The Hindu : Sport : Serena is back

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Sunday, Jan 30, 2005

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Serena is back

By Nirmal Shekar

POWER AND GRACE: Serena Williams, who regained the Australian Open singles title, stretches for a return in the final against Lindsay Davenport on Saturday. The American rallied to beat her compatriot 2-6, 6-3, 6-0. - AP

MELBOURNE, JAN. 29 . She was in the seventh heaven. But, looking at her on her newest summit, you wouldn't have thought she was in such exalted territory.

Serena Williams has never particularly been enamoured of the view from the top. Her ambivalent attitude to conquest and consolidation has always been a source of mystery, some even suggesting that it was a studied posture by a champion well-versed in the art of play-acting.

But Serena knows otherwise; and the trauma she's experienced over the last 18 months, since winning the 2003 Wimbledon championship, has helped her embrace a whole new perspective, `the bigger picture', as she puts it.

In that broad canvas, the remarkable turnaround that Serena, seeded seven, authored to beat the top seed, Lindsay Davenport, 2-6, 6-3, 6-0 in a rather bizarre two-part women's singles final of the Centenary Australian Open indoors on a rainy Saturday may not occupy prime space.

Yet, the woman who explored new vistas in her own heart and soul this week to rediscover herself as a champion, does realise the enormity of her achievement and what it means to her and her close-knit family.

"This means a lot to me. It is not easy to go through surgery and injuries and come back and immediately win Grand Slam titles. People don't realise that," said Serena after receiving the trophy from Margaret Court, the most successful Grand Slam champion in history with a record 62 titles (singles, doubles and mixed doubles).

It was Serena's seventh Grand Slam title and the triumph has moved her from No. 7 to No. 2, ever closer to the spot she occupied not so long ago and where she was expected to reign for a lot longer than she actually did.

This was also Serena's second Australian Open title. She first won here in 2003 and did not play last year.

Serena is also the first player in the Open Era to come back from a matchpoint down (against Sharapova this time) to win two Grand Slam titles. She had done this against Kim Clijsters too in this tournament two years ago.

Race to finish

In a championship, which has produced a succession of sizzlers, this was an odd sort of final. Serena, struggling with a rib dysfunction early in the match and outplayed for a set and a half, raised her game from the fifth game of the second set and went on to win eight games in a row from 4-3.

When Serena disappeared into the tunnel for treatment, down 4-1 in the first set, it hardly appeared possible that 80 minutes later she would be crowned champion again.

"I reached for a backhand and suddenly tweaked my back and pulled up in pain," said Serena. "But I was fine after that (after the medical time out and treatment)," she said.

Davenport, for her part, looked fine too as she proceeded to wrap up the first set with two huge serves, one of them an ace.

And when the older woman forced Serena to the ropes in the fifth game of the second set, it did appear that she had a great chance to become the oldest Grand Slam singles winner since Steffi Graf at the French Open six years ago.

In the event, that service game of Serena's turned the match. As she did against Maria Sharapova in the semifinals where she fought off three matchpoints, Serena dug in and refused to yield. Davenport had six breakpoints but each time Serena came up with a big serve or a clean winner to hold to 3-2.

"I kept telling myself `I don't care if my arm falls off but I am not going to lose this game,'" said Serena. "That was a crucial game."

Driver's seat

Perhaps that did a bit of damage to Davenport's confidence. For the woman who was playing in her first Slam singles final since the 2000 U.S. Open put her opponent in the driver's seat in the eighth game when she lost serve from 40-0, with a pair of double faults and two unforced errors.

"I felt like I was in control. Then I had that horrible lapse at 3-4. That was disappointing. I just gave it to her," said Davenport. "She took advantage and raised her game. She is always a great frontrunner."

Suddenly Serena looked unstoppable. Her serves consistently touched 180-plus and shots that once flew inches away from the lines were now kissing the lines time and again like guided missiles.

Her cause was further helped by an opponent who was rushing things just when she needed to take a deep breath, re-focus and play herself back into the contest.

It was hardly surprising, then, the decider lasted just 20 minutes. As a knockout punch, this one was rather bizarre. Serena took home A$1,206,620, while Davenport settled for A$603,310.

"She has come back like a champion after two years. Everyone should applaud her," said Davenport. You suspected that was exactly what the world No. 1 was doing herself, through the second half of the match — secretly applauding her opponent's swift ascent to yet another pinnacle — instead of fighting back to regain lost territory.

Black-Ullyett triumph

Wayne Black and Kevin Ullyett of Zimbabwe beat the Bryan brothers from America, Bob and Mike, 6-4, 6-4 in the men's doubles final in an hour and 16 minutes to win their first Australian Open title together.

It is their second Grand Slam title, after having won the 2001 U.S. Open.

The Zimbabweans, seeded five, have not lost a set right through the tournament and they were in their own comfort zone in the match against the second seeded Americans, beating them for the sixth time in nine meetings.

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