Bill Simons
We first saw Serena in the shadows.
In 1994, a wide-eyed kid looked on, as her sister Venus was at the center of a media whirlwind.
But who knew that the 12-year-old kid would come to be in the spotlight more than any other sportswoman in history, winning a Slam before her sister, lifting 23 Slam titles, front and center in 2018 in the most tumultuous women’s match of all-time?
Lunch with the queen, royal wedding, Super Bowl commercials – Serena had no limits.
But now, Wonder Woman was 44 and a mother of two, who seemed more focused on her daughters’ play dates and her ongoing interests in high finance and high fashion.
But, hold on, this is the woman who Mary Carillo said dances on the edge of a volcano. This is a woman who won a Slam while pregnant, a feat which prompted Stephen A. Smith to state the obvious: “C’mon! We can pull a lot of things out of our hat, but there’s no man alive that can do that!”
Now she was trying to prove something to herself—and perhaps to us. Like Muhammed Ali, Tom Brady and Bjorn Borg, she was trying to pull off a superstar comeback.
She said she wanted her daughters to see her play. That’s great. But we sensed it had more to do with a question that seven-time Slam winner Justine Henin posed when she unretired: “Who am I if I don’t play? I realized I need to move, I need to be free, I need to have adrenalin in my life. I’m still not ready to calm down and have a normal life.”
But today there was nothing normal about the most anticipated first-round face-off in tennis history, a match that drew 10,000 fans into Wimbledon’s queue, a battle that was loaded with emotions and possibilities.
Yes, our crack research team was able to find some similarities between the greatest female player to ever pick up a racket and her foe. Both Serena and Maya Joint are pro players. Both were born in Michigan. And both have Aussie coaches—Rennae Stubbs and Sam Stosur—who once formed a formidable doubles team.
Unfortunately, Joint faced some formidable problems. She’d gotten little sleep, she’d scored no wins since January, and, as the match began, she had no feeling in her legs.
After all, Serena had been one of Maya’s idols and had won $93 million more than she had. Plus, Serena was 78-3 in the opening rounds of Slams. And, so many concurred with the desire of one biblical observer, who hoped the comeback of tennis’ prodigal daughter would be the greatest since Lazarus.
From the outset, it was hard to believe our eyes. Serena, of course, looked older than before. But there was so much character in her face. Her beauty had deepened. Her shoulders were still broad, her legs were still strong, and her movement was surprisingly swift. She dug balls out of the corners with impressive ease. Her serve, (at 122 mph, thank you very much) was still mighty. Andy Roddick insisted, “Serena’s going to be able to infuse pace into her serves when she’s a grandma.”
Surely all this would be too much for the No. 87 player in the world, who’d lost 11 straight matches. But Joint wasn’t out of joint. The redhead didn’t exactly redline, but she swung free. Her flat shots went deep. She absorbed Williams’ fabled power and brushed aside the GOAT’s aura. The brown-belt karate whiz punched back, broke Serena’s serve, and won five straight games en route to going up 6-3, 2-1.
Sure, Serena had won seven Slams and been No. 1 before Maya was born. But now she seemed to be the No. 2 on court. Coming back to play your first match in four years on Centre Court was too much to ask. There’s no substitute for match play. Serena slumped. She put her palms down and looked to her box as if to ask, “What can I do?”
Yet, we knew three things. 1. Serena is a master of comebacks. 2. This warrior hadn’t rejoined the battle just to have a pleasant match. 3. Her ethos has long been clear. “One thing champions do is they keep fighting. They keep going.”
Serena did.
Never mind that it had been 1,397 days since her last match – she loves to dance with disaster. She stayed patient, dug deep and rebuffed a storm of break points.
She found her rhythm, tapped into her singular fighting spirit, unleashed thunderbolt forehands and showed us her understanding of the geometry of the court. She created angles and forced a second-set tiebreak, where she rose to the occasion gloriously, as she brushed aside a match point, clawed her way back, won the tiebreak 8-6 and broke early in the third set to go up 3-6, 7-6, 2-0.
How fantastic!
“It just doesn’t happen that a player of her vintage plays at this level,” noted Radio Wimbledon. The feeling of déja vu was eerie. Unbelievably, we saw once again the mighty player who had captivated us for decades.
Joint’s face flushed with frustration. The ginger ninja suddenly seemed flattened.
But did Serena have the stamina to cross the finish line? Could we imagine her scoring such an improbable win?
Broadcasters Chris Fowler and Mary Jo Fernandez were both celebratory and cautious: “Regardless of what happens, how much fun is this! What a gift to the sport! But people are greedy – they want more, they want Serena to face Alexandra Eala on Thursday.”
But Father Time had other ideas. Twenty-four years is so much to give away. Reality has a way of imposing on dreams. And, in a flash, our vision of a Serena miracle vanished. Caroline Wozniaki, who’d said, “Serena is not as fresh as she looks,” proved to be right.
Sure, Joint had never taken a set from a Top 10 player. Still, she showed remarkable resilience, blasting clean, flat backhands to win five of the final six games and seal a 6-3, 6-7(6), 6-3 victory.
In the past, we’ve seen Serena growl in defeat. But today she left Centre Court with a glow, as she offered an inviting smile for the ages.
Wonder Woman didn’t win the tennis match, but she’d amazed herself and the tennis universe, which again realized that it’s best not to ever underestimate a Williams.
