64 36 62.
5th Australian Open Title (most in Open history), ties BJK for 12 Grand Slams, doubles and singles titles defended, ends at #1. Not a bad two weeks for the Queen of Scream.
Weird but entertaining match. The match started quite nervously for both. Serena faced break points on what seemed like every single serving game, but her clutch serving was able to get her out of trouble. In fact, it was her big serving that was able to stem the tide after Justine somewhat inexplicably ran off 5 straight games and 15 STRAIGHT POINTS to take the second set and the first game of the third. Once Serena was able to stop the bleeding she dialed in and Justine started missing again. The rest, as they say is history.
People will argue about Justine's, I mean, Carlos' game plan for a while (contemplating "Carline"). She seems hell bent on trying to stand toe to toe with the big hitters and play big babe tennis. She was so aggressive. Too aggressive if you ask me. She was gunning for winners when she had no business doing so. There was none of the finessed point construction that built her legacy. Because of that, this match didn't have that much rhythm. In fact, the streak that she went on was *because* she stopped missing and started grooving winners. All of a sudden they started going in. And they didn't. And so she lost.
But she seems hell-bent on sticking with it. She definitely never reverted to a Plan B. It was redline from start to finish. But it sure makes her less fun to watch. To the extent I ever had fun watching her in the first place. I guess Carlos has convinced her that this is the game she needs to play to win Wimbledon, so they might as well work on it now. We'll see.
A genuine congrats to Serena. As everyone knows, I'm not a fan, but she really flipped the switch in this match. Beware when Serena starts yelling at her fist. It's like Over The Top. Switch, flipped. After this pic was taken, Justine didn't win another game. So thanks, Serena for not letting my two hours of rooting for you go to waste. But that's over. Now back to our regularly scheduled programming.
Here's her "G" moment. Yes, she mentioned Gatorade in her speech.
