By Richard Pagliaro | Saturday, June 6, 2015
"I think I'm gonna faint. Twenty feels amazing," said Serena Williams after defeating Lucie Safarova in the French Open final to capture her 20th career Grand Slam title.
Photo credit: Roland Garros
Plagued by flu-like symptoms and lethargy in the early rounds, Serena Williams confronted illness and fatigue again today in the French Open final.
She was sick and tired of choking and playing catch-up.
Pained by the pressure that restricted her right arm — and stung by increasingly accurate strikes from Lucie Safarova — the world No. 1 followed an hour of power tennis with a 20-minute slide into fretful self-destruction. A skittish Williams squandered a 4-1 second-set lead then found herself down 0-2 in the third.
More: Djokovic Survives Murray to Reach Roland Garros Final
Then the part-time Paris resident found her voice and reclaimed control of the red clay.
Serving with ferocity and screaming herself into action, Serena roused herself to another major rally. Williams reeled off six straight games to capture her 20th career Grand Slam championship with a wild 6-3, 6-7 (2), 6-2 triumph that felt like three completely different acts crammed into one dramatic day.
Tossing her racquet aside after finally subduring Safarova, Williams thrust her arms in the air with all 10 fingers extended in celebration.
It was a monumental moment for the 33-year-old American, who collected her third Roland Garros crown, thrust herself halfway to the calendar Grand Slam and joined Hall of Famers Margaret Court (24) and Steffi Graf (22) as the third woman to collect 20 Grand Slam championships.
Striving for history can be a very stressful experience.
"I think I'm gonna faint," Serena told NBC's Mary Carillo afterward. "Twenty is pretty amazing to me. Unfortunately, I'm already thinking about Wimbledon. I know it's bad. But I'm gonna enjoy this moment — I hope."
Dictating from the first ball, Williams was one point from a one-set, 5-1 lead when she degenerated from jumping exuberance to jittery errors and lost the rhythm on her serve and range on her strokes.
Contesting her first major final, the 13th-seeded Safarova saw her opportunity and seized it before Williams responded with an overpowering streak of six straight games.
"I was really trying to stay in the moment and fight for each point," said Safarova, who will contest the French Open doubles final tomorrow and rise to a career-high singles rank of No. 5 on Monday. "It was the finals. I wanted to give my best. It was great but then she came back really strong in the third and it just slipped way so I'm a bit sad."
It wasn't a smooth landing to the coronation ceremony. Williams was her own worst enemy at times, donating breaks on double faults twice. She couldn't find the court for stretches as nerves left her feet stuck to the red clay and grew so frustrated by her plight, she unleashed a torrent of strong language that could have come straight out of a Quentin Tarantino film, incurring a code violation in the third set.
Ultimately Williams' resolve, resourcefulness — she hit the rare running lefty forehand in the decider — and that rocking serve helped her restore order.
"I jinxed myself. I choked," a candid Serena told Mary Carillo afterward. "Simple as that. I hit a lot of double faults. My first serve just went off. I got really nervous. It was a big moment to win 20 and from that point she saw that I was nervous and she started to play the great type of tennis she could play...And she took it to me."
A biting forehand winner gave Williams the first break and a 3-1 lead. Safarova stepped in and punched a two-handed returner winner, drawing to 30-all in the seventh game. Williams nodded in affirmation of the Czech's crunching strike. Then she buried a serve into the hip and blasted an ace out wide for 5-2 — the third time in four service games she zapped an ace to close. Though Williams won the first set on the strength of a single service break, she didn't give Safarova a sniff on her serve.
Even when Safarova found the sweet spot, Williams often had an authoritative answer. A stinging return came right back at her, Williams dropped into a low crouch and drilled a backhand winner crosscourt holding for 3-1. When she whipped a backhand return winner breaking for 4-1, Williams thrust her arms in the air briefly like a runner prematurely celebrating before crossing the finish line.
At that point, it seemed Safarova would be fortunate to push the final to an hour. Credit the Australian Open doubles champion for hanging tough and taking advantage of the top seed's lapse.
Bouncing off the terre battue like a trampoline in high knee jumps, Williams was flying high up 40-15, but squandered the lead then spit out successive double faults to drop serve for the first time all day. Safarova quickly consolidated the break for 3-4. Her bright Nike shoes suddenly looked heavier, her movements a bit more constricted and her decisions grew hazy. When Williams sprayed a wild backhand it was double break point. The top speed spun a second serve off the tape that sputtered long, donating a second straight break on a double fault.
Realizing her opponent was tight, Safarova won her fourth straight game to take her first lead of the day at 5-4. Swinging more freely, Williams responded with her eighth ace for 5-5. Thumping her two-hander crosscourt, Williams ripped a return winner breaking for 6-5.
Still, Safarova wouldn't relent and neither would nerves. Serving for the title, Williams netted a forehand to face break point for the third straight game. Safarova knifed a clean backhand winner down the line to force the tie break with a clenched fist.
The twisting lefty forehand Safarova slashed effectively to take down two former French Open champions — defending champ Maria Sharapova and 2008 champion Ana Ivanovic — en route to her first major final in her 40th Grand Slam appearance served her will in the tie break. A forehand return winner followed by a tremendous defensive dig gave Safarova a 5-2 tie break lead. She closed the set on a pair of Williams forehand errors to level the match. Winless in eight prior meetings with Williams, Safarova was now one set from pulling off a remarkable reversal.
It got worse for Williams, who whacked a backhand wide, surrendering serve for the fourth time in five service games to open the decider. Safarova backed up the break and suddenly, the woman who looked like she'd be giving a runner-up speech 20 minutes earlier, was up 2-0.
Screaming at herself to rouse a comeback, Williams hit a pair of stinging returns. Then it was Safarova's turn to tighten. Her first double fault of the day gave back the break, an engaged Williams rolled through the next game to go up 3-2.
"This is by far my most dramatic [match of the tournament] I didn't even train yesterday," Williams said. "I had the flu. It's just been a living nightmare. I got so upset I was down 0-2. I was like you're up 4-1, 40-15 and now you're gonna lose this. What are you gonna do it about it? Once I relaxed I don't think about it. I stopped thinking and started playing and next thing I know I won."
Once she regained her range, Serena would not be stopped. She dropped just six points on serve in the decider, and four of those points came in her opening service game of the set.
A dazzling 19-shot rally saw Serena pull out the rare running lefty forehand and a fierce "come on!" as she held for 5-2. She capped yet another comeback with a forehand crosscourt, flipping her Wilson racquet aside, wearing an expression of both deep relief and pure joy.
It wasn't always her best tennis, but with another spirited response Serena solidified her status as an iconic champion.