Serena Williams Victorious At French Open To Win 20th Grand Slam

The most dominant athlete in women’s sports is a Southern California girl, and she is on the cusp of cementing her own legendary legacy in the annals of tennis history.  Serena Williams overcame a bout with the flu and a resilient Lucie Safarova to win her third French Open title: 6-3, 6-7, 6-2.  The victory is the 20th Grand Slam title of her career and the third consecutive slam that she has won.

Jun 6, 2015; Paris, France; Serena Williams (USA) poses with the trophy after her match against Lucie Safarova (CZE) on day 14 of the 2015 French Open at Roland Garros. Mandatory Credit: Susan Mullane-USA TODAY Sports

Serena Williams had two battles early on Saturday.  The most pressing one was against Safarova, but the second was her struggle with the flu which actually kept her off the practice courts on Friday.  According to her coach, she attempted to get out and walk around however it “wasn’t brilliant” and she stayed in bed.  On Saturday morning, Williams was in better condition and took the court for an astounding 24th Grand Slam final.

The first set was vintage Serena, using her power and sharp court awareness to cruise in the first set and was within sight of the finish line in the second when she gained a 4-1 lead over Safarova.  That was when things seemed to fall apart.  Seeming to finally be unable to hold off the multitude of issues she had going in, Williams would go on to hit 11 double faults.  She lost the chance to go up 5-1 in the second set and began coughing between points.  Safarova took full advantage of the American’s vulnerability as she mounted a huge come-back and win the second set.  For only the second time in 14 years, the women’s French Open final went a full three sets.

The crowd at Roland Garros looked as if it may be treated to one of the biggest comebacks in tennis history as Safarova continued her play to get a break to start the third set and went up 2-0.  With a huge milestone slipping away, Williams found the motivation in the change-over at 2-1 and ignited her game to bring herself ahead 3-2.  From there, Williams never looked back as she went on to win the set 6-2.  A defeated Safarova did not reach for certain points on returns as Serena began to display more of her trademark skills.

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The victory now puts Williams in an elite class that she is on the verge of leading.  She now trails only Steffi Graf (22) and Margaret Smith Court (24) for the all-time Grand Slam record.  To put it in perspective, the legendary Roger Federer on the men’s side only has 17.  A scary thought for her opponents is that at 33 years, Serena Williams is not just playing at a high level, but she’s arguably playing better than she has in her career.  At the very least, she’s playing as well as she ever has in her career.  The last time Williams won three consecutive Grand Slams – ponder for a moment the fact that she is good enough to have done it twice – was in 2002.

Williams is only 5 slams away from holding the all-time record.

This year is also an important one for the summer tennis season.  Due to the set-up of the calendar year there is an extra week before Wimbledon at the end of the month.  This has traditionally been an issue for players such as Rafael Nadal who consistently play late into the competition at Roland Garros and must recover rather than prepare for the grass court season.  With the myriad of ailments plaguing her, Williams undoubtedly welcomes the extra time before one of her best tournaments.

Serena has not won Wimbledon since 2012 where she won the singles and doubles titles before repeating that same summer to win the gold medal in both events at the Olympic Games.  That said, she will enter the tournament as the number one ranked player and the odds on favorite to win.  The same will likely be true when the U.S. Open comes around in September.  With the dominance that Serena has displayed all year, Williams looks to enter the absolute upper-echelon of tennis greats with an attempt at the calendar year Grand Slam.

There are two weeks until Wimbledon where Serena Williams will continue her march toward tennis immortality.