{"id":3328,"date":"2016-07-10T08:03:53","date_gmt":"2016-07-10T15:03:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spijue.wpengine.com\/news\/williams-tops-kerber-at-wimbledon-ties-grafs-slam-mark\/"},"modified":"2016-07-10T08:03:53","modified_gmt":"2016-07-10T15:03:53","slug":"williams-tops-kerber-at-wimbledon-ties-grafs-slam-mark","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/sports\/williams-tops-kerber-at-wimbledon-ties-grafs-slam-mark\/","title":{"rendered":"Williams tops Kerber at Wimbledon, ties Graf’s Slam mark"},"content":{"rendered":"

LONDON \u2014<\/strong> Serena Williams insisted she was not focused on No. 22.<\/p>\n

Said she wouldn\u2019t discuss it.<\/p>\n

Kept coming close without quite getting it.<\/p>\n

Now she finally has it. And so she can flaunt it.<\/p>\n

Williams lifted both arms overhead and raised two fingers on each hand right there on Centre Court to show off the magic number after winning her record-tying 22nd Grand Slam title by beating Angelique Kerber 7-5, 6-3 in the Wimbledon final on Saturday.<\/p>\n

\u201cDefinitely had some sleepless nights, if I\u2019m just honest, with a lot of stuff,\u201d Williams said. \u201cMy goal is to win always at least a Slam a year. It was getting down to the pressure.\u201d<\/p>\n

She pulled even with Steffi Graf for the most major championships in the Open era, which began in 1968. Now Williams stands behind only Margaret Court\u2019s all-time mark of 24.<\/p>\n

This was Williams\u2019 seventh singles trophy at the All England Club \u2014 only Martina Navratilova, with nine, has more in the Open era \u2014 and second in a row. The victory at Wimbledon a year ago raised her Grand Slam count to 21, where it remained until Saturday.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been incredibly difficult not to think about it. I had a couple of tries this year,\u201d said Williams, who went back on court a few hours later to win the doubles title with older sister Venus. \u201cBut it makes the victory even sweeter to know how hard I worked for it.\u201d<\/p>\n

There was a stunning loss to Roberta Vinci in the U.S. Open semifinals in September, ending Williams\u2019 bid for a calendar-year Grand Slam. Then losses in finals to Kerber at the Australian Open, and to Garbine Muguruza at the French Open.<\/p>\n

\u201cTime heals,\u201d said Williams\u2019 coach, Patrick Mouratoglou. \u201cBy losing, you realize things.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the rematch against the fourth-seeded Kerber \u2014 the first time in a decade two women met to decide multiple major titles in a single season \u2014 the No. 1-ranked Williams came through. This goes alongside six championships at the U.S. Open, six at the Australian Open and three at the French Open.<\/p>\n

The 34-year-old American did it, as she often does, with nearly impeccable serving. She slammed 13 aces. She won 38 of 43 first-serve points. She faced just one break point \u2014 at 3-all in the second set, representing Kerber\u2019s only real opening \u2014 and shut the door emphatically with aces at 117 mph and 124 mph.<\/p>\n

There was more that Williams did well, though. Much more. Facing the left-handed Kerber\u2019s reactive, counter-punching style, Williams dictated exchanges and compiled a 39-12 edge in winners.<\/p>\n

Williams hammered second serves that floated in at 75 mph, breaking once in each set. She volleyed well, too, winning the point on 16 of 22 trips to the net, including a tap-in on match point. Soon, she was wrapping Kerber in a warm embrace, then holding up those fingers to symbolize \u201c22.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI was trying everything, but she deserved it today. She really played an unbelievable match,\u201d said Kerber, who hadn\u2019t appeared in a major final until beating Williams in Melbourne. \u201cI think we both (played) on a really high level.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kerber, a German who knows Graf well, defeated Venus in the semifinals and hadn\u2019t dropped a set until Saturday. But she could not keep up with the trophy on the line, although it was a high-quality final that was tighter than the scoreline might indicate.<\/p>\n

\u201cPlayed a good match,\u201d Kerber said. \u201cThat makes it a little easier for me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Later Saturday, Williams earned a second piece of hardware when she and Venus defeated Timea Babos and Yaroslava Shvedova 6-3, 6-4 for their sixth doubles trophy at Wimbledon and 14th from all majors.<\/p>\n

In singles, Williams got better as the tournament went along, taking the last 12 sets she played after dropping a tiebreaker to open her second-round match against Christina McHale. After that set, Williams smashed her racket and flung it away, drawing a $10,000 fine.<\/p>\n

There had been some thought that Williams was really stung by her loss to Vinci in New York, that it was too big a disappointment to push aside and lingered, somehow, when she followed with the setbacks against Kerber and Muguruza.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf anything, I was able to show resilience that, no, that\u2019s not going to shake me, you\u2019re not going to break me,\u201d Williams said, \u201cit\u2019s going to make me stronger.\u201d<\/p>\n

So, Williams was asked Saturday, is she already thinking about No. 25, to surpass Court?<\/p>\n

\u201cOh, God, no,\u201d Williams said. \u201cOne thing I learned about last year is to enjoy the moment. I\u2019m definitely going to enjoy this.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

LONDON \u2014 Serena Williams insisted she was not focused on No. 22. Said she wouldn\u2019t discuss it. Kept coming close without quite getting it. Now she finally has it. And so she can flaunt it. Williams lifted both arms overhead and raised two fingers on each hand right there on Centre Court to show off […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":107,"featured_media":3329,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_stopmodifiedupdate":false,"_modified_date":"","wds_primary_category":6,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-3328","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3328","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/107"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3328"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3328\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3329"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3328"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3328"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3328"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=3328"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}