“I lost the first set and I thought you know I’ve got to try harder. I’ve got to just try harder and Serena came out.”
Of course, she refers to herself in third person but with Serena, it’s allowed. Everything is allowed. Because once she gets her engine going, the lack of fitness... the long 15-month absence... the world ranking (451 at the start of the tournament)... the improbability of it all.... everything, goes out of the window.
Coming into the tournament with not enough match play under her belt, Serena was playing against a Top-20 opponent who has been on the rise. The 22-year-old Ashleigh Barty, the world No.17, was not here to make up the numbers but once ‘Serena came out’, it was increasingly difficult to see her win.
Still, it was an intriguing contest.
In the duo’s only previous meeting, which happened at the 2014 Australian Open, Barty was beaten 6-2, 6-1. But Barty was 18 then and still cutting her teeth on the circuit. Now, on the back of a solid clay court season, the Australian wanted to set the record straight.
The first set showed the advantage of playing regular competitive tennis on the circuit. Barty broke Williams to love to take a 4-2 lead in the first set and then clinched it in 29 minutes. Williams, though, was clearly not at her best.
“I felt like in the first set I didn’t play bad. I just didn’t make any shots. So I guess that is bad. But I had all the right ideas, like, coming to the net and hitting all my shots. They just weren’t going in,” said Williams after the match.
“For me, that was a positive thing, because it wasn’t like I was playing the ultimate match. I was just making so many errors. So I was, like, I’ve got to cut down on the errors, and I’ve just got to come out here and fight. And that’s what I did,” she further added.
But before she could get her act together, she was broken again. But then Serena roused herself into action in a way only she can. She can look sluggish and completely off her game and then flip a switch to turn it around. No one can do it like her.
As Barty said, “I think when push came to shove, the real Serena came out. And that’s one of her best assets: when her back is against the wall, the best comes out. And that happened early in the second, and early in the third again.”
Serena eventually closed out the match 3-6, 6-3, 6-4, in an hour and 46 minutes. It is a significant win – her first over a Top 20 player since her return. From a confidence point of view, this is big because it tells her that if she can hang in there long enough, her game will come back to her. Whether her body will be able to keep up might be another matter.
“I have definitely always had that will to win. It was something I was born with, thank goodness,” Serena said. “You know, this is a Grand Slam. This is my first one back. I want to do the best that I can. I want to be able to just do my best and one day tell my daughter that I tried my best. When I was out there, that’s all I was just trying to do, is just do that.”
The 23-time Grand Slam champion will run into 11th seed Julia Goerges next and it will be interesting to see what kind of plan the German will bring into action.
Goerges will do well, however, to take note of what Barty said after the game: “Her level when it’s not quite at her best is still pretty bloody good.”
It’s been fascinating to watch Serena in action because her presence raises the women’s game to a higher level. Almost everyone else is forced to bring their best game to the court; to push the envelope and isn’t that what sport is all about.
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