LONDON – Serena Williams won her sixth Wimbledon title against Garbine Muguruza, 6-4, 6-4. This is her second Serena Slam, which is four Grand Slam tournament victories in a row. She is also 75% of the way to a calendar Grand Slam.
“It’s super exciting,” she told the press after the match. “I just knew I wanted to win Wimbledon this year. Of all the Grand Slams, it was the one I hadn’t won in a while. It was like, I really want to win Wimbledon. It happened. Just amazing. It feels really, really good.”
The match was a lot closer than the scores suggest. Williams committed three double faults in the first game and gave Muguruza four opportunities to break her, which she finally did. It was an awkward and horrific start to the world number one. The second game was no better, which pushed Muguruza up 2-0. But this is Williams. She held at love in the seventh game. The fury. The determination. The fight finally returned to Williams as she won the next four games in a row.
“Yeah, she started out playing really well,” stated Williams. “But then I knew, okay, I started to understand what she was doing better. I thought, ‘I need to do this.’ I had to problem solve. My thing was just get up two breaks, just do the best you can. That’s all.”
In the second set, it started off almost the same way, but with Williams on the winning end. She easily went up 5-1, even with two double faults, and prepared to serve for the match.
Something happened. Muguruza went up 0-15. 0-30. 0-40. GAME. She won the game at love to force another game. The loss rattled Williams nerves again. Then she secured her serve to make it 5-3. Ninth game. Time for Williams to serve for the match, right?
Nope.
Muguruza once again went 0-40, but with four points, including three aces, Williams forced deuce. But the young 21-year-old kept going, further proof she will be a force in the very near future. DEUCE. Another break point for Muguruza. DEUCE.
BROKEN. Again. 5-4.
If Williams wanted to win she needed to break Muguruza.
Now it was time for rattled nerves in Muguruza. She double faulted on her first serve. 30-0. 40-0. Championship point for Williams. With a hit it was over, but no one knew. It sounded as if the umpire flubbed the game, set, match line before Williams exploded with joy. She explained why it took awhile for the moment to set in:
“Well, I wasn’t sure, ’cause I won the point, but I was looking at the umpire, I was so focused. She had started playing really well. I wasn’t sure if I was going to serve again. I was so focused. I was like, Okay, is that the match? Is that it?
“Plus she didn’t say, Game, set, match really loud, so I wasn’t sure if there was some type of call or something. I didn’t hear her at all say, Game, set, match. So I was just really confused.
The victory is also her 280th Grand Slam match win and her 28th win at a Grand Slam. Her last loss was last year at Wimbledon when Alize Cornet eliminated her in the third round. Williams is the first player since Steffi Graf in 1988 to win the Australian Open, Roland Garros, and Wimbledon in the same year. Graf also won the US Open that year. Williams will be the favorite at Flushing Meadows when she attends to defend her title.
Muguruza received her second place prize as the audience gave her a standing ovation. She burst into tears.
“I couldn’t stop crying,” she told the press. “So many people are clapping. I don’t know. I make all these people feel this in a tennis court? I was like, I don’t know. I felt special. It’s difficult to explain, yeah.”
After Williams received the Venus Rosewater dish, she thanked God and then told Muguruza she respected her.
“You will hold this trophy one day!” she exclaimed to a smiling Muguruza.
Muguruza was more than pleased to accept the compliment.
“It’s good when you hear something like this from a legend,” she said with a huge smile on her face. “Well, in this moment I was like, ‘Yes, yes, yes.’ Obviously, what are you going to say? Hopefully I can do it. I was close. It’s good to hear that. I feel better now.”
Williams gushed over her opponent even more in the press conference.
“Oh, my gosh, I think she’s such a great player,” she said with a smile. “Like I said, she’s beaten me before. I think she really stepped up to the plate today. She was determined to do well and to win. She came out there to win. She wasn’t out there just to play a final. I think that says a lot about her and her future. She never gave up literally ever.
Muguruza defeated Williams at the French Open in 2014. Despite this loss, she will be in the top 10 when WTA releases the next rankings.
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