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By Chris Oddo | Friday, July 10, 2015

 
SErena Williams Wimbledon

Can Garbine Muguruza stop Serena from winning her fourth consecutive major title?

Photo Source: Stephen White/Camerasport

As a 20-year-old in 2014, Garbine Muguruza handed Serena Williams her most lopsided loss at a major, bashing her way past the defending champ with pure, unadulterated power en route to a career-best quarterfinal experience at Roland Garros.

More: Federer's Flawless Performance Lands Him in 10th Wimbledon Final

It was a win that turned a lot of heads in the direction of Muguruza. For Williams, however, it was a loss that turned her gaze inward.

Williams has said before that she learned a lot from falling to Muguruza in Paris last year, and she reinforced that notion again on Thursday in her post-match press conference at the AELTC. She’ll get a chance to prove just how much she learned on Saturday at SW19 when she faces Muguruza for the third time in just over a year with the right to hold the Venus Rosewater dish aloft on the line.

“It was an eye opening loss for me,” Williams reflected, after dismantling Maria Sharapova for a seventeenth consecutive time to reach her 8th Wimbledon final. “Some losses you're angry about, and some losses you learn from. [The loss to Muguruza in Paris] I think I learned the most from in a long time. I got so much better after that loss. I was able to improve a lot. I worked on things. I didn't see the results straightaway. But months later I started seeing the results more and more.”


Though she didn’t go into specifics, there’s no doubt that Williams has hit a new level in the last year. Two weeks after being upset by Muguruza she would fall to Alize Cornet at Wimbledon, but since then it’s been 27 consecutive victories at majors for Williams (including a 2-6, 6-3, 6-2 victory over Muguruza in the round of 16 at the Australian Open this year), which leaves her one match from a second “Serena Slam” and eight matches from becoming the first player to win the coveted Calendar Slam since Steffi Graf in 1988.

Muguruza may be a bit wet behind the ears when it comes to facing a 20-time major champion in her first Grand Slam final, but she is clearly lusting after rather than fearing the test that awaits her.

“I think is the best final you can play,” she said on Thursday, after defeating Agnieszka Radwanska in three sets to reach her first major final. “You know, to have Serena in the Wimbledon final I think is the hardest match you can have. If you want to win a Grand Slam, when you dream, you say, ‘I want Serena in the final.’ She's like one of the best players in all these years. So it's obviously I think the best challenge to have.”


Tactically, the matchup should come down to who strikes first and whether or not the strike is executed. This does not figure to be a chess match. Both Williams and Muguruza possess world-class power, both like to pull the trigger early, and both protect their serves well.

More than anything, nerves and execution should play prominent roles in the pair’s third career meeting. Obviously, the scales should tip in favor of Williams in both regards. The American, playing in her 25th Grand Slam final, is the queen of clutch, widely considered to be the best pressure player of all-time—male or female.

A fast start, particularly for Muguruza, will be paramount. Why? Even when dropping the first set at majors Williams owns a better than .500 record (34-32), but when she wins the opening set at Wimbledon, she’s basically invincible at 69-2.

That’s a hole that the Spaniard simply cannot afford to fall into.

Muguruza doesn’t have the pedigree or the gaudy numbers of Williams on her side, but she does have a refreshing aura about her. She possesses a sense of calm that has helped her notch five Top-10 wins and climb inside the Top-10 this season (she’ll rise to No. 9 with a loss in the final and No. 6 with a win). She’s wise beyond her years on the tennis court, and while she’s displayed a temperamental side at times during the season, she’s been on pitch at Wimbledon, calmly taking down Angelique Kerber, Caroline Wozniacki, Timea Bacsinszky and Agnieszka Radwanska in her last four matches and fighting through some tense situations to do it.

“I think it's important to be strong, you know, to be calm,” she said on Thursday after her win over Radwanska. “Especially because this is my first time here. I don't have a lot of experience playing these kind of matches. So, you know, I just say to myself, ‘Be calm. This is what's going to make you, you know, be good on the court. Don't be afraid.’”

If she can unleash and execute the type of power tennis she is capable of—she hit 59 winners against Angelique Kerber in the third round and 39 winners vs. Radwanska in the semis—there’s no reason Muguruza can’t force a competitive match against Williams. But how will she contend with the queen of clutch when the chips are down? Muguruza lost her way during her semifinal with Radwanska and dropped six consecutive games. Thanks to a huge power discrepancy she was able to get back in the saddle and put the Pole away, but if a similar hiccup occurs against Williams it could means lights out for the Spaniard.

Muguruza says she’s surprised she’s made it to the final, admitting that she’s never loved grass as much as other surfaces and saying that she wasn’t really feeling confident in her warmup tournaments. But Williams scoffs at the notion that her opponent has nothing to lose.

“Uhm, no,” she said. “I mean, she has Wimbledon to lose. I think we both have Wimbledon to lose, so I think that's something to lose. And, yeah, she's beaten me before, so she knows how to win… I think it puts her in a unique position where she has an opportunity to become Wimbledon champ.”

With so much at stake for Williams, it’s difficult to believe her when she says that winning the title doesn’t mean that much to her. And yet, that has been the recurring theme in her pressers. “I'm at a position where I don't need to win another Wimbledon,” she said. “I could lose tomorrow. Sure, I won't be happy. But I don't need another Wimbledon title. I don't need another US Open. I don't need any titles to make it.”

Is Williams serious? Or is she posturing, trying to talk herself out of getting nervous? It’s hard to say, but her true feelings no doubt will be revealed when she takes the court on Saturday, with an eager young disciple gunning to take her crown from her. Williams has matured, and she has become a better loser. But in her thirties, she’s also become hungrier. She may not need to win, but oh dear does she hate to lose.

She’ll do everything in her power to avoid that on Saturday, and the tennis world will watch, and no doubt marvel, no matter the outcome.

 

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