Serena rolls past Goerges to return to Wimbledon final

“I remember I couldn’t even walk to my mail box, so it’s definitely not “normal” for me to be in a Wimbledon final”.

Perspective, in sport, is irreplaceable. Serena has just kept piling up victories. “I think she can win [Wimbledon]”, he told us last week. Along the way she has seen off the entire careers of world-class players.

Even after all of that, even after more than a year away from the game, even in only the fourth tournament of her comeback, Williams showed she’s still capable of dominance. “It was quite tough but I’m happy to be through”. I had multiple surgeries and almost didn’t make it when I gave birth.

Nearly inevitably, Williams gained a third break to charge to a 5-2 lead before showing her first signs of nerves to drop serve for the only time while trying to close out the semi-final. She struggled at the year-end exhibition matches in Abu Dhabi.

When Williams married her husband, Alexis Ohanian, many questioned why Markle wasn’t in attendance, despite the fact that the guest list was star-studded and impressive with guests like Beyonce, Ciara, and Kim Kardashian.

Next was a first-round loss at Miami.

Serena’s seventh Wimbledon triumph gave her an historic 22nd Grand Slam title, equalling Steffi Graf’s Open era record.

“The only answer is to try to mix it up, but the power she possesses is something to contend with”.

Wimbledon is just Williams’ 4th tournament since she signed off the tour with the 2017 Australian Open title.

In the semi-finals as well, Goerges was no pushover.

Nine-time Wimbledon champion Martina Navratilova has said her “dream match” would have been on Centre Court against Serena Williams.

Serena Williams won the point 87 percent of the time she landed her first serve in Thursday’s semifinals. The Latvian plays an aggressive brand of first-strike tennis that carried her to the 2017 French Open title as an unseeded 20-year-old. No need for extra steps when the basics can get you the results. “Sometimes in the match that happens because I really want to hit a victor, I want to win the point”.

It was straightforward, but effective.

The match was all over in just an hour and 10 minutes.

“That is not very easy”. “Having to deal with pulmonary embolisms is more mentally challenging because if I have a pain in my leg, I automatically go to the worst-case scenario. I am a solicitor and I know how painful it is to go to work and then have to get up in the middle of the night”. “Especially Ostapenko today, I was not expecting like too long rallies”. But if any player tips the scales in that category, it’s Williams, who is enjoying her matches as much as ever.

In a sense, Williams has been writing this narrative – rising up, overcoming, doing the impossible – since her father, Richard, took her and sister Venus to a dilapidated tennis court in Compton, Calif., put rackets in their hands and coached them, along with their mother, into champions. She was not going to dictate or control much.

“I still have a match to win”, she said. It’s not like she’s just running and putting everything back. Kerber needs to mix up her shots, giving Serena different pace and make her run the length of the court.

When her big bombs did hit the mark they drew gasps from the crowd – but they were few and far between. Both players genuinely are playing the best on the women’s side right now.

Ten months ago, the 36-year-old’s career, and life, were in doubt.

Richard and Oracene Williams moved their family to Florida in the early 1990s, seeing their daughters needed more specialist coaching, with Serena already an outstanding junior. “We had so many great matches in the last years”.