So...guess who won?
Congrats to JJ for gutting out the three set win. It wasn't a pretty match. Lots of ebbs and flows and it just never felt like both players were playing their best at the same time. But down match point, JJ somehow found a way to return a screamer of a serve to save it. That "framer", as Serena would call it later, may have just won her a third title in Rome.
As for Serena, she claimed she choked. I don't know. Maybe. I'm more inclined to give JJ the "win" here rather than Serena the "choke". That said, as pissed as she is that she didn't close this match out, the fact remains that she made it farther in the tournament than most of us predicted. Let's not forget, this is her first tournament since the Australian Open in January, on the surface that most mitigates her weapons and exploits her weaknesses. I mean, she should just be happy she got out Rome with her body intact.
Oh, yeah, and then there was this. During the third set tiebreaker JJ lost her shit because Serena put her hand up while JJ was serving. JJ went off, forehead veins bulging, screaming, I mean, reminding the umpire that Serena has to play at her pace. We all know that JJ likes to quick-serve opponents while at the same time taking forever and a day between serves to catch her breath. She's not wrong here, I'm just saying.
After match point, Serena had a chat with JJ at the net and it sounds like she said this: "Don't think that I would ever treat you like that...don't think I would do that. I'm not Justine." Take a listen. See if you agree.
Nice of Serena to go out of her way with the sportsmanlike apology. Really, it was a classy move. I mean, classy in a Serena way, of course.
