London: Serena Williams insisted she was not focused on No. 22. Said she wouldn’t discuss it. Kept coming close without quite getting it. Now she finally has it. And so she can flaunt it. Serena lifted both arms overhead and raised two fingers on each hand right there on Centre Court to show off the magic number after winning her record-tying 22nd Grand Slam title by beating Angelique Kerber 7-5, 6-3 in the Wimbledon final on Saturday.
“Yeah, it’s been incredibly difficult not to think about it. I had a couple of tries this year,” Serena said during the trophy ceremony. “But it makes the victory even sweeter to know how hard I worked for it.” She pulled even with Steffi Graf for the most major championships in the Open era, which began in 1968. Now Serena stands behind only Margaret Court’s all-time mark of 24.
This was Serena’ seventh singles trophy at the All England Club — only Martina Navratilova, with nine, has more in the Open era — and her second in a row. Her victory at Wimbledon a year ago raised her Grand Slam count to 21, but while she almost had added to that total since, she was not able to. There was a stunning loss to Roberta Vinci in the US Open semifinals in September, ending Serena’ bid for a calendar-year Grand Slam. Then came losses in finals to Kerber at the Australian Open in January, and to Garbine Muguruza at the French Open last month.
But in the rematch against the fourth-seeded Kerber on Saturday — the first time in a decade two women met to decide multiple major titles in a single season — the No.1-ranked Serena came through. This goes alongside her six championships at the US Open, six at the Australian Open and three at the French Open. The 34-year-old American did it, as she often does, with nearly impeccable serving.
