Serena Williams ‘paved the way’ for mothers to keep playing tennis, says Martina Navratilova
Serena Williams has been playing tennis since she was two years old. On Jan. 26, when she was 28, she became the first woman to win Wimbledon on grass. (Peter Kramer/EPA)
Serena Williams is still a champion. And to see her so visibly, so completely happy and unassailable, is to envy it.
In the tennis alley after her match Wednesday, Williams emerged onto the courts surrounded by cameras and reporters.
She strode out of the locker room and walked along the hallway to the tunnel leading to the courts, not taking the time she would have taken in the past to stop for photos with fans but stopping to sign autographs, hug her sponsors and pose for photos.
From the moment Williams took the court — her hair was up, wearing a white cotton and rayon dress and a pair of black flats — she set in motion a series of events that led to the first woman to win a Wimbledon singles title on grass ever.
The next day, on the court that she dominated for a record-tying seventh straight time, Williams won in five sets against Agnieszka Radwanska, becoming only the third woman (after Martina Navratilova and Serena Williams) to win Wimbledon on grass in seven years.
She won the first set. She then lost a set to the fifth-seeded Radwanska, who was playing only her second singles tournament at Wimbledon.
Two sets later, Williams came within one point of being the first champion to win a Wimbledon singles title on grass in eight years. There was no need for Radwanska to win the second set.
After the third set, Williams had clinched the match, and she was just a set away from becoming the first player ever to leave Wimbledon with a Wimbledon singles title while still competing on grass.
The next day, Williams dominated her final against the second-seeded Caroline Wozniacki, who would be playing her first Wimbledon singles tournament at all on grass since she beat Williams at the All England Club in 1997.
Two sets, one break, one break, one break, one break…
Williams was up 2-0 in the fourth set.
Wozniacki, who