Serena Williams has more sidelines than a super-sized tennis club and she can now add crisis management to her skill-set.
When the American made a traumatic exit from Wimbledon 12 months ago, with a stunning singles defeat to Alize Cornet followed by a startling doubles meltdown, the career of a tennis great looked to be at a crossroads.
The third-round loss to Frenchwoman Cornet meant Williams had not gone beyond the last 16 in the Australian Open, French Open and Wimbledon since the start of the year, only the third time this century she had known such a mediocre run, by her staggeringly high standards.
When, looking dazed, she served four successive double faults in a doubles match days later, Serena and sister Venus quit the contest and bid a hasty retreat from the All England Club.
Serena was ill, a statement said. Those who witnessed the uncomfortable Court One scenes will never forget them though, as Serena struggled just to bounce the ball and keep it under any semblance of control, seemingly struggling to see straight, never mind serve with any accuracy.
Where was her career heading? Was this a most mortifying end for the Williams dynasty at Wimbledon?
The questions were asked, and the response was emphatic.
Serena has won all three grand slams that have been played since, capturing four other titles to boot, including her triumph at the WTA Finals, and returns to Wimbledon with the first calendar grand slam since Steffi Graf won all four in 1988 now in play.
What else is in her now crystal-clear sights? Only Australian Margaret Court’s all-time record of 24 slams. Serena is four short, third on the all-time list behind only Court and Graf, who captured 22 majors.
The grand slam would provide yet another magical moment for the Williams family chronicles, and would mean Serena winning firstly Wimbledon and then defending her US Open title.
“I think it will be awesome, but at the end of the day it’s pretty awesome to have 20. Obviously I would love to win a grand slam,” Williams said on landing Roland Garros glory at the start of June.
“I haven’t done great at Wimbledon the past two years, so I’m going to take it a day at a time there. My goal is just to do better than the last couple of years, do one more and one more and one more.
“That’s the one I have been struggling at, so hopefully I will be able to play a little better there.”
During Serena’s struggles at Wimbledon last year, she chewed on the theory that “everyone in general plays the match of their lives against me” though that would be expected. If a player is going to raise their game against anybody, then it would be against Serena, arguably the greatest of all time.
“It’s never easy, you know, being in my shoes. But you’ve got to be ready,” Serena said.
As resurgent Serena has thrived, so Eugenie Bouchard has nose-dived.
The smash of 2014 has been the mis-hit of 2015, with the 21-year-old Canadian tumbling out of the world’s top 10 after looking destined for the very top.
Her charge to the Wimbledon final last year revealed extraordinary self-belief. She could joke about her mother’s fascination with the royal family – she and twin sister Beatrice are named after the children of Prince Andrew and Sarah, Duchess of York. But Bouchard meant business, and losing the final to Petra Kvitova was a heavy blow.
She was expected to push on this year and challenge Serena and Maria Sharapova for the grand slams, and the top ranking, but Bouchard has gone backwards, and a run of nine defeats in 10 matches before arriving in England told its own sorry story.
Bouchard split from coach Nick Saviano in the winter, with Frenchman Sam Sumyk later appointed his successor. In May she was named the world's most marketable athlete – bar none – by Sport Pro magazine.
Selling an athlete who loses in the first round each week cannot be easy, but Bouchard should in time be able to write off this slump as a blip.
She has spoken of the need to be “more instinctive” on the “pretty and nice” grass, and said: “When I go to Wimbledon I’ll have memories from last year popping into my head, which will hopefully give me confidence that I’ll play really well.”
Kvitova, with her two Wimbledon wins, must be considered a serious title threat, along with Sharapova. Lucie Safarova, a Czech compatriot of Kvitova, is another who could make a big impact in the fortnight.
An unexpected Wimbledon semi-finalist last year, Safarova reached the French Open final earlier this month.
But it was Serena who triumphed, even while suffering from flu. There was a left-handed shot from the 33-year-old in the final, and it looked rather accomplished, a new weapon in an already world-beating armoury.
She cannot stay on tour forever, and right now she is making every grand slam count. Wimbledon, again, is at Serena’s mercy.
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