since losing to Serena at Wimbledon in 2009.
"It's a privilege, it's an honour," said Venus. "When you enter the doubles draw, you dream of winning. Then we enter the singles, we dream of winning.
"To have Williams on both of those, somehow in 2016, it's another dream come true."
The sisters, who paired up again this year after a two-year absence, have won 14 grand slam doubles titles together -- moving them level with American Gigi Fernandez and Belarussian Natasha Zvereva in second place on the all-time list.
They still have some way to go, however, to match the 20 of Martina Navratilova and fellow American Pam Shriver.
"I didn't know about that stat until yesterday, that we were 13-0," said Venus. "It's not something you really think about. You just get to the final and try to win.
"I don't think it made us nervous. You got time. If you get down a break, you always have time to get the break back. You can always go to a third (set).
"When you're out there, you probably realise you have a chance to go for it again."
The Williams sisters are now 22-1 in all doubles finals they have played together. - Reuters
