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Serena Williams In Concert


Wimbledon ATP
- Official Site
- Order of Play
- Singles Draw
- Singles Qualifiers Draw
- Doubles Draw
- Doubles Qualifiers Draw
- Live Scores
Wimbledon WTA
- Official Site
- Order of Play
- Singles Draw
- Singles Qualifiers Draw
- Doubles Draw
- Doubles Qualifiers Draw
- Live Scores
Wimbledon Other
- Mixed Doubles Draw
- Juniors Draw
- Wheelchair Draw
- Live Scores
By Richard Pagliaro
© Susan Mullane/Camerawork USA

(July 2, 2010) Bouncing on her toes as if bopping to a beat she's danced to so many times before, a screaming Serena Williams was just another face in the crowd rather than the World No. 1 who struts across that green Grand Slam stage as if it were constructed for her every July.

Williams was wearing nocturnal black rather than traditional white required by the All England Club and all that energy eruption came at a Green Day concert where Williams can release her inner-rocker and transform herself  — for a few hours anyway — from the viewed to the viewer from the athlete occupying the grandest stage to an audience member who can't keep her eyes off it.

A Green Day devotee, Williams attended opening night of the band's American Idiot on Broadway in April.

She's seen almost as many Green Day shows as Grand Slam singles finals. It's gotten to the point where Serena knows the band's set list as well as her own tournament schedule.

"It's gotten to the point where I know the run of the show kind of thing. I always know when the last song is coming, the encore. So it's a bit much," Williams said. "If I were them, I'd kind of watch out for me."

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The tennis world will be watching her tomorrow as the woman who spent time on the Great White way aims for a championship encore in defending her Wimbledon title against No. 21 seed Vera Zvonareva.

Williams has brought heavy-metal heat to this fortnight in exploding for a Wimbledon women's record 80 aces in storming through six straight, straight-sets wins. 

The punk-rock swagger she showed in your younger years has mellowed slightly — Williams has offered the cute curtsy almost as often as she's unleashed the ferocious fist pump during this run.

Skeptics say it may be part of the grander public relations makeover designed to diminish the PR hit Serena took when she unloaded an obscenity-laced tirade against a lines woman, who hit her with a controversial foot fault call at last summer's US Open. Williams was defaulted from that semifinal, fined and portrayed as a domineering diva who behaved like a spoiled brat star screaming at a staffer when denied entry to an exclusive club.

Determined not to let that outburst define her, Serena has been even more determined in her major matches ever since, winning 17 of her last 18 Grand Slam matches.

In truth, it may just be that the woman who relishes the chance to scream her head off at concerts has her mind made up to hit the highest notes in taking her championship career to another crescendo.

At age 28, Serena will play for her 13th career Grand Slam singles title tomorrow when she carries a 5-1 career record onto Centre Court against Zvonareva. Roger Federer saw his streak of seven straight Wimbledon finals come to an end with a quarterfinal loss to No. 12 seed Tomas Berdych. Federer will celebrate his 29th birthday on August 8th with 16 Grand Slam titles to his credit and questions about his future.

Federer is far from done as a major champion, but Serena's career spike should continue for some time if she stays fit, focused and interested in playing, which is never a given with the designing diva.

Who will finish their career with more major championships: Serena or Roger?

I say Serena because, believe it or not, she has yet to hit her ceiling in expanding her game, she owns the best serve in the history of women's tennis, which remains the most dominant weapon in the game today, she clearly wants to win a single-season Grand Slam  — a feat she surely would have accomplished this year had she converted match point against Samantha Stosur in the Roland Garros quarterfinals  — and because she remains the best closer in the sport.

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Williams is 12-3 lifetime in Grand Slam finals with two of those three losses coming in Wimbledon finals (to Maria Sharapova in 2004 and to older sister Venus in the 2008 final).

When you look at the players who preceded Serena as World No. 1 in recent years — Dinara Safina, Jelena Jankovic and Ana Ivanovic — would you bet your racket on any one of that fretful trio serving out a major championship with the conviction Serena can?

At a time when even women's finals can sometimes resemble survival of the fitful with the shared philanthropy of donated service games, Williams is shoots down that sort of suspense.

More often that not, it's four serves, four darts, game over.

You cannot underestimate the value of that weapon or her willingness to fire away in major finals. That's one reason why I believe Serena — if she stays healthy and even semi-interested enough to play a regular schedule — will win 20 majors before she's done.

Williams is sometimes seem as bored by the game. The reality is she doesn't view herself as a player as much as she views herself as a champion and champions win major titles.

At a time when players are always spouting the same mantra "take it one point at a time" Williams is also locked in on the bigger picture. She's won a career Grand Slam in singles and doubles and gold medals in doubles. What's left?

She declines to put a number on her major pursuits, but two that remain are completing the single-season Slam sweep, with next year probably her last shot to realistically do it, and win 20 majors. If she can achieve that, Serena, already arguably the best big match player in women's tennis history, puts herself significantly in the conversation for greatest of all time.

Twenty singles majors would put her ahead of both Martina Navratilova and Chris Evert (18 singles majors apiece) as the top American Grand Slam singles champion and put her behind only Margaret Court (24) and Steffi Graf (22) for most Grand Slam singles titles.

The reason 20 is an attainable number is Serena, who often annoys opponents and media chanting her "I was only at 40 percent" mantra after some losses, has truly not tapped out her talent yet.

The best player in the world can get even better. She can take her game higher by playing wider.

Here's how: Williams is tremendous, particularly on grass, at using the slice serve wide on the deuce side to open up the court. No women does it better. She has the ability to create those clear-cut court openings with her groundstrokes too.

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The two barometers to watch for in a Serena Williams match are her her feet and her aim. When she's at her best, Williams is playing closer to the baseline and her feet are constantly moving. She's also more prone to playing the short-angle backhand cross court. The reason that shot makes her even more dangerous is she hits the ball so hard and deep opponents have to respect the ball or they an be overwhelmed by pace. Williams makes her life a lot easier when she's playing the short angle shot to expose the width of the court.

When she won her first career major at the '99 US Open Serena was a big-hitter who basically blasted her way through a shell-shocked field. She was the guitar player who hit the power-chords with flash.

Now nearing her 29th birthday she's capable of being the virtuoso who can play with power and precision in creating a championship score for years to come.

An interesting sub-text to Saturday's final: Zvonareva's lone win over Williams came in the 2006 Cincinnati semifinals. That was Williams' first tournament back after a six-month sabatical due to a knee injury and dealing with a deep depression she said came after her older sister Yentunde was shot dead in a car a short lob from where the Williams sisters first played tennis on a public park court in Compton, California.

Prior to that 2006 match with Zvonareva, Williams conducted a conference call with the media and when we asked her if she believed she was capable of winning majors again, she said: "I definitely think so — if I didn't I wouldn't be trying.

"I hope to get a lot of satisfaction out of my game. I hope to go out and blow the joint up. My goals are my goals, I've never said them out loud. I expect to do what I do best and I think I play tennis best."

Since declaring her desire to "blow the joint up" Williams has delivered some powerful pyrotechnics in winning five majors.

The song is far from over. Whichever way Serena chooses to play out the career concert, here's hoping she continues to pump up the volume for years to come.





 

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