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Serena Williams eyes slam after lopsided women's final
Article from: Sunday Herald Sun
Jackie Epstein
February 01, 2009 12:00am
SERENA Williams powered back to the top of women's tennis with a brutal display to claim her fourth Australian Open and 10th grand slam title.
The new world No.1 last night declared she had her sights on a second career grand slam after taking less than an hour to shatter Russian third seed Dinara Safina 6-0, 6-3.
"I wanted to win and I feel like I needed to win. I don't know, I just really needed it," Williams said. "I wanted to get to 10. I really needed that for me and you never know what happens in life. Opportunities don't often present themselves but this was my chance to take it and run with it."
Now, having won consecutive grand slam titles - the US and Australian Open - Serena needs to win a second French Open and then Wimbledon for a third time to achieve the rare feat.
"The Serena Slam is something I'd like to do again," Williams said.
"With Dinara playing, and some of the girls, it's going to be tough. But I'm in for the challenge."
Williams described last night's triumph, the most lopsided Australian women's final in 15 years, as "definitely one of my most dominant performances".
So much so that the first set lasted 22 minutes, with Safina winning a mere eight points.
A day after winning the doubles with sister Venus and becoming the highest money earner in women's tennis ($33.73m), Williams claimed her 33rd career title with ease. She racked up 23 winners and just seven unforced errors.
"I want to thank my mum for hanging in there with me, the first week was tough but we got through it," Williams, 27, said.
"My dad, who I know is watching right now. Thank you for working with me. Definitely Dinara is going to have a great future. She's hitting so hard so I just had to go for broke out there. Thank you so much for putting on a great show for women's tennis."
It was a tidy night's work in which she earned a lazy $2 million at $33,898 a minute - or if you like $565 a second.
It was a massive disappointment for Safina, who had lost in straight sets in her only previous major final, to Ana Ivanovic in the 2008 French Open, and she had little to say when she accepted her runners-up trophy.
"I didn't even spend one hour on the court," Safina said.
"Of course I'd like to congratulate Serena. She played too good I was just a ball boy on the court today. Sorry, today I made you a little bit disappointing but thank you for coming and supporting me."
After the match, Williams told Channel 7 that she was "a little nervous going into the match".
"I felt I had nothing to lose and just went in to do what I had to do. I saw it was so fast (first set 22 minutes) and I just wanted to stay focused. She's a warrior and never gives up."
Americans Bob and Mike Bryan claimed their third Australian Open men's doubles title last night.
The twins' 2-6, 7-5, 6-0 victory over Mahesh Bhupathi and Mark Knowles was their seventh major title together, placing them equal second behind Mark Woodforde and Todd Woodbridge, who had 11 doubles titles between 1992 and 2000.
http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,24991499-11088,00.html
What a tennis player, she is just awesome
Article from: Sunday Herald Sun
Jackie Epstein
February 01, 2009 12:00am
SERENA Williams powered back to the top of women's tennis with a brutal display to claim her fourth Australian Open and 10th grand slam title.
The new world No.1 last night declared she had her sights on a second career grand slam after taking less than an hour to shatter Russian third seed Dinara Safina 6-0, 6-3.
"I wanted to win and I feel like I needed to win. I don't know, I just really needed it," Williams said. "I wanted to get to 10. I really needed that for me and you never know what happens in life. Opportunities don't often present themselves but this was my chance to take it and run with it."
Now, having won consecutive grand slam titles - the US and Australian Open - Serena needs to win a second French Open and then Wimbledon for a third time to achieve the rare feat.
"The Serena Slam is something I'd like to do again," Williams said.
"With Dinara playing, and some of the girls, it's going to be tough. But I'm in for the challenge."
Williams described last night's triumph, the most lopsided Australian women's final in 15 years, as "definitely one of my most dominant performances".
So much so that the first set lasted 22 minutes, with Safina winning a mere eight points.
A day after winning the doubles with sister Venus and becoming the highest money earner in women's tennis ($33.73m), Williams claimed her 33rd career title with ease. She racked up 23 winners and just seven unforced errors.
"I want to thank my mum for hanging in there with me, the first week was tough but we got through it," Williams, 27, said.
"My dad, who I know is watching right now. Thank you for working with me. Definitely Dinara is going to have a great future. She's hitting so hard so I just had to go for broke out there. Thank you so much for putting on a great show for women's tennis."
It was a tidy night's work in which she earned a lazy $2 million at $33,898 a minute - or if you like $565 a second.
It was a massive disappointment for Safina, who had lost in straight sets in her only previous major final, to Ana Ivanovic in the 2008 French Open, and she had little to say when she accepted her runners-up trophy.
"I didn't even spend one hour on the court," Safina said.
"Of course I'd like to congratulate Serena. She played too good I was just a ball boy on the court today. Sorry, today I made you a little bit disappointing but thank you for coming and supporting me."
After the match, Williams told Channel 7 that she was "a little nervous going into the match".
"I felt I had nothing to lose and just went in to do what I had to do. I saw it was so fast (first set 22 minutes) and I just wanted to stay focused. She's a warrior and never gives up."
Americans Bob and Mike Bryan claimed their third Australian Open men's doubles title last night.
The twins' 2-6, 7-5, 6-0 victory over Mahesh Bhupathi and Mark Knowles was their seventh major title together, placing them equal second behind Mark Woodforde and Todd Woodbridge, who had 11 doubles titles between 1992 and 2000.
http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,24991499-11088,00.html
What a tennis player, she is just awesome
Thanks for posting that.
