Serena Wins Aussie Open for Grand Slam Title #12
January 30, 2010 by dwil
This time Serena Williams spoiled a Belgian’s return to tennis. Last year Williams walked off the court during the semifinals of the U.S. Open while playing Belgian Kim Clijsters after an altercation with an lines person. Clijsters returned to the tour after retiring and having a child.
Now Serena faced former world number one women’s player Justine Henin who was playing in her first Grand Slam tournament since her return to the game. Williams defeated the Belgian in the finals of the Australian Open, 6-4, -3-6, 6-2.
With the victory Williams defended her Aussie Open crown, won her fifth Australian Open, and collected her 12th Grand Slam singles championship.
Yo, I was meaning to ask you if you saw what this Aussie paper wrote about Serena’s win…
I’ll give you the first sentence and paragraph of one of the many articles on the Herald Sun website about Serena’s victory.
“IT was a match-up of such rare quality it deserved a contest of this magnitude.
Serena Williams should have been banned from playing in this grand slam after her US Open histrionics, and Justin Henin had no right to have progressed this far in a fabled comeback.”
Man, it’s pretty obvious they don’t like her down under. I hope she wins 5 straight like Fed @ Wimbledon. SMH.
Here is the full article. http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/at-last-a-final-to-match-the-hype-the-serena-williams-and-justine-henin-epic/story-e6frf9if-1225825086178
Thanks wally.
Those bastards can kiss Serena’s fine ass.
These people are such haters………………it puts a smile on my face every time Serena and Venus win.
@origin:
Yeah that’s just one of a few articles from that paper’s website about Serena’s win down there and they are all similar in tone. Petty shit…
I enjoy issuing the repetitive “congrats”! As for the haters, lmao!
Serena Williams got about as little burn for winning a 12th Grand Slam title as you can in the modern era. And that’s very sad that people have SO much hate and they fail to see just how hard it is to win that many.
Five Australian Open titles. As many as BILLIE JEAN KING. No coverage.
And the Aussie crowd was pulling for Henin from the opening of the match. I wish Serena had not given away the second set and won it in straights and send those people home.
Honestly, Serena’s won the French before, but I want her to win this so bad, it’s not even funny. Henin and Clijsters will be crowd favorites, but it sure would be nice for Serena to shut ‘em up.
“Those bastards can kiss Serena’s fine ass”
Only after I get the oppurtunity and then work my way to her inner thighs and behind her ear and basically every sqare centimeter of that body.
Sorry fellas, looks like Common has that on lockdown.
i am glad serena took jason whitlock’s advice. she is such an underachiever.
Yeap rey she sure is………..look how out of shape she is. I mean the lady is a total slob.
I mean look how well whitlock takes care of his body. He could have won 32 grand slams……….if he wanted to.
Awb yeah Common got that on lock. I can’t hate on the brotha, he knows how to pick some fine sistas.
@ Rey,
All Shitlock will do is write a column claiming that she should’ve won 24 Slams by now. It’s the problem with “sports journalism,” at least what Whitlock and the jackasses like him practice: you don’t need to be right or even factual—just take an extreme argument against an already polarizing figure or topic and play both sides against the middle and you get the web-hits.
This is a VERY competitive era of women’s tennis. Henin, Davenport, Hingis, Clijsters, and Capriati all had periods of time where they were retired from the tour and at a time when they SHOULD HAVE been winning Slams. But, hey, let’s bash Serena and Venus for being able to remain out of retirement and even, when injured, able to get back into the top of the sport without long lay-offs or the permancy of retirement.
When people look back on Serena’s career, sure, there were Slams she should’ve won. Guess what? Early in Navratilova’s career, it was a known and well-documented fact that she was a bundle of nerves on the court and would burst into tears if things didn’t work out. She got over it. But that era, while vaunted, was not competitive as far as the depth of today’s women’s tour. The first true “power tennis” women’s player was Steffi Graf. She changed the game. Even more powerful than Navartilova. But then Seles came along and was hitting powerful penetrating groundies from either wing and hitting the lines.
But as Sachez-Vicario and Graf aged, Martina Hingis was able to exploit the breach and win Slams. And, as it turns out, she was going to quickly be surpassed by the Williams sisters, the greatest sister act in sport. Any sport. EVER. What has made it so amazing is that Serena has had two careers. A career before a major knee injury and a career after that injury. She’s starting to come to the net more and put pressure on her opponents. Even a classic counterpuncher like Justine Henin felt compelled to try to dictate to Serena in the final. Serena willed herself to victory more than anything. And that’s the sign of a champion.
This is so sad that the tennis world isn’t embracing this.
Cosign on everything Phil…………well said.
@ Origin,
Right now, the women’s tour is trying to play Venus and Serena: Venus and Serena are just playing tennis. If Serena’s victory is a good sign for things to come this season for her, I think Venus’ results at the Aussie Open are VERY encouraging. She rarely plays well in the Australian Open. She’s not adept on clay at Roland Garros, and Serena’s only one one French. Venus has only made the final once (losing to her sister.) What will be scary for the tour is if the French seeds the two Belgians against each other to meet in the QF or SF and that depends on where they put Henin—she hasn’t played enough to have a true ranking, but we’ll see. If Serena fucks around and is victorious at the French Open, we all know how these girls finish the season and their Wimbledon and U.S. Open records? I don’t have to sell you that shit because that shit right there? It sells itself.
For shits and giggles, go look up Venus and Serena’s U.S. Open and Wimbledon career records. Ask yourself why, year after year, result after result, you NEVER EVER EVER EVER see the tennis experts (other than Bud Collins who is the only tennis establishment figure that keeps it real when you look at what these ladies could do, would do and have done) don’t mention the Sisters’ winning percentages in the season’s final two Slams. Ask yourself why these salient statistics aren’t flashed on the screen and talked about ad infinitum. They are closers on hard-court and grass. As a “commentator” or “journalist,” you can either respect that or show yourself to be about as unprofessional as you can be. Which is precisely what Jason Whitlock is. I’ll deal with the other tennis scribes and talking heads another day.
@ Phil:
Hi-5!
Finally had a chance to watch the final today. I do believe Serena is a little out of shape but only a little. Her play is simply a thing of beauty however and damn she is so fine with a wonderful personality. She is definitely my favorite female athlete.
@ KevDog,
She’s not in pre-Wimbledon form physically, no. One key thing about the Aussie final this year was not just Henin’s insistence onf playing impatient tennis but Serena’s ability to place her serve where she needed it WHEN she needed it. In the third set, Serena came up with some big serves that won her that match. The serve out wide helped set up the serve up the T. Henin couldn’t read it, either, and she’s supposed to be one of the most heady players on the tour. Not that day. Serena had her guessing in the first and third set, and Serena only needs to win two sets just like everyone else. Even if the crowd does ooh and aaah. Serena should have won that in straight sets. That said, Serena didn’t break down mentally in the third. Advantage, Miss Williams.
Keep an eye out for that serve out wide at the French. That could be a factor at Roland Garros where the placement of the serve means more than the speed on the serve.