Serena Williams denied that nerves or the pressure of chasing down Margaret Court’s record of 24 grand slam titles had anything to do with her stunning 6-2, 6-2 Wimbledon defeat by Simona Halep.
Williams looked far from her best as she sprayed 26 unforced errors compared with only 17 winners against Halep, and the American has now lost three grand slam finals since winning her 23rd major title at the Australian Open in 2017.
However, she said it was the brilliance of her Romanian opponent, who inflicted one of the heaviest defeats of her career, that had been the biggest factor in the one‑sided result.
“There’s so many impressive things about her. Her tenacity, her ability to improve every time, just to keep improving. Her ability to find power. You can’t underestimate her. She’s like a little powerhouse.”“I can’t say that I had a lot of tension or was super tense,” said Williams. “I just think my opponent played unbelievable. When someone plays lights out, there’s really not much you can do. You just have to understand that it was their day.
She added: “Someone told me I shouldn’t look at the records any more and that I should just focus on my game. That’s kind of what I’ve been doing since I got to 18 grand slams. In the meantime I got pregnant, had a baby, so that definitely plays a little bit into it.”
Williams also dismissed suggestions that, with her 38th birthday approaching, she was in a race against time to eclipse Court’s record, although she did hint that she was short of match practice after a knee injury earlier in the season.
“I feel like I’m still incredibly competitive or else I wouldn’t really be out here,” she said. “Today nothing really helped. But also I made way too many errors for a lot of stuff to work. I need to keep working and maybe be able to play some tournaments uninjured, like I did with this one.”
“I just have to figure out a way to win a final. Maybe it is playing other finals outside of grand slams would be really helpful to kind of get in the groove.”
But when it was put to Williams by one questioner that maybe she should stop being a celebrity for a year, stop fighting for equality and just focus on the tennis, she delivered a word-perfect response.
“The day I stop fighting for equality and for people that look like you and me will be the day I’m in my grave,” she said.
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