Sunday cover: Super woman – Serena Williams poised to draw closer to calendar slam at Wimbledon

The National's Sport cover for the Sunday, June 28 issue, featuring Serena Williams on the eve of Wimbledon, poised to continue her dominating season and take another step closer to the calendar grand slam.

Ahmed Rizvi takes note of the whirlwind 180 turn in Serena's fortunates since a dispiriting exit at the All England Club a year ago.

“Looking dazed and disorientated,” he writes, “Serena served an entire game of double faults before the Williams decided to concede,” in the doubles tournament.

“Three days earlier, the world No 1 was dumped out from the singles competition by Alize Cornet, with the Frenchwoman winning their third-round match 6-1, 6-3, 6-4.

“Serena had made an early exit from the French Open, as well.”

But, 12 months later, he continues, it’s all sunshine for Serena again.

“Serena, after failing to reach the quarter-final in the first three grand slams of the year, won her third successive US Open title, without dropping a set. She has since added the 2015 Australian Open and French Open to her resume, becoming the first woman since 2002/03 to win three consecutive grand slams.

“Who was the last woman to achieve that feat? Serena, of course, when she won the French Open, Wimbledon and the US Open in 2002. She then added the 2003 Australian Open to bring the term ‘Serena Slam’ into existence.

“Three months shy of her 34th birthday, Serena is seven matches away from an encore. She is 21-0 since her controversial exit from Wimbledon 12 months ago, with that sordid episode a distant memory. All the talk at the All England Club this year is about the Serena Slam.”

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