Remember these two? So much promise to start the season; looking back, I guess we should be happy we got one major final between them. We may never get another at the rate things are going. If this wasn’t the finest match of the year—I have it at No. 7—its highlights have been the most enjoyable for me to watch so far. They’ve reminded me of why I like to watch these two, and what makes one of them in particular so great.
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Remember the Aussie Open? You can feel the summer atmosphere through the TV; from the way the ball comes off the players racquets to the buzz in the stands, it sounds like the most eager tournament of the year. From what I can tell, Australians treat tennis as more of a mainstream sport than other fans from other nations, worthy of the same respect and enthusiasm they bring to their team sports. It makes a difference.
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Does anyone start off a match with as much venom as Serena Williams? By the third game, she’s already belting forehand returns with maximum disdain. For most players, this type of shot would find the net or the back fence. But while Serena appears not to care where they go, they find the corners for her. She hits an amazing number of winners when she’s off-balance, and an amazing number when she swings for the fences. You might chalk that up to athleticism, but it’s also a product of the timing she developed as a kid. From most accounts, she and her sister practiced as relentlessly and single-mindedly as anyone, and their muscles have never forgotten that practice. Put that together with Serena's obvious athletic ability, and you’ve got a player who can hit shots no one else can hit.
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Judging from these clips, if you can single out thing that elevates Serena over everyone else, it would be her ability to hit with pace and accuracy from a completely open stance. She doesn’t have to turn and set up, which gives her just a little more time than anyone else. No one else can hit as well with no weight transfer at all; because of that, she can stand her ground at the baseline better than anyone else. This is the innovation that the Williams sisters brought to tennis, but no has matched them at it.
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I’d forgotten how close Serena was to closing this one out in two sets. She got to 3-2 and deuce on Justine’s serve. We usually think of Serena as never succumbing to nerves, but here I think she did, just for a millisecond. In this deuce point, she has Justine backed up, but instead of doing what she always does—i.e., drilling a backhand down the line winner and curling up in a screaming fist pump—she tries a drop shot. A bad drop shot. Justine tracks it down with ease and hits a drop shot winner back. Soon after, she wins 15 straight points. I would say that if there’s one player who should never bother with the drop, it’s Serena Williams. She’s too good at taking a player’s time away to give them some of it back.
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But I’m kind of glad she did, because then we got to see some vintage Justine. She dropped, she lobbed, she curled her backhand around Serena at the net and drilled it past her up the line. The new twists Justine had put in her game—taking the forehand earlier, going for more on the serve—were paying off, and when she went up 1-0 in the third, it looked they were going to take her all the way to the title.
What’s interesting is that the first great match of the year was much like the last very good match, between Federer and Nadal at the World Tour Finals. One player got ahead, the other fought to come back, but just when they appeared ready to blow into the lead, they faltered and their opponents re-established themselves. Serena faced two break points at 0-1 in the third. She hit an ace, a swing volley winner, and another ace to win the game.
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“You can do it Justine, she’s not that good.” A spectator shouted those words at some point in this match. I can’t remember if Serena said she heard it or cared about it, but that’s not a smart idea if you really are a Justine fan—who knows, maybe it was a very smart Serena fan. Serena, as much as anyone, plays on mood and emotion. (This is the woman who skipped the colossal opening ceremonies at the Beijing Olympics because she was in a “foul mood.”) But whether that comment made a difference or not, this set showed beyond any doubt that Serena, when she wants to raise her game to its absolute highest, is the best of her era. Justine had tried everything and for a set had done everything right. Then Serena lifted herself above her, with her serve, with her forehand, with her backhand—drop shots and unforced errors magically disappeared. Justine Henin, winner of seven majors, couldn’t follow.
My favorite moment of Serena's comes on the first match point. Justine's mishit return falls on the line for a winner. Serena starts to laugh, but a second later she's fursiously shouting at herself, scolding herself to concentrate with the same venom she threw at Justine's serves to start of the match. We didn't get much Serena this year, but she gave us her best in Melbourne.