Serena Williams Wins 20th Career Major at French Open | Zagsblog
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Adam Zagoria covers basketball at all levels. He is the author of two books and an award-winning journalist whose articles have appeared in ESPN The Magazine, SLAM, Sheridan Hoops, Sports Illustrated, Basketball Times and in newspapers nationwide.
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Friday / March 29.
  • Serena Williams Wins 20th Career Major at French Open

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    CG09PQpWgAAhrX0It ended up being much harder than it originally appeared, but Serena Williams continued her steady assault on the history books by winning her 20th career Grand Slam title at Roland Garros on Saturday.

    Despite battling the flu for much of the tournament and being bedridden on Friday, the top-seeded Williams overcame a tough fight from No. 13 Lucie Safarova of the Czech Republic to win 6-3, 6-7 (2), 6-2 for her third French Open title and her third straight Major title. She also holds the crowns at the U.S. Open and the Australian Open. If she wins Wimbledon next month she would notch another “Serena Slam,” the name given to her accomplishment when she held all four major titles in 2002-03.

    “This is by far the most dramatic [major she has won],” Williams told Mary Carillo of NBC, referring to her four comebacks from one-set down en route to the title. “I didn’t even train yesterday. I’ve had the flu, oh my gosh, it’s been just a living nightmare….

    “I just needed to step it up and once I relaxed, I stopped thinking and I just started playing and next thing I know I won.”

    At 33, Williams passed Helen Wills Moody on the all-time women’s list at 19 majors and now trails only Margaret Court (24) and Steffi Graf (22). Court won 11 of her 24 titles at the Australian Open in the 1960s and ’70s when many top players did not play the event.

    Williams improved to 20-4 in Slam finals and 18-0 in Slam singles finals after winning the first set.

    “Twenty is pretty amazing to me,” Williams said. “Unfortunately I’m thinking about Wimbledon…I know, it’s bad, it’s bad. But I’m going to enjoy this moment I hope. I feel like I’m going to faint though, I’m exhausted..”

    Up a 6-3, 4-1 and 40-15 on her serve, Williams appeared on her way to a rout, but the left-handed Safarova fought back and found her groove, pushing it to 5-all in the second set.

    Williams broke Safarova with a vicious crosscourt return winner to go up 6-5 and then served for the match.

    But Safarova broke right back, smacking a two-handed backhand down the line to level things at 6-all.

    Safarova took the tiebreak easily at 7-2, closing it out on a service winner that Serena returned into the net.

    Williams committed 25 unforced errors in the second set.

    “I choked, simple as that, you know” she told Carillo. “I think I have to admit to it. I hit a lot of double faults and my first serve just went off, I didn’t get any first serves in. I got really nervous. It was a big moment to get to 20 It was a big moment to get to 20 and I basically made no mistakes. And I think from that point she saw that I was nervous.

    “And then all of a sudden that great Lucie Safarova came, and I was like, ‘Oh no, that’s not the girl I wanted to play’ and she took it to me.”

    Trailing 0-2 in the third set, Williams dug deep, ramped up her intensity and began to audibly curse. After breaking back and then holding serve to go up 3-2, she let out an ‘F’ bomb and was given a code violation for an “audible obscenity.”

    But that didn’t seem to bother Williams at all, and she closed it out by breaking Safarova to win the match with a forehand winner of Safarova’s serve.

    Williams extended both arms in the air as she approached Safarova at the net.

    “It just slipped away so I’m a bit said but it was an amazing two weeks here,” Safarova said. “I think this was the best two weeks that I’ve had for sure.”

    Photo: Roland Garros

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    Adam Zagoria is a Basketball Insider who covers basketball at all levels. A contributor to The New York Times and SportsNet New York (SNY), he is also the author of two books and is an award-winning journalist and filmmaker. His articles have appeared in ESPN The Magazine, SLAM, Sheridan Hoops, Basketball Times and in newspapers nationwide. He also won an Emmy award for his work on the SNY mini-documentary on Syracuse guard Tyus Battle. A veteran Ultimate Frisbee player, he has competed in numerous National and World Championships and, perhaps more importantly, his teams won the Westchester Summer League (WSL) championships in 2011 and 2013. He lives in Manhattan with his wife and children.

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