Serena Williams allowed herself a moment to savor a third straight US Open win on Sunday, but only a moment.
Just three hours after securing her 18th Grand Slam title with a dominating 6-3, 6-3 win over Denmark’s Caroline Wozniacki, the world No. 1 soaked up the accolades and applause, then admitted that she was already thinking about No. 19 and third spot on the all-time list now held by Helen Wills Moody.
“I am thinking 19,” said Williams, who shares fourth on the list with Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova. “Hasn’t even been three hours and I have already mentioned 19. Oh, gosh, but not 22. I’m taking it one at a time.”
Photo: AFP
Williams will celebrate her 33rd birthday later this month and clearly has plans to celebrate many more Grand Slam titles as she climbs further and further up the rankings.
Moody, at No. 19, is the next target, but just ahead sits Steffi Graf on 22 and just ahead of her is the great Margaret Court who tops the list with 24.
Until Sunday it did not look as if Williams would add to her Grand Slam haul this season. She had added five tournament titles to her collection this season, coming into the US Open with her career total at 62, but at the Grand Slams she had fallen flat, failing to get beyond the round-of-16 in any of the first three majors.
However, if there was any thought that Williams’ career was on the decline she erased it with a stunningly ruthless performance, confirming herself as the Queen of Flushing Meadows.
In claiming her sixth US Open and third straight, Williams did not drop a set and never lost more than three games in any of them, capping off her run to the title with a ruthless 75-minute demolition of her one of her best friends to the delight of her fans who packed Arthur Ashe Stadium.
“I just could never have imagined that I would be mentioned with Chris Evert or with Martina Navratilova, because I was just a kid with a dream and a racket,” offered a humble Williams. “Living in Compton, this never happened before.”
This was just the beginning, not the end, she said.
“I want to do really well and I love the game,” she said. “The reason I play is to sit at the end of the day and hold the trophy, or stand and hold the trophy. For me, that’s my joys. I’m just a simple individual who just wants to win titles and wants to play tennis.”
Williams’ rise from the Los Angeles ghetto to top of her sport is a tennis fairy tale and despite describing herself as a “simple” woman, those who have faced her on the court understand that she is something quite exceptional.
“I don’t believe that talent can beat everything,” said Wozniacki, who leaned on Williams for support after golfer Rory McIlroy broke off their engagement just before the French Open. “She works hard every day, just like us, but when she needs to she can pull out that big serve. She has the power. She can push us back on the court and take the initiative. She definitely has the experience now, as well... and it makes it even harder to beat her.”
“I think her results and her career says it all — 18 Grand Slam titles,” the Dane said. “You don’t get that unless you’re exceptional in what you do.”
After nearly two decades of amassing records and titles, Williams is still driven by the pursuit of excellence and the thrill of victory.
It marks a record 15th straight year Williams has won at least one singles or doubles Grand Slam title and with her win on Sunday she became the second woman in the Open era to win three consecutive US Open titles.
Next year she will return to Flushing Meadows looking to match Evert’s record of four set from 1975 to 1978.
Although she has considerable accomplishments to reflect on, Williams says it is not something that her and older sister Venus, a double US Open champion, dwell on and it is not a conversation they plan on having for some time.
“I think we’ll have those conversations when we retire, and hopefully that will be a long time from now,” she said. “Right now we just really want to be in there. We want to win matches. We want to win titles. We want to do really well. We just don’t talk about that right now. I want to continue to rise, and continue to play really hard and do the best that I can.”
In the men’s doubles, Bob and Mike Bryan won a record-tying fifth US Open title for their 100th tournament title.
The top-ranked twins beat 11th-seeded Spaniards Marcel Granollers and Marc Lopez 6-3, 6-4.
The Bryans matched Richard Sears and James Dwight, who won the men’s doubles five times way back in the 1880s. They now own the Open-era mark, moving ahead of Bob Lutz and Stan Smith.
It was the Bryan brothers’ 16th Grand Slam title, extending their record.
“We’re not stopping anytime soon,” Mike Bryan said in an on-court interview.
It was their first Grand Slam title since Wimbledon last year and they were in danger of finishing a year without a major championship for the first time since 2004, but back at their home Grand Slam, the 36-year-old Americans ended the drought.
They were so excited they botched their signature chest bump, with Mike leaping into Bob’s arms.
“We had home-court advantage,” Bob Bryan said.
After tough three-set victories in their previous two matches, they controlled play against Granollers and Lopez, who beat them in the French Open quarter-finals en route to their first Grand Slam final.
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