TENNIS US OPEN – Poor Caroline Wozniacki. She actually played well on Sunday. But the U.S. Open women’s final must have been her worst nightmare. Of course, it was nice to pick up the runner-up check for nearly $1.5 million. Serena didn’t have to sweat out the 6-3, 6-3 victory over a so-called “good friend.” By James Beck
US Open: All the interviews, results, draws and OoP
Poor Caroline Wozniacki.
She actually played well on Sunday.
But the U.S. Open women’s final must have been her worst nightmare. Of course, it was nice to pick up the runner-up check for nearly $1.5 million.
Serena Williams wasn’t in a real zone, except maybe her own. She hardly seemed to exert a great deal of energy.
The weather had cooled a bit since Saturday’s “double disaster” in the heat in Arthur Ashe Stadium — the shocking losses of the top two seeds, Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer.
Serena Must Have Been Feeling Generous
Serena didn’t have to sweat out the 6-3, 6-3 victory over a so-called “good friend.” And, indeed, Serena might have been feeling generous on this day.
Anyone in the stadium knew from the opening couple of games that Serena probably could name her score. It was like a junior varsity player taking on the varsity star.
That’s not directed at Wozniacki’s level of capability as a tennis player. I’ve pulled against Wozniacki only once in all of the matches I’ve seen her play, including the 2011 Family Circle Cup she won in my hometown of Charleston, S.C. That lone time when I actually wanted the blonde poster girl to lose came only a few weeks ago when she played Charleston’s own Shelby Rogers in Montreal.
But to root for Wozniacki on Sunday was a lost cause. Serena simply was too good . . . and too focused.
Wozniacki Played Spectacular Tennis At Times
Wozniacki did her best to extend points with some shots that might have been spectacular against anyone other than Williams. But Serena wouldn’t cooperate.
Williams appeared almost robotic in her precision dismantling of Wozniacki. She seldom unleashed killer groundstrokes, but her strokes at half-speed proved so consistent and powerful that Wozniacki’s game was stressed just to keep balls in play.
On this day, you had to wonder if any woman in the history of the sport could have tested Serena.
The thing that is hard to believe to non-tennis fans is that this woman failed to make it past the round of 16 of any of the year’s first three Grand Slam tournaments. But we’ve all seen Serena on days when she looked like she wanted to be out spending some of her millions instead of playing tennis.
She’s won “only” 18 Grand Slam titles. So, why not take a day off every now and then?
Time Doesn’t Stand Still Even For Serena
Just because Serena looks unbeatable one day and says she’s just cherishing her time on the big stage of tennis doesn’t mean she won’t show up in Australia and suddenly look very beatable. That’s the other side of Serena.
Let’s hope that at less than three weeks before her 33rd birthday Serena really means it.
Serena probably could win Grand Slam titles 10 years from now. But all good things come to an end at some point.
Who knows, there might be a giant of a teen-ager out there some place who is destined to become the new Superwoman of the world. Just ask Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic.
Time doesn’t stand still. Not even for Serena Williams.
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James Beck is the long-time tennis columnist for the Charleston (S.C.) Post and Courier newspaper. He can be reached at Jamesbecktennis@gmail.com
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