Rapper Drake ‘just like family,’ Williams says

With a spot in the Wimbledon finals at stake, No. 1 Williams thumped No. 4 Sharapova in straight sets (6-2, 6-4) for her 17th straight win over Sharapova.

There were signs of the world number four at least gaining a foothold in the early stages of the second set, but Williams upped the pace in game five and Sharapova succumbed on break point with her fifth double fault.

“Now I’m feeling that all my effort, all the work that I did before, it’s like paying off”, said Muguruza who couldn’t recall who won the match she dreamt about. Her run to the Wimbledon final shows that she might just be the best of the younger generation, but I don’t think she’s quite ready to win a slam yet.

As if winning the sixth Wimbledon title and 21st major of her career wouldn’t be enough to underline Williams’ credentials as one of the all-time greats, she has a slew of other milestones within reach in her 25th Grand Slam finals. She’s just a shrugging, laid-back, surprisingly confident 21-year-old who happens to have game and is playing Serena Williams for the Wimbledon title on Saturday. A win here would match the “Serena Slam” she achieved in 2002-03. She’s already made some history becoming the first Spanish woman since Conchita Martinez at the 2000 French Open to make a Grand Slam final.

Muguruza, 21, beat Agnieszka Radwanska 6-2 3-6 6-3 in the first semi-final. A backhand from Muguruza landed near the baseline, and after Radwanska hit the ball, she stopped playing and lifted her racket to indicate she wanted to challenge the call – at the same time that Muguruza was missing a forehand. Muguruza then bit back with her power and rallies to finish of her opponent, 6-3. Over the last 15 years, Williams has transformed from stud tennis player to cultural icon, breaking boundaries by appearing on ESPN the Magazine’s first-ever “Body Issue” and becoming the first black female athlete to grace the cover of “Vogue”. “I think it’s important”.

Serena wasn’t the only one to learn something from that match.

“Serena simply plays tennis much better than [Sharapova] does”, coach Patrick Mouratoglou told The New York Times. But a win over Garbine Muguruza in two days would also be a big step toward winning all four Grand Slam tournaments in the same season, something that hasn’t been done since Steffi Graf in 1988. “I said, No. Don’t change anything”.

“I’m not into these things,” Muguruza said Friday, and then there is the shrug.

Asked what she needs to do to be competitive against Williams, Sharapova responded: “A lot more than I’m doing”. Getting to 18 titles was super stressful for me.

But the Venezuela-born Muguruza has been rejuvenated at Wimbledon, knocking out top 10 players Angelique Kerber and Caroline Wozniacki to make her first final at the majors.

But such talk is banned for the time being, Williams determined to free her mind from any extra pressure, and she preferred to take the more insouciant attitude of an old veteran who has been there, done that, seen it all.

Sharapova last defeated Williams at the year-end championships in 2004 and has dropped the past 14 sets to her.

“It’s a final and she’ll get nervous too”, Muguruza added.

While that triumph gave Muguruza the belief that she was capable of competing with the best, Williams also credited that result for her own recent success.

She meets impressive Spaniard Muguruza in the showpiece having only faced her on three previous occasions, including a surprise defeat at the French Open in 2014.

The hits just keep coming for Serena Williams, and on paper, Saturday’s Wimbledon final against Garbine Muguruza of Spain looks like another belaboring of the obvious. “It wasn’t a really good decision”.