Jun 9, 2013
One year ago Serena Williams suffered a shock first round loss to Virginie Razzano at Roland Garros. Aged 30 at the time, it was very conceivable that Williams was on her way out. She had battled through so much during her career, established herself among the all-time greats, and frankly looked a little de-motivated entering the later stages of her career.
However, that loss seemed to inspire a reinvigoration of Williams’ game. Ever since that loss she has re-dedicated herself to a health and fitness regime, she got a new coach and committed herself to playing on the tour every week.
The results have been staggering. She is 74-3 since that first round loss 54 weeks ago. Her 2013 season performance has been even more impressive. She is unbeaten in her past 31 matches, including all 24 matches in her clay court season.
The clay court season has traditionally been a sticking point for Serena. She hadn’t won the French Open since 2002. It was the only Grand Slam that she hadn’t won twice and has frequently been the site of her most disappointing defeats.
There was nothing that lacked assurance about Williams’ advance in the 2013 competition once again proving that when she is focused and determined, she is just about unstoppable.
Maria Sharapova, the defending champion and a four-time Slam winner, played a strong game in the final. Sharapova was even able to threaten early on breaking Serena’s ever dominant serve. However, Williams always seemed to find that extra gear. She has tremendous strength and even against one of the tour’s biggest hitting players, it was clear that Williams had a significant advantage in terms of her power. Her recent fitness drive is clearly evident in the speed and ease in her movement around the court.
Saturday’s win has moved Williams’ already impressive elite level record up to another rung. If she stays as motivated as she appears now, then there is no reason to doubt that she can challenge to become the all-time leader in Grand Slam wins in women’s tennis.
Her 2013 French Open triumph was the 16th Grand Slam title of the year. She is closing in on Martina Navratilova and Chris Evert each of whom have 18 titles. Even catching Steffi Graf and her 22 titles isn’t completely out of the question for the 31-year, who appears fully healthy and might just be playing the best tennis of her career.
Winning Grand Slams is not an easy task and staying motivated just to win two or three more won’t necessarily be easy for a player who really has nothing left to prove. However, what this tournament has clearly shown the tennis world is that when Serena is fit and focused, there still isn’t a player who can challenge her in the game today.
