This past Saturday was all about Serena Williams and the magic of her 7-5 6-3 victory over Angelique Kerber at Wimbledon. Williams claimed her 22nd women’s tennis Grand Slam title, typing Steffi Graf for the most in the Open Era which began in 1968.
Williams only stands behind Margaret Court’s all-time mark of 24.
This goes along with Williams’ six championships at the US Open, six at the Australia Open and three at the French Open.
Williams was able to achieve this, as she often does, with her near perfect serving ability. She slammed 13 aces, including at least one in each of her first eight service games.
“It makes the victory even sweeter to know how hard I worked for it,” Williams said during the trophy ceremony.
Work hard she did. Williams faced a few stunning losses over the past year that kept her from reaching that record-tying No. 22 record. Her loss to Roberta Vinci in the US Open semifinals in September ended Williams’ bid for a calendar-year Grand Slam. This was followed by the losses to Kerber at the Australian Open in January and to Garbine Muguruza at the French Open last month.
“If anything, I was able to show resilience that, no, that’s not going to shake me, you’re not going to break me,” Williams said, “it’s going to make me stronger.”
And if having the singles title wasn’t enough, she later teamed up with sister Venus Williams on Centre Court to capture the women’s doubles championship– their sixth at Wimbledon — with a 6-3, 6-4 victory against Timea Babos and Yaroslava Shvedova.
When asked if she was striving for No. 25 to be Court’s record, Williams responded “Oh, God, no. One thing I learned about last year is to enjoy the moment. I’m definitely going to enjoy this.”
A moment Serena Williams certainly deserves to cherish and enjoy.