How much does 23-time Grand Slam champion Serena Williams still want to win?
Badly, apparently. She will even hit the ball left-handed, as she did twice in her gutty three-set comeback win over Tsvetana Pironkova on Wednesday that sent the six-time champion into the US Open semifinals for the 11th consecutive year.
The second of her desperation-driven left-handed shots came in the first game of the final set, to start a 15-shot rally that ended with an exhausted Pironkova flat on the court after netting a shot.
“Yeah. Yeah, that was intense,” Williams, said of the panicky stabs at the ball. “At that point I was fighting so hard. I don't know. I noticed the other day, like, I hit a lefty shot and I was just in practice being super-intense, and I guess it came through in the match.
“So when you're in a position like that, and I was just trying to stay—this is the quarterfinals of a Grand Slam—and I was just trying to do everything I can, whether righty or lefty.”
Hall of Famer and ESPN analyst Chris Evert, who knows a little something about winning, said, “She wins even when she is not playing her best tennis. Nobody else can do that except for Serena.”
The No. 3 seed Williams went on to break serve and then rolled through the rest of the set for a stirring 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 triumph and a semifinal date with two-time Grand Slam champion Victoria Azarenka, in what should be a primetime slugfest in Arthur Ashe Stadium.
Azarenka and Williams are familiar foes in the later stages of Grand Slams. Williams beat the Belarusian in thrilling 2012 and 2013 US Open finals, and is a perfect 10-0 against the tall right-hander in majors.
Nevertheless Azarenka is relishing the opportunity to test herself again against such a fierce rival.
“It's very simple: I like playing against the best,” Azarenka said of Williams, who needs just one more Grand Slam singles crown to equal Margaret Court’s all-time record.
“That's where you see yourself, your level, the biggest challenge. That's what I'm working hard for—to play on the biggest stages against the best players. She's one of the players who push me to the limit, who makes me better. I'm excited for that.
“There's no one as tough mentally as Serena. I always know one thing: the match is never over. I love that challenge,” said Azarenka, a two-time Wimbledon champion.
Williams has been stuck on 23 Grand Slam crowns since returning after the birth of her three-year-old daughter, Olympia. She has lost her last four major finals, including 2018 and 2019 at Flushing Meadows. The 38-year-old brushes off any suggestions that because of her age and that because she is a mom she can’t win any more.
“Well, I think when you're a mom, you overcome so much just to become that, and to be that,” said Williams. “And then I feel like, you know, age is really how you feel mentally and how your body is doing and how you, physically, are able to keep up.
“If you think of it as just a number, then that's all it is. So, yeah, I just think people always say you're not always supposed to do something at a certain age, but, you know, with technology and time, we can kind of make that age a little bit longer.”
Williams started looking ragged and lethargic against the unranked Pironkova, who threw her off-balance with low-bouncing slice forehands and well-placed backhand winners. But, like so many times in her career (she’s 44-42 in Grand Slam singles matches when she has lost the first set) the American fought back on the strength of her big heart and the biggest serve in the game.
Williams had 20 aces and just a single double fault. She blasted in three consecutive aces to win the last game of the middle set. She closed out the match with a love service game. And she never faced a break point in her last eight service games.
“Her serve, obviously it's an incredible weapon in tennis,” said Pironkova. “I'm not sure how many miles-an-hour was her serve, but it felt like a bomb, at one point.”
Said Williams, “You know, sometimes when I'm serving, I just tell myself, I don't care if my arm falls off, I'm going to keep serving. And that's the attitude I need to have.”
Twenty-three Grand Slam singles titles later, tennis fans have come to expect nothing less from her.
