The
showdown the rest of the world never tires of – be it sport, politics
or keeping us in a permanent state of economic anxiety – will play out
again here on Saturday night when Serena Williams goes up for the United
States against her Americanised Russian deadly enemy, Maria Sharapova,
in the final of the Australian Open.
On what they have shown
so far – most pertinently in convincing victories in their semi-finals
on Thursday – it should be another grinding collision of wills. History
dictates it will be Williams accepting the warm applause of the crowd
yet again when the dust settles on Rod Laver Arena, as the oldest
Australian champion in the Open era, at 33, and still ranked No 1 in the
world.
Floyd Mayweather, who is dithering
about coming to the concluding weekend of the tournament, knows all
about history in his own sport, standing as he does just two wins away
from the fabled 49-0 unbeaten record that Rocky Marciano left as his
legacy to boxing. Whether or not he makes it to Melbourne in time (he
has a hungry entourage of 30 acolytes in tow, and was testing the
patience of his Australian hosts to the limit in trans-Pacific
negotiations all week), he will be cheering for Williams to move within
two titles of an equivalent target in women’s tennis, the 22 majors
owned by Steffi Graf.
She said beforehand she doesn’t need to
win any more tournaments (although she has no plans to retire). She has
already done plenty, she said – which is palpably true. However, when
she won her 18th slam at the 2014 US Open to draw clear of her peers,
she says she did it because she had finally “learned to relax”.
But she knew exactly what victory delivered: respect. Having not always
been appreciated for the phenomenal player she is, and ludicrously
living in the financial shadow of Sharapova, she wants and deserves
wider acceptance; being the most garlanded woman in the Open era would
surely seal that objective.
If she were to go on to pass
Margaret Court’s tally of 24 majors, her case for being rated the
greatest player in the history of women’s tennis would be as strong as
anyone in living memory.
That is a little way off, of course,
and to get to 19 majors she has to beat Sharapova, who eased passed her
Russian compatriot Ekaterina Makarova 6-3, 6-2 in an hour and 27 minutes
on Thursday on the back of a lethal serve and all-round excellence off
the ground.
Perhaps just as painful for the loser was Sharapova’s perfunctory hand-slap at the end; they do not appear that close.
Williams
has done remarkably well to play through what is clearly a heavy cold,
coughing and splutting in nearly all her interviews. “I’m feeling a lot
better than I did the past couple of days,” she said later.
Sharapova,
who has lost 15 matches in a row against Williams since beating her to
win Wimbledon as a teenager, finds herself in a similar situation to
that of Tomas Berdych, who had lost 17 matches in a row before beating
Rafael Nadal this week.
The sporting clock moves more slowly
than we imagine. Consider this: Keys was seeking to be the first
American teenager to reach a slam final since Serena Williams in the
2001 US Open, when she lost to her elder sister, Venus, after beating
Madison’s coach here, Lindsay Davenport, in the quarter-finals. And who
did Keys beat to reach the semi-finals? Venus.
Serena’s serve
got her through a very tricky match. “She hits a very, very hard ball,”
she said, “but she also hits it very deep. So it’s a little different
trying to prepare for that. I wasn’t ready really for that.”
Now
the acknowledged best two players in the world meet in the first slam
final of the year, which is the way everyone likes it – especially a
match between two layers who struggle to hide their disdain for each
other.
When asked about how she felt playing someone still
recovering from a fever, she smiled and said, “I feel good. Thank you.”
Not for Sharapova even a sliver of sentiment when there is a job to do –
especially against Williams.
Asked what it was about Williams
that made it so tough to beat her, she said, “I think her power and her
aggressiveness. That’s always made me a bit too aggressive, maybe going
for a little bit more than I had to. She’s great at making players hit
that shot that you don’t necessarily have to go for, maybe going for a
little too much, going on the line.
“It’s been a really
difficult matchup for me, but I am a competitor. I will go out and I
will do everything I can to try to change that result around.” She
added: “I played solid today. I did everything I had to do. I wasn’t
afraid for it to become a physical match. It was important to stand my
ground in the first few games, which I did well, even though I was
behind.”
This most methodical and icy of competitors will
prepare in her usual, low-key way. “I don’t listen to music, I don’t
take a bath, none of those. I usually spend some time with my team and
we talk about pretty much everything, the match, how we’re feeling,
things like that.
“It’s very easy to get discouraged by a big
stage and by a big moment. But actually that’s what you work for. That’s
what you want to get to. I’ve had many great memories on Rod Laver
Arena. I’ve hopefully set myself up for another good one.”
As
for Keys, she looks to have the right blend of humility and ambition to
make it, not to mention the admiration of her rivals. “I’m really happy
to have gotten this far in a tournament. It’s my first one. Just looking
forward to having more.”
Williams was impressed: “She can go
really, really far. I think she can be the best in the world. The way
she played today I definitely think she has potential to be No 1 and win
Grand Slams. It’s exciting to see.”
Credit: Kevin Mitchell/Guardian Sport
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